In+History

Transition to Realism
Twain was not the only author to criticize the romantic and victorian philosophies. What is more important than the other points against these schools of thought (which essentially parallel those of Twain), the author shows the transition in ways of thinking from romanticism, victorian, and other schools of thought toward contemporary realism.

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Transition to Realism
After the Civil War, several political, social, and literary upheavals followed. From the political standpoint, control over the Whitehouse, Congress, and the Supreme Court was constantly being tossed about and new political parties added to the mess. Socially, the nation was still moving toward industrialization and new technology added to this momentum. New studies in sociology and the sciences brought about naturalism and ideas that humans are only people. Several events brought about the realism movement, or the need to record and describe the many events of the time.



Some of the more important events exceedingly helped drive the shift to realism. First, Charles Darwin published //The Origin of Species// in 1859. This work created much controversy that still exists now as he suggested life evolves from life as opposed to being created by God. This work diverted attention from an omnipotent or omniscent beings, and that humans are not divine beings. Next, Karl Marx developed a political philosophy that argued against urbanization and capitalism, thus giving birth to communism. It is important to note that, "Marx did not believe that spiritual contradictions led to historical changes; rather, Marx believed that economic contradictions led to historic change and conflict," (Karl Marx (1818-1883)). This type of government would pride itself on uniformity, also diverting attention from the individualism prided by romanticism and victorian literature. Next, Industrialism in the 19th century had many people leaving rural lives for the city. New technology helped to drive this movement and exceedingly boosted to economy. This kept people from being in contact with nature, an important part of romanticism, as it was being destroyed. Many people also moved from rural areas to where the work was, in the cities. Part of this was because of, "The industries in the cities eventually won the competition with the rural industries," (Schrover).



Other events also contributed to the realist movement, but on a much smaller scale. Rebecca Harding Davis called for many social changes. After the Civil War, she focused on rights for woman, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working classes. One of her famous quotes reads, "Reform is born of need, not pity. No vital movement of the people has worked down, for good or evil; fermented, instead, carried up the heaving, cloggy mass.” Davis was not the only social activist at this time. Kate Chopin, author of //The Awakening//, set an example of recording society as it was in novels, while inputing views of marraige and women's roles. Also important was the South's struggle with reconstruction. The South was being forced to transform from an almost feudal-style system into one modeled after the North. This time also witnessed struggle in the federal government due to the reconstruction, and because of it, the newly emancipated African Americans were forced to the bottom of society again. With all the new changes in society, and newly emancipated African Americans, there was a need to preserve and record all of these changes.

With all of these occurences, the realism movement came about as writers felt the need to record and write about life as it happened. Twain's views sided with those of the realism movement, and this is very evident in the chapters concerning the Grangerfolds and Sheperdsons. He criticizes these previous literary movements and their ideals, as he was a man of the new era of thought. "Where romanticists transcend the immediate to find the ideal, and naturalists plumb the actual or superficial to find the scientific laws that control its actions, realists center their attention to a remarkable degree on the immediate, the here and now, the specific action, and the verifiable consequence," (William Harmon and Hugh Holman).

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