Journal 38 - Ploughman

When we look into Walt Whitman's "As I Watch'd the Ploughman Plowing," we see two sides of both Christianity and the Everyman concepts into it. This is much like many of his other poems and they can be taken either way. "As I watch’d the ploughman ploughing,/Or the sower sowing in the fields—or the harvester harvesting,/I saw there too, O life and death, your analogies:/(Life, life is the tillage, and Death is the harvest according)" (Whitman). When we look at this this poem from the Christianity concept, we see this ploughman, who potentially could be God. But there is this ploughman who is raising a field for a harvest and he is sowing the fields and tilling them. But then at the end, we are explained that the tillage is life and the harvest is death. This can be taken in multiple ways. We of course have the literal meaning of the poem where the ploughman is a farmer and the plant is alive throughout the course of the tilling and it then dies and is picked for its fruits. Then there is another meaning where the plant represents people and the ploughman is god and god grows the crops or people up into the beautiful crops and then we die, but the next season new crops are made or new people are born and grown once again. Then there is the meaning which I originally thought was in this poem. God once again represents the ploughman. The people are once again the crops. But this time god spends all of this time helping his crops or people grow to be good crops or people. Then the crops or people gradually become ready for harvesting and they are picked or the people die. But what a ploughman spends all of the hard work for is the reward of picking his crops in the harvest. So God has grown these people into what he wants them to be and now the people get to enjoy the reward of heaven.



Whitman, Walt. "As I Watch'd the Ploughman Ploughing." . Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

Journal 37 - RXN to Whitman's Language of the Self

Upon reading Mark Bauerlein's "Whitman's Language of the Self, I thought of many questions in my mind. Like What the heck is up with the rhetoric language of the Self; "If Whitman requires figurative language in order to speak or to write the self, even when aiming explicitly to unveil the self and not to clothe it in tropes, one wonders whether sheer self-expression of the kind Whitman prefigures is possible. If figurative language is the seminal ingredient of poetry, can Whitman compose a poem matching his self? Could he discover a pure language of the self, a language which, though thetorical, would have a new rhetoric based on the directions and idiosyncrasies of Whitman's desires, Whitman would create a poem unparalleled in its evocation of self" (Bauerlein). Yes, I do know this language does not really exist but it still confuses me quite a bit thinking about a language that can describe the type of person you are. It is just above my level of thinking. It is also a Sunday so my level of thinking is way down because I do not want to be doing any homework. I also already have a bad case of senior-itis. So that disease is not helping my motivation to think at the moment. Another thing in the essay that stood out to me was when Bauerlein talks of how Whitman was expansive and egotistical. Yes, at first glance, it would appear Whitman is very egotistical, but he really is not that bad. He is just a confident person and he shows this within his writings. I think that is is cool that Bauerlein almost goes into a psychological dissection of Whitman;'s brain. He talks of how things in his childhood may have given him this confidence. It is really quite amazing to think that there are stages in people's lives when they are children that give them confidence. He says that this "mirror stage" is when the self of people begin to form. So you are you before you think you are you.




Bauerlein, Mark. "Whitman's Language of the Self." American Imago 44, no. 2 (Summer 1987). Quoted as "Whitman's Language of the Self" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Song of Myself, Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, Inc. . Web. Feb 26, 2011.

