American Realism

Causes

fast immagration to crowded cities by Europeans

changes to the landscape caused by the industrial revolution

wanted to record everyday humans to capture the essence standardization was destroying

civil war opened eyes to true cruelty

western frontier had been conquered

rejection of romantisism

Authors

father of American novel

first to use colloquialism

sorrows in life produce humor

Books

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Tom Sawyer

colonel in union army

wrote nonfiction essays and war literature

Books

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

eastern writer

war correspondent

Books

Red Badge of Courageundefined

The Open Boatundefined

Themes

emphasis on verisimilitude

written for the growing middle class

hardly uses an omniscient narrator

realistic, unpersonal diction