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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is perhaps the best example of Realism in literature because of how Twain presents it to us. Morality becomes something that Huck must be consider and think out as opposed to something forced down his throat. He knows the moral thing to do would be to report Jim, noting, " "People would call me a low down abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum -- but that don't make no difference. I ain't agoing to tell" (Twain 269). Furthermore, he cannot send Miss Watson his letter he because his friendship with Jim trumps the morality he knows. Similarly, Jim wrestles with issues of good vs. bad. This is evident because of they way he decides to escape. He even begins to understand what Huck is going through when Huck does not turn him in. His revelation forces him to realize that Huck is "de bes' fren' Jim's ever had; en you's the only fren ole Jim's got now" (305). These characters represent the Realistic movement in literature because neither one of them is completely good or completely evil. In short, they are simply human. In their humanity, the must deal with moral issues that require not only thought but also emotion.
It is important to note that Huck does have a problem understanding what he has been taught - he has a problem with what it means. Through his young eyes, he cannot see why Jim cannot be free. Because of this idea, he cannot simply accept what he has been taught about slaves because he does not see Jim as a slave; he sees Jim as a friend. Interestingly, once he sees Jim in this light, he does not want to play tricks on him because it will hurt his feelings. Huck solves his moral dilemma by deciding that he will do "whichever come handiest at the time" (Twain 307). Huck would rather be thought of as a bad person that treats his friend badly. He is too young to understand the weight of what he has decided but Twain brings this into light through the dynamic of the boy's friendship with a slave. Without this historical context, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would lose all of its value.
Naturalism and Realism are two closely related literary movements that focus on the unique human experience. They share many qualities with the major exception since Naturalism is more pessimistic in its outlook. Naturalistic thinking is tied to thoughts that individuals are not in control of their environment. Stories that examine the...
While each of these novels tells its own story, the notion that man cannot control his fate is embedded within each one. Each of these stories deals with characters that become victims of circumstance and their outcome is rather depressing and dark. Free will may be an idea but it remains only an idea in these stories as the protagonists must accept their fate and do the best that they can with what life has handed to them. Maggie, Henry, George, Lennie, and the Joads must deal with the unpleasantries of life and their struggles for individuality make them heroes of a sort. The Realistic literary movement deals with similar type of issues without delving so deeply into the dark areas of life. A perfect example of this type of story is the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck and Jim are subject to the same dilemmas that we see with the traditional Naturalist movement but they are able to reconcile their situations in their minds and hearts- at least for the most part. The historical context of Twain's novel plays an important past in its structure and would fall apart without it. Despite the significance of this historical context, the characters become more important than the setting because the characters have a moral lesson to teach. Huck and Jim prove that mankind is never completely evil or good. Their humanity drives the plot. Stephen Crane, John Steinbeck, and Mark Twain explore characters in their natural environment and show that struggles in life and how they deal with them are what make us human - despite how the endings strike us.
Works Cited
Crane, Stephen. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets. New York: Random House. 2001.
The Red Badge of Courage. New York: Aerie Books Ltd. 1986.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row. New York: Penguin Books. 1986.
Clemens, Samuel. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lauter, Paul, ed.…
Works Cited
Crane, Stephen. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets. New York: Random House. 2001.
The Red Badge of Courage. New York: Aerie Books Ltd. 1986.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row. New York: Penguin Books. 1986.
Clemens, Samuel. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lauter, Paul, ed. Lexington D.C. Heath and Company. 1990.
Naturalism in Literature Naturalism and realism was a literary movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s which focused on trying to recreate the real world in works of fiction. Many works from the period tried to reflect the attitudes and the psychology of their society through fictional characters. During this period, women were treated very poorly by male domination and were not allowed to have power outside of their homes.
(Eliot, 1971). The Subjective over the Objective Modernism was a reaction against Realism and its focus on objective depiction of life as it was actually lived. Modernist writers derived little artistic pleasure from describing the concrete details of the material world and the various human doings in it. They derived only a little more pleasure from describing the thoughts of those humans inhabiting the material world. Their greatest pleasure, however, was
Flaubert / Dostoevsky Examples of Naturalism and Symbolism in Madame Bovary In Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary, the narratorial voice carefully avoids direct comment upon the story. Flaubert maintains a tension between Naturalism and Symbolism by leaving it up to the reader to determine if certain episodes are intended to be read symbolically. Flaubert's contemporary readers, however, found the book scandalous -- in some sense, Flaubert's determination to present certain aspects of reality
Domestic Prison Gender Roles and Marriage The Domestic Prison: James Thurber's "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) and "The Story of an Hour" (1894) by Kate Chopin depict marriage as a prison for both men and women from which the main characters fantasize about escaping. Louise Mallard is similar to the unnamed narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's
In The Glass Menagerie, the self-induced isolation of Laura stands in parallel to the mostly perceived isolation of Tom. These siblings suffer from symbiotic emotional illnesses that, if we are to understand Williams' works taken together, are indicative of a home itself shrouded in an unhealthy blanket of stunted relationships and the chilling void of empathy. The Glass Menagerie would be the first of his plays to achieve widespread critical
Manifesto: A Difference between Baroque and Modern Art The manifesto of the Baroque artist was in the work itself -- there was no need to explain it in writing as the tools of the artist were fully capable of allowing the artist to present a view that was both pleasing to the artist and/or patron and illuminative/educative for the viewer. The entire Baroque artistic movement was rooted in a spirit