Journal 36 - Favorite Meal

I do not know if I have just one favorite meal. Most food is my friend. And by my friend I mean I like them. I have several meals that I would consider my favorite meal, and all of them are equally delicious. One favorite meal of mine, which we are having tonight, is steak, twice baked potatoes, and green bean casserole. Oh. My. Goodness. This is definitely my favorite summer meal by far. I usually do the grilling for my family and I grill the steaks to what I like to call perfection. Most professional grillers would not consider it perfection, but to me, it is so tasty. I grill the steaks to medium rare. They are nice and they look tasty on the outside, but then they leak a small amount of dark juice. As they are being grilled, I sprinkle first steak seasoning on it. Then I put some spicy broiled steak seasoning on it to give it a different but tasty flavor. Then they are served and yummy. Then the twice baked potatoes and green bean casserole are equally delicious. My mom makes the best twice baked potatoes in the history of man kind. Another one of my favorite meals would be just anything from Hu hot. Hu hot is an asian stir fry place in iowa that I went to last weekend when I was visiting my sister at Iowa State last weekend. But what happens is you go through this buffet type thing and then they cook it in front of you on a giant, extremely hot grill. But you grab a bowl, then you have three different kinds of noodles, all these vegetables and then there are things like lettuce, basically anything you can think of, they have it available. Then you pick sauces to put on it and you have to have at least six spoons of sauce, and I make my stir fry spicy because I love spicy food. It is hard to describe. But just imagine the best food possible and that is what Hu hot is.

Whitman's Self Reflection

In Walt Whitman’s writing and poetry, we see him search for his inner being; who he believes he is; his inner Self. As Matt Longabucco puts it, with Whitman, “This self is deeply split and not defined by circumstance” (Longabucco). This search for the definition of his Self is exemplified in his poem, “Excelsior”. In “Excelsior” we read Whitman asking questions of the people around him and he is saying he is the most cautious man in the world, or the proudest man in the world. It is hard to be all of these things at the same time, but he is searching for the definition of Self. He does not know which man he really is; he is just saying he is all of these things.
WHO has gone farthest? For lo! have not I gone farther?
And who has been just? For I would be the most just person of the earth;
And who most cautious? For I would be more cautious;
And who has been happiest? O I think it is I! I think no one was ever happier than I;
And who has lavish’d all? For I lavish constantly the best I have;
And who has been firmest? For I would be firmer;
And who proudest? For I think I have reason to be the proudest son alive—for I am the son of the brawny and tall-topt city;
This is a great example of how Whitman is in the process of searching for his definition of Self.
For Whitman, poetry were the songs of his life. He spent a majority of his lifetime writing poetry about the things around him, himself, and what he felt. When we read “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd," Whitman creates this beautiful image of an outdoor scene. He describes basically a country farm scene with the picket fence and the tall grass growing around it. Then he focuses on lilacs, which are both symbols of death and new life. We see lilacs at both baptisms and funerals. He talks of how he envies death; “With loaded arms I come, pouring for you,/ For you, and the coffins all of you, O death” (Whitman, “When Lilacs”). In this poem, we read of sadness he feels, and you kind of get this feeling of depression because it is written for Abraham Lincoln, who was dead. “Then with the knowledge of death as walking one side of me, /And the thought of death close-walking the other side of me,/ And I in the middle, as with companions, and as holding the hands of companions,” (Whitman, “When Lilacs”). This establishes the acknowledgement that he knows eventually he is going to die. He knows he is on life’s path with death closing in on him and he just is calling for the lilacs to bloom so he can join Abraham Lincoln and God in heaven.
In “As I Watch’d the Ploughman Ploughing,” we see a huge symbolic reference that is even pointed out to us. We read,
AS I watch’d the ploughman ploughing,
Or the sower sowing in the fields—or the harvester harvesting,
I saw there too, O life and death, your analogies:
(Life, life is the tillage, and Death is the harvest according.)
We are once again presented with an image of both life and death. I believe by seeing this poem, Whitman had a strong feeling of death. Since death is the harvest in “As I Watch’d the Ploughman Ploughing,” we can also believe that with death, comes the fruit of your labor, as is corn or beans to farmers. Whitman might have believed that once he died and passed on to the next world, he would be rewarded with great things, like farmers were with money and food. This is a big part of what I believe Whitman painted as his Self. Whitman may have been a spiritual man who wanted to see the Lord and heaven.
According to Harold Bloom, Whitman’s Self was composed of, “my soul, my self, and the real me or me” (Bloom). “My soul” is his spiritual self. In Whitman’s world, spirituality was huge and God was a part of every person, meaning Whitman too, was God. As a collective whole, the human race was God. This is why we see so much spirituality in his poems, because Whitman was a spiritual man. “My self” is his personality. This how he acts on a daily basis. We see this through his writings and the various moods he is in. One day he could be happy, and his poems are happy; one day he could be sad, and his poems are sad. The “real me” was others perception of Whitman. This is who Whitman actually was and what other people thought of Whitman. These three components are what made up Whitman’s Self.




