American Realism

1865-1914

REALISMMid-19th-century French movement in literature.Emphasized the use of Scientific Method: a method of observation and hypothesis to suggest solutions to problems.Today, it generally means the surface details of things that appear life-like, or theatre that seeks to give the appearance of everyday reality.

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The Local Color Movement (1865-1880)

The second half of the 19th century saw America becoming increasingly self-conscious. Americans wanted to know what their country looked like, and how the varied races which made up their growing population lived and talked.

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Local Color A kind of fiction that came to prominence in the

USA in the late 19th century, and was devoted to capturing the unique customs, manners, speech, folklore, and other qualities of a particular regional community, usually in humorous short stories. The most famous of the local colorists was Mark Twain; others included Bret Hart, Kate Chopin, and Sarah Orne Jewett.

(Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms)

Realistic Techniques

1. Plots emphasizing the norm of daily experience

2. Ordinary characters, studied in depth

3. Complete authorial objectivity

4. Responsible morality; a world truly reported

5. Settings thoroughly familiar to the writer

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1884

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) (1835-1910)

Mark Twain and his age A generation rotating dizzily around the pole of

wealth rather than that of race

- Prospecting for silver, expecting to “strike it rich” during the Civil War

- Living in the shadow of gold rush rather than that of the Civil War

The cycle of boom and bust: overnight wealth and fame and sudden loss of both

- Shares, speculations and political giveaways turned paper into fortunes, fortunes into worthless papers.

Vernacular language Before Huck Finn - rhetorical excess in Amer. Literature - “dialect” was common in Amer. Humor as

used by particular characters Huck Finn - 1st vernacular narrator - “dialect” throughout the whole book - greatest simplicity, directness, lucidity, grace Influence on later writers - Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Sherwood

Anderson, William Faulkner…

Discussion Questions (1) Is the book a production of racism or against

racism? Comment on the character of Jim and Mark Twain’s portrayal of “niggers”.

Is Huck and Jim’s images in the ending (about the last 11 chapters, from chapt 33 on) consistent with those in the previous chapters? Is the ending a success, failure or disappointment?

Comment on the images of women in the novel.

Discussion Questions (2) What are the major symbols in the novel? Use examples to illustrate the effect of using

vernacular language to describe characters. What’s the effect of using Huck as the 1st-

person narrator?

Gerald Graff & James Phelan, eds, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A case study in critical controversy (Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 1995).

Image of Jim Negative: timid, stupid, vainglorious, boastful,

superstitious Affirmative: loving, friendly, kind-hearted,

clever, independent in thinking

Jim’s Freedom

Freedom – unalienable right Jim’s nobleness Jim’s self-respect and dignity

Function of Jim Father and friend role for Huck A pet of Huck?

- companion of Huck, having the same sorrows and joys with Huck

- unsteady behavior, sometimes foolish and sometimes witty

- amusing the reader

使小说成为一个充满快乐的风情（风土）故事

Huck’s image in the ending (1) Success: Tom’s dominance over Huck

- Tom is more self-assertive, more socially assured

- Huck is a self-effacing anti-hero

- Huck is not a rebel but a boy looking for a way out of a tight place, glad to turn over to Tom the entire unpleasant business of freeing Jim.

Huck’s image in the ending (2) Failure

- Huck’s maturation (his courageous rebellion against slavery) is undermined: Jim’s capture is made the occasion of a game; Jim’s freedom is made the object of nonsense; Huck could never bring himself to go further than the safe conventional rebellion of Tom.

Women in the novelWidow Douglas & Miss WatsonMrs. Judith Loftus (Chapter 11)Emmeline Grangerford (Chapter 17)Sophia Grangerford (Chapter 18)Mary Jane (Chapter 25-28)Aunt Sally (Chapter 33- the last)Fiedler, Leslie. Love and Death in the

American Novel.

Major symbolsRiver vs. ShoreRaft vs. Steamboat

Huck Finn as the 1st-person narratorAn uneducated, young and naive boy

- a picturesque novel with a rogue as the protagonist: adventures full of fun; panorama of the society, esp. the corrupted adult world

- a bildungsroman: moral development of the character from childhood to adulthood through a spiritual crisis

Dramatic IronyA situation in which the audience shares

with the author knowledge of which a character is ignorant.

A difference between what naïve Huck knows and what the author & audience know (e.g. watching the circus performance).

Structural IronyA sustained irony created by the

difference between a naïve hero / narrator / spokesman and the knowing reader.

The author’s ironic intention is shared by the audience but unknown to the speaker (e.g. simple Huck and the sophisticated world).

Contrast Uneducated but kind-hearted and open-

minded boy (an anti-hero)Heartless and conservative world

Corruptions of individuals byMoneyHollow pride and honor (aristocratic

feud; colonel Sherburn’s speech)RacismReligion (hollow use of Christianity)Romantic ideals

Assignments for Daisy Miller

How is the effect of its narrative mode different from that of The Scarlet Letter and Huck Finn?

Analyze the character of DaisyAnalyze the character of WinterbourneHow do Daisy and Winterbourne view e

ach other?What is the theme of the novelette?