Grant Ewing 8/8/11 American Literature Charity Clarke Words: 166

Essay #3 Realism was a style of writing that was a reaction to Romanticism; the prevailing writing style of the day. Realism made attempts to describe and represent people and things in actual reality. Instead of seemingly flawless Heroes and Heroines of the Romantic novels, the realists had everyday poor, rough-edged, everyday people as the protagonists. The purpose was to portray reality, as depressing, or ugly as it was, not some sort of idealistic version of how things really were. Naturalism was a literary style in reflex to Romanticism as well. However Naturalism focused on the scientific and psychological aspects of the plot and characters. For instance, realism was more about what happened in its purest representation, whereas Naturalism, was about the pure representation of the why of happenings; the motives of the actions. This approach to literary style was the product of significant influence by the godless, communistic, ideologies of Charles Darwin and Karl Marx. This influence created a glass-half-empty tone in the majority of Naturalist writing.