Longabucco, Matt. "'The Proof of a Poet'—Walt Whitman and His Critics." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. . Web. Feb 23, 2011.
Bloom, Harold. "Bloom on Walt Whitman." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. . Web. Feb 26, 2011.
Whitman, Walt. "As I Watch'd the Ploughman Ploughing." . Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
Whitman, Walt. "Excelsior." . Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
Whitman, Walt. "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d." . Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

Journal 35 - Reporter in War

I think that if I was a reporter covering a war and being in the fighting zone, in the trenches, I would be freaked out because of the bombs blowing up in my sight and the bullets that are wizzing by my ear. You see, I am not a person who likes to get involved in very many fights, if any, let alone with knifes, guns, the occasional cannons, bombs, fighter jets, and fighter jets dropping bombs onto the guns that will blow up and sound like a cannon. I would probably not last long in a war zone. If I did however go against my beliefs as a person that reporters all suck at life and have nothing to contribute to society other than tell us what just happened, I would try to get the most information possible. I would probably really annoy the soldiers in the process of doing this. I would just be hanging out and asking them questions while they are trying to shoot their enemies heads off. I am also sure that most of the stuff that I would come up with would no way be able to be reported to the people because there is probably some bogus law that prohibits it. So that would kind of make that reporting a little bit stupid to be doing in the first place. My father was in a war zone and he said he was involved in a couple of firefights while he was there for thirteen months. He said he felt very safe the whole time because he just had to sit in the fun-vee, as Robert Downey Jr. likes to call it, and watch the people fight. So he knew he would be safe. But I would have to think differently because there are still all of these bombs going off around you and there are people legitimately trying to kill you. That thought is just not too soothing as you can imagine. All in all, I would get the job done, but I would be terrible and it would all be for nothing.

"To Build a Fire" - Jack London

Jack London may be best known for "The Call of the Wild," but his short story, "To Build a Fire" is a masterpiece within itself. It is a story of a man and his dog who are traveling along the Yukon River to the site of a mining camp. It is what I presume to be in the dead of winter and it is dead cold. The man keeps thinking of how could it is and soon the man estimates it is seventy five degrees below zero. Yes, I would say that is quite cold. But he is traveling along the river and soon stumbles and falls in the water up to his knees. So he crawls out and begins to make a fire. He spends a good portion of time making this fire, but then he disrupts the tree where he is getting his wood from, and snow falls on top of the fire putting it out. He then has to make another fire, but he is already too cold and his coldness takes over him and he cannot control his hands to make the fire. So he thinks of killing his dog, but he realizes he cannot do that. He then begins running around trying to get the feeling back into his hands and feet, but to no avail. The man lies down in the snow and accepts his death thinking freezing to death is not all that bad. He then becomes drowsy and falls asleep. This sleep happens to be his last and he dies while he is sleeping. The dog waits by his master for a while but then leaves the man to the camp he know for his own survival.

"To Build a Fire" shares many details of realism. Realism is defined by Abby Werlock as, "the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past" (Werlock, "realism"). Jack London does his best to create this image of the man who dies because of his inability to create a fire. He uses realistic details and keep on referring to an "old-timer" from Sulphur Creek. This only adds to the realism of the story by creating a believable background to the story. Then he says of how cold this man was and it depicting this man's final moments of his life as they exist. It even tells of the thoughts running through this man's head as it is happening. This depiction of the man's life as it exists relates "To Build a Fire" to realism.

