Differences In Realism And Naturalism Periods English Literature Essay

There are many similarities and many differences between the two literary periods of Realism and Naturalism. Naturalism is the darker extreme of Realism that took the doctrines of the Realism literary period and skewed them even further into the positions of scientific discipline. In the Realism literary period, the characters were pulled from the in-between category and in the literary plants of the Naturalism period ; the characters were pulled from the lower category. Realism besides criticized the societal environment and morality where naturalism criticized that adult male is simply an animate being who is motivated by his chemical science, heredity and the environment or fortunes in which they lived. The concluding contrast between Realism and Naturalism is that Realism emphasized humane understanding while Naturalism stated that life is deterministic and mechanistic. We can see these contrasts vividly when we compare the two literary plants of “ Life on the Mississippi ” by Mark Twain to the literary work of “ The Lost Phoebe ” by Theodore Dreiser.

In “ Life on the Mississippi ” written by Mark Twain, the chief character began as a small male child from a in-between category household with the dream of going a captain of a steamboat on the Mississippi River. We can state that he is in-between category because he had the freedom to roll and play with his friends instead than being made to work or to analyze societal graces. In direct contrast to this is the character of Henry in “ The Lost Phoebe ” by Dreiser. Dreiser gives us a really graphic history of how he and his household were lower category. They had ne’er been able to afford new furniture, they lived in the house that his gramps had built, the farm edifices were falling down because they could non afford to repair them and they had the au naturel lower limit of farm animal that they needed to run the farm. By the clip that the narrative was written, the lone farm animal that they had left was a Equus caballus that no 1 else would purchase because he was so old and so sickly. Every twenty-four hours the Henry and Phoebe were married was a battle merely to hold plenty nutrient to eat and to last to populate another twenty-four hours.

We Will Write a Custom Essay Specifically
For You For Only $13.90/page!


order now

The storyteller of the literary work “ Life on the Mississippi ” , which was written during the Realism period, had the excess money to be able to afford to take a trip on a riverboat, even though his trip was non in an excessive room, he was still able to afford to pay the transition. Not many people in this clip had the excess money to be able to pay to travel on a trip like this. It was less expensive, though more clip consuming, to do the trip by land. Therefore, most households or travellers would really take the excess clip to do the trip because they could non afford to pay the transition for the riverboat. In “ The Lost Phoebe ” , written during the Naturalism literary period, it is apparent that there was no excess money for anything. Whatever money that Henry and Phoebe had went straight towards their support. The contrast between these two different literary periods and the Stationss of life which are portrayed in straight correlated to the differences in the rules of the Realism and Naturalism literary periods. In the piece by Mark Twain, there is hope given for lifting above where the character came from to a higher societal standing. In contrast, in the literary piece by Dreiser, the characters began their life together in the lower category and they were ne’er able to better it and no hope was given that they of all time would hold been able to make so.

Another difference in the rules of the Realism and Naturalism periods were that in Realism they criticized the societal environment and morality where the Naturalism period criticized that adult male is simply an animate being who is motivated by his chemical science, heredity and the environment or fortunes in which they lived. In “ Life on the Mississippi ” , the chief character had grown up in a town straight on the Mississippi River. He grew up watching the boats come through every twenty-four hours and his full life became centered around obtaining the end of a life on the river, as the captain of a riverboat. He did non merely desire the occupation of haling lading up and down the river. Rather, he merely wanted the occupation that had the most prestige and glorification associated with it. In contrast to this mentality on life, shown in the Realism period is the 1 that is portrayed during the Naturalism period, which is black and dejecting with the characters being given no hope. As shown in “ The Lost Phoebe ” , Henry was destined to be a hapless husbandman by heredity. Due to being hapless, he likely had non been able to keep a proper and alimentary diet during his life-time, which likely led to his mental diminution. After he lost his life mate, when Phoebe died, his environment dictated that she was everyplace in the house that they had shared. Due to the fortunes of his life, it is portrayed by Dreiser that he has no option but to seek for her everyplace. The balance of his life, and even his decease, were dictated by this hopeless hunt for her. Without her, he had no ground for anything, so happening her was the lone action that held any significance for him. To do the events even more black, his neighbours kept giving him hope instead than stating him the truth. They merely sat back and watched, other than giving him the occasional repast, as he searched and searched for her. His neighbours were able to discourse his state of affairs between them but they would non make anything to assist his state of affairs.

A 3rd contrast in rule between the Realism and Naturalism period was that in Realism there is an accent on humane apprehension and in Naturalism that life is deterministic and mechanistic. The accent on humane apprehension is shown clearly in the literary piece “ Life on the Mississippi ” . The steamboat Captain knew what it is like to woolgather about being a captain on a riverboat and how difficult that the dream was to obtain. Alternatively of turning down the chief character, the captain decided to take him under his wing and learn him how to captain a boat on the Mississippi River. The captain gave the chief character hope and a intent for his life. The chief character may non hold been able to make the occupation in the terminal but the captain did give him the chance to at least attempt, even if it meant that he would neglect. To seek and to neglect is better than to hold ne’er tried at all. The Realism literary period portrayed life as the characters holding the option of making for their dreams and accomplishing more than making the same thing that their parents did.

In direct contrast was the rule of Naturalism that life is deterministic and mechanistic. In “ The Lost Phoebe ” Henry had no hope. He was born to a hapless husbandman and when he got married, his bride moved into the house with him and his parents. Every twenty-four hours of his life was basically the same. He was born to a hapless husbandman and it was determined by that birth that he would stay as a hapless husbandman. That every twenty-four hours of his life was basically the same, except for births and deceases, made his life really mechanistic. It is really cheerless to believe that every twenty-four hours of your life would dwell of acquiring up highly early and eating breakfast. Then, traveling out and laboring and fighting all twenty-four hours on a farm that hardly supports the household and so traveling to bed late each dark. To travel through life each twenty-four hours with no hope of today being better than yesterday was or this twelvemonth being better than last twelvemonth makes it highly hard to acquire up each forenoon and maintain seeking.

The very rules of the Realism and Naturalism literary periods were highly different which we can see in the literary plant of “ Life on the Mississippi ” by Mark Twain to the literary work of “ The Lost Phoebe ” by Theodore Dreiser. The rules of the Realism literary period had characters that were pulled from the in-between category, criticized the societal environment and morality and besides emphasized humane apprehension. In direct contrast to these rules, the rules of the Naturalism period pulled their characters from the lower category, criticized that adult male is simply and animate being who is motivated by his chemical science, heredity and the environment or fortunes in which they lived and that life is deterministic and mechanistic. To hold the Naturalism literary period follow the Realism period, the rules which dictated the elements and tone of the Hagiographas was drastically different. While there are many similarities between the two literary periods, the differences in the rules are so drastic that the Hagiographas are drastically different. The difference between the two periods was between hope and despair or between a cheery twenty-four hours and a stormy dark. The events happening around the universe must hold been really drab to the people that were populating them for at that place to hold been such a drastic alteration in the literature.

x

Hi!
I'm Petra

Would you like to get such a paper? How about receiving a customized one?

Check it out