Realism
In this paper what realism, local color, and regionalism are in the late 1800’s literature will be described. Examples of local color and regionalism will be given for each assigned book. Included will be how the assigned books impacted society when they were written and now. A short synopsis will consider if these books could have been written for today’s readers and lessons learned.
What is Realism? Realism is a literary technique that was used in the mid 1860’ until the turn of the century. Realism can be defined as the appearance of being true or real. Realism is about a specific subject matter and typically the middle class. Realism depicts the life of ordinary people doing ordinary things. Realism was comprehensive…show more content… Frado was called a nigger by Mrs Bellmount through out the story . Some people agreed with the treatment of Frado while others were against this treatment but, felt unable to assist Frado in escaping her treatment. Mr. Bellmont knew that he would live a miserable life if he went to far in defending Frado. Jack did what he could in befriending Frado but when he left home he did not make sure that Frado was cared for. This goes on with several others. During this time period, it was not acceptable to defend people of color without the possibility of suffering consequences from others. Another example would be how Mrs. Bellmont told Aunt Abbey that it was not right for Frado attend church with her mistress. In the book “The Awakening” the local color was described starting with the summerhouse and the Creole community that they lived in. Edna was not completely comfortable in this community. The Creole married women of the community passed around a book and when Edna got the book she would not openly read it she was uncomfortable with…show more content… During these times people saw the injustice of treatment of Frado but were unable to openly help her due to the culture of the time. It was not unusual for people who were colored at this time to be treated less than others and to speak out against the treatment but, the culture of the time was not to be focal about the injustice. Aunt Abby is my example form the book, she would care for Frado and even had her attend evening meetings in the neighborhood but she was very careful in how far she went because of the fear of Mrs. Bellmont In the book “The Awakening” regionalism is used the summerhouse is by the beach and there is socializing that goes on at the beach. Edna learned to swim when she went to the beach and when she learned to swim the freedom she felt help her to awaken to her own sexuality and being a whole person not just a wife and mother. Unfortunately she also made a decision at the beach to commit suicide went for a swim until she could go no further. This part of the country Creole was spoken. No other place in the county was this language