"To Build a Fire" would also fit under the literary subset of naturalism. Abby Werlock says "The central concerns of naturalism are the forces that shape and move humanity and our inability to control them" (Werlock, "naturalism"). This is what we see within this short story. We see a man traveling along a the Yukon River and he suddenly falls in to his knees. He then begins to build a fire but it soon gets put out begins he is disrupting the tree above the fire by taking off twigs. He then is too cold to build another fire and runs around trying to regain circulation, but to no avail. These things are all one can control. Yes, the man was taking precautions before he fell in, but they apparently just were not enough. Then he stupidly takes firewood from a tree full of snow right above the fire he is trying to build for his survival. It is these forces in nature the man faces that make the man use his survival skills. He is unable to do the correct procedures to keep himself alive, and he is therefore unable to control the force testing his life.

There is a lot of human nature within this story as well. "And at the same time there was another thought in his mind that said he would never get to camp and the boys; that is was too many miles away, that the freezing had too great a start on him, and that he would soon be stiff and dead. This thought he kept in the background and refused to consider. Sometimes it pushed itself forward and demanded to be heard, but he thrust it back and strove to think of other things" (London). This man is fighting himself for his own mind. He has to believe in his mind that he can survive this, and a lot of it is a frame of mind when you are faced with a situation like this. You have to be strong psychologically to make it through difficult "life on the ropes" situations. This is a major battle in the man's head he fights throughout the whole story.




London Jack. "To Build a Fire." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 603-614. Print.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "naturalism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 16, 2011.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 16, 2011.

"Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy" - Edwin Arlington Robinson

Edwin Arlington Robinson's two poem's "Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy" are both very ironic and depressing poems. "Richard Cory" is about the legendary "man of the crowd" that everyone in the town wants to be like. He is a very quiet and not a flashy man; he walks the streets with grace. "Whenever Richard Cory went down town, we people on the pavement looked at him: he was a gentleman from sole to crown, clean favored, and imperially slim. And he was always quietly arrayed, and he was always human when he talked; but still he flutters pulses when he said, 'Good-morning,' and he glittered when he walked. And he was rich - yes, richer than a king - and admirably schooled in every grace: in fine, we thought that he was everything to make us wish that we were in his place" (Robinson, "Richard" 575). So all of these people in the town wanted Richard Cory's life. They wanted his schooling, his grace, his money; but then we learn that on a summer night he killed himself. This is very ironic because everyone wanted to be like him, but he did not want to be him; and so he took his life. "Richard Cory" relates to realism because of this real life situation that happened. Realism is the depiction of life as it actually exists (Werlock), and this is what happens in real life. Sometimes people just are not happy, and they are unhappy enough to take away their life. "A realist carefully chooses details that illustrate this vision" (Werlock). These details of his wealth and like-ability add to this twist of the story in the end that makes it seem real. And these details which Robinson uses relate it "Richard Cory" to realism.

"Miniver Cheevy" is also another depressing poem about a person who is depressed. The main character, Miniver Cheevy, is a man who questions his life. He wants to live, yes, but he wishes he had lived about 400 years earlier than he actually was living. "Miniver lover the days of old when swords were bright and steeds were prancing.....he missed the medaevil grace of iron clothing (Robinson, "Miniver" 576). Miniver just wants to live in those days. But Miniver cannot do anything about it so he takes another drink out of his sorrows. This poem has the characteristics of realism because of the details put into to the story by Robinson that try to depict Miniver's life. Robinson is telling us of all of these people Miniver wishes he could be and things he wants to be apart of and it creates this image of who Miniver actually is.

Both "Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy" are excellent examples of human nature and psychology. They are a look at what makes people sad. "Richard Cory" is hard to put the pieces of the puzzle together because it seems he has everything; money, people's love; but he just is not happy. In "Miniver Cheevy" we read of a man who is unhappy because he wishes he lived in a different time period. It is surroundings which make him sad. A lot of people do deal with depression, but it is a part of life. It is something people can not handle, which is what we see in "Richard Cory," suicide. Then their are ways, like drinking in "Miniver Cheevy," to handle depressions. But these are not the best ways for people to handle it; it just is what appears in these poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson that makes them real.





Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Miniver Cheevy." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 576. Print.


Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Richard Cory." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 575. Print.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 15, 2011.

"Douglass" and "We Wear the Mask" - Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar writes these two very different in meaning poems. On one hand, we have "Douglass," which is a poem about Dunbar calling on to Frederick Douglass, a prominent figure in the freeing of the slaves, asking for him to come and save them from the bad times they have fallen into once again. "Ah, Douglass, we have fall'n on evil days, such days as thou, not even thou didst know, when thee, the eyes of that harsh long ago saw, salient at the cross of devious ways, and all the country heard thee with amaze..... Now, when the waves of swift dissension swarm, and Honor, the strong pilot, lieth stark, oh, for thy voice high-sounding o'er the storm, for thy strong arm to guide the shivering bark, the blast-defying power to thy form, to give us comfort through the lonely dark" (Dunbar, "Douglass" 570). This poem relates directly to realism because of the unfortunate situation spelled out in this poem. Realism is the depiction of life as it actually is (Werlock). He is spelling out his life as an African American. He feels that Frederick Douglass worked so hard to help free the slaves, and Dunbar is saying all of that work was for nothing. He is calling out for Douglass to come and "guide the shivering bark" (Dunbar, "Douglass" 570). This is translated as he wants Douglass to help guide the boat that cannot stay on course, symbolizing the long road to actual freedom for African Americans.

This work reflects the society of the time period it was written in because of the struggles which African Americans were actually going through at the time. Dunbar spends his time spelling out the struggles that was happening to him, and to African Americans just like him. There is some religion in "Douglass" also. The poem seems kind of like a prayer, but it is not to a prayer to God; it is a prayer to a hero of the African Americans of the time, Frederick Douglass. He wants to be rescued and wants the holy powers of God to help him. The American Dream of this poem would be the actual freedom called for. African Americans wanted to be a part of society and not be segregated against. They want to be a part of actual America.

We do not read much realism in "We Wear the Mask." It is a lot of symbolism of this "mask" that people wear to cover up their true self. It says we can hide everything, meaning their true emotions, behind this mask and not have them be seen by anybody else. Then we cry out to the Lord what we really feel and God can see who we are. We live in a bad place, but we can hide who we are. So I guess there is a small amount of realism within this poem because everyone can hide their emotion and then cry out to the Lord. Maybe this is what Dunbar did; but this does not necessarily mean everyone does it. It does also not mean this is true either. So I do not believe this can fit into the category of Realism.

There is a large use of figurative language int his poem. The biggest part is the mask worn by people. This mask is not a literal mask, it is one that is a hider of people. People can "hide" behind this mask and keep others from seeing the real person, but a mask of who they want other people to think they are. Then there is also a large thing of religion within "We Wear the Mask." This is we can hide our feelings from others, but God can look at us and know who we are. We cannot keep our feelings from him.




Dunbar, Paul Laurence. "Douglass." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 570. Print.


Dunbar, Paul Laurence. "We Wear the Mask." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 571. Print.



Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 15, 2011.

"I Will Fight No More Forever" - Chief Joseph

"I Will Fight No More Forever" is a very sad tale of an Indian Chief of the Nez Perce tribe and what his people are going through. It is a very depressing story. "The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes and no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are - perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad" (Chief). This is never a position that a leader wants to have their people in; cold, starving, fleeing for their lives. It is sad that Chief Joseph recognizes his people are in trouble, but it is because of this realization that relates "I Will Fight No More Forever" to realism. According to Abby Werlock, "Realism is the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past. A realist carefully chooses details that illustrate this vision" (Werlock). This is what Chief Joseph it doing. He wrote this down as a letter or a memo to General Howard and he wants to create this image of all of the suffering his people is going through for the General. He adds these real details to depict his and his people's lives as they are existing because of these small wars or fights are whatever you would like to call them.

This small letter or memo to General Howard reflects the struggles not just the Nez Perce Indians were having at the time, but all Native Americans were having at this time. In the background of Chief Joseph it says this memo was written sometime around the date of 1877. This was when the American government was removing the Native Americans from their lands to places like Oklahoma (Indian Territory) or Canada as the Nez Perce were forced to. This memo represents the Native American struggles they faced in this time period of American history.

This whole memo was started because of what the government did to the native Americans. The American people did not need to force the NATIVE Americans off of their rightful land. They did not need that much. They could have lived alongside of the native Americans in peace and harmony if they choose too. They could have had enough land for themselves too. But it was American expansionism and greed that began to remove the Native Americans from their land into times of struggle, was, starvation, and death. If it were not for the government forcing the situation upon the Native Americans, times of struggle like this would not have happened.



Chief Joseph. "I Will Fight No More Forever." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 533. Print.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 15, 2011.

Excerpts from "Spoon River Anthology" - Edgar Lee Masters

"Lucinda Matlock" is a story about a man who goes to dances. He meets a girl and marries her where they live happily for eighty years. They raise their children and lose eight of them, but they are still happy because "it takes life to love Life" (Master "Lucinda" 516). True, this story is about real life, but I do not believe this poem could fit into the literary genre of realism. My first thought is this man's life has not happened yet because it talks of his death and how he was ninety six years old when he entered tranquility. He also romanticizing his life. Yes, I believe one is entitled to a happy life, but when you lose two thirds of your children, there has to be some sadness in your life. I am sure this narrator was sad, but he does not mention it which leads one to make conclusions about his life. I do believe he and his wife had great lives and were happy, but to me this just does not entirely fit into realism. It does fit into the regionalism however because it is all about a region in Illinois. It talks of Chandlerville and Winchester and the Spoon River, which are all things around this area of Illinois. It has the primary characteristics of this region, which according to Mary Rose Kasraie, makes "Lucinda Matlock" fit into regionalism. The American Dream of this poem would be having a family, having a job, a home, and "Life." The dream is to be happy with the ones around you and to make a living farming, be successful and live with the people you love. It is a happy dream.

"Fiddler Jones" is a story that is kind of motivational. Also by Edgar Lee Masters, this is about a man who did nothing but has no regrets. It is a confusing poem that has mixed meanings. It first talks about a fiddle, symbolizing the enjoyment of life, then it says, "And I never started to plow in my life that some one did not stop in the road and take me away to a dance or picnic. I ended up with forty acres; I ended up with a broken fiddle -- and a broken laugh, and a thousand memories, and not a single regret" (Masters"Fiddler" 517). To me, I do not know what this means. I do not know what he did with his life. It says he had a broken fiddle and never farmed, so I can not tell you what happened with him. This would fit into the realism category because he is depicting his life. The narrator tells us he did not plow, he ended up with a broken fiddle, and he regretted nothing. This is confusing, but he does depict his life. I would say there is also a major use of figurative language in this poem. This would be the fiddle. "And if the people find you can fiddle, Why, fiddle you must, for all your life" (Masters "Fiddler" 517). To me, this fiddle represents enjoying life, which one should do all their life. This is just the dream of one in this time period, which it sounds like the narrator did.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.


Masters, Edgar Lee. "Fiddler Jones." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 517. Print.


Masters, Edgar Lee. "Lucinda Matlock." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 516. Print.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.

from "Two Views of the River" - Mark Twain

from "Two Views of the River" is a great showing of how some one begins to lose their romantic side and just sees them professionally like a doctor. Through out this excerpt we have, the great Mark Twain tells us of how he all of a sudden that he could never restore. He tells of all of these beautiful things he sees on the river and what things in nature meant. Then he tells us of how he began losing sight of them and began to take no notice to these things around him. He then says, "the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat. Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beauty's cheek mean to a doctor but a "break" that ripples above some deadly disease? Are not all her visible charms sown thick with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or doesn't he simply view her professionally, and comment upon her unwholesome condition all to himself? And doesn't he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade" (Twain 505). This story is kind of depressing to read. But Mark Twain is just kind of journaling about his job. He takes over his dream of becoming a riverboat pilot and gets to be on the river all day long. But soon this river becomes from a thing of beauty to just his job. He is depicting his life as it exists, kind of sad. He then makes the comparison of him and the river to a doctor and his wife. This is a good comparison as Mark Twain loves the river as does the doctor, but Mark sees this river all day and it begins to lose its beauty. A doctor loves his wife, but he is a doctor and sees people everyday, including women. Then the question comes of whether one loses or gains more when learning a trade. This is a very sad question to Twain because I believe he has lost more and Twain realizes he has lost a big part of his dream. It is a sad realization, but it depicts his life as it exists (Werlock).

This also fits into the subset of regionalism because it applies directly to one part of the country; the Mississippi River. In regionalism, "the primary focus of interest lies in the particular characteristics of a region and people at a particular time" (Kasraie). The focus of this is the characteristics of the Mississippi River, everything around it, and one man who loses the beauty of everything around it.

from "Two Views of the River" has a large part of nature within it. It talks of the beautiful nature of and around the river. The sunset, the animals, the moon. It is just very focused on nature for a large portion of it. It is what Twain notices is around him; it seems to be for the first time also. He just writes of the beauty and how it disappears. He is depicting his life as it exists; not as he wants it to be.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.


Twain, Mark. "from Two Views of the River." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 504-505. Print.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.

"The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County" - Mark Twain

"The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of of Calaveras County" is a great short story of a man who teaches a frog to jump well and makes a bet he is better at jumping than any other frog in all of Calaveras County. He ends up losing because the person he bets against sneaks bee bees into the frogs mouth. It is unfortunate for the man, Smiley, to make the bet. But It was bloody brilliant of "the feller" to do to Smiley. "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County" is a great example of realism. Abby Werlock defines realism as, "he attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past. A realist carefully chooses details that illustrate this vision" (Werlock). Mark Twain does an excellent job of creating this small town image of Smiley's. There is this man who does what he can to get money and gamble. This is like many people today and like many people I am sure in this era. He is trying to depict the life of John Smiley as a life of some one in his time. This is what realism is. It is like a photograph of the time.

This story would also fit into the literary subset of realism, regionalism. Regionalism has the six characteristics of, "1) characters are stereotypical or picturesque, staunch traditionalists, who speak the regional dialect and whose actions and personalities are indicative of the region (in local- color literature by women, the characters are frequently spinsters, widows, or young girls, sometimes in financial straits); 2) the setting—typically rural, often inaccessible, and isolated from encroaching urbanization—plays an essential role in the story and may even be a character itself (stories usually orbit around the village or a similarly circumscribed locale and focus on the traditional practices of the community); 3) plotlines are sparse, especially in local-color stories by women writers; 4) often there is a framing device in which a narrator recounts a yarn or story about another region; 5) the narrator sometimes acts as the audience for the story; and/or 6) there is a narrator who is an educated, nonnative observer whose comments are meant to enlighten the urban audience" (Kasraie). These are all things Mark Twain does within his story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County." The American Dream of this story would be a man living freely. I presume John Smiley was the "image" man of people of the West who live their life freely. He goes around doing what he wants when he wants. This is what the American Dream of this time period was. It was all about the Romantic Western United States. In all reality, it was not romantic and Mark Twain describes it perfectly in this story. Some of the people, like the feller, are not good people and, in Lehman's terms, can screw you over. Mark Twain realized this and this is what he depicted within this story.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.



Twain, Mark. "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 498-502. Print.



Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.

from "The Red Badge of Courage" - Stephan Crane

from "The Red Badge of Courage" is a short passage that is describing a man who gets really mad. It is about this man who is doing something and then for some reason, we do not know why, gets extremely angry. We then find out the steps he takes and what he turns into once he is angry. "Presently he began to feel the effects of the war atmosphere - a blistering sweat, a sensation that his eyeballs were about to crack like hot stones. A burning roar filled his ears. Following this came a red rage. He developed the acute exasperation of a pestered animal, a well-meaning cow worried by dogs. He had a mad feeling against his rifle, which could only be used against one life at a time.... His impotency appeared to him, and made his rage into that of a driven beast. Buried in the smoke of many rifles his anger was directed not so much against the men whom he knew were rushing toward him A against the swirling battle phantoms which were choking him, stuffing their smoke robes down his parched throat" (Crane 493). So it is either this man is turning into a werewolf or he is just really angry. I presume this story is all about anger because this short excerpt fits into the realism genre of literature. This story is trying to depict this man's life at the moment. Crane wants to tell us of this man's emotions of the war time atmosphere and pressure.

I also would believe that from "The Red Badge of Courage" can fit into the naturalism subset of realism. "More specifically, naturalist authors were largely interested in maintaining Darwin's suppositions that human beings were soulless creatures, "merely higher-order animals," bereft of free will, whose mannerisms and behavior resulted primarily from their heredity and the influences of a capricious environment" (Sommers). "from The Red Badge of Courage" is about a man who seems as if he is a soulless creature. He has this emotion of anger and before he knows it, he is described as having the rage of a driven beast. This is not something that happens to many people. He let an emotion compromise him and he has no control over it. This shows his act of free will, his behavior is not controllable and he is merely just another animal in the world. It is the anger that drives this man that makes the story fit into the subset of naturalism. Even though the anger is uncontrollable, it is still an emotion of human nature. It is in the nature of all humans to be angry, and sometimes we can let this emotion take us over. This is what happens to the man in the story. It happens to everyone, you just do not always see it. I know one time I got really angry at a computer game, so I ejected the disc and then snapped it in half. It is just some people control their anger better than others.

There is also a small use of figurative language in this excerpt. In the opening part; "He was like a carpenter who has made many boxes, making still another box, only there was furious haste in his movements" (Crane 493). This is just saying he was doing a familiar task and for some reason he was doing it extremely quickly.




Crane, Stephan. "from The Red Badge of Courage." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 493. Print.


Sommers, Joseph Michael. "naturalism." In Maunder, Andrew. Facts On File Companion to the British Short Story. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.

from "The Awakening" and "The Story of an Hour" - Kate Chopin

from "The Awakening" is a very small excerpt from a very controversial novel written by Kate Chopin. The excerpt we read is about a lady, Mrs. Pontellier, and her sitting in an arm chair outside crying. We do not find out why she is crying, we just know that it is very sad; "She was holding the back of her chair with one hand; her loose sleeve had slipped almost to the shoulder of her uplifted arm. Turning, she thrust her face, steaming and wet, into the bend of her arm, and she went on crying there, not caring any longer to dry her face, her eyes, her arms" (Chopin, "from The Awakening." 491). This short excerpt relates to realism by the amount of sadness in it. "Realism is the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past" (Werlock). This is what Chopin does in describing the sadness of Mrs. Pontellier. She tells of the outside world and what it is doing to Mrs. Pontellier. The mosquitos are biting her and she takes no notice. She is crying because she wants to. These are all details that add effect to the story to depict life as it actually is.

This reflects human nature and psychology because of the way she cries. There really is not reason to why she cries, even she does not know why she is crying. But their are times in people's lives where they just break down and cry. It is in our nature to feel a rush of emotion and break down. There is some use of figurative language in this work; "filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul's summer day" (Chopin, "from The Awakening." 491). This is just saying this emotion she felt swept over her and swallowed her up.

"The Story of an Hour" is another piece written by Kate Chopin. It is once again a sad story of how this lady gets swallowed by an emotion; only this time, there is a reason. Mrs. Mallard, the story's subject cries because she realizes that her love is dead. He will no longer love her again. He was so nice to her but now he is gone. "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself" (Chopin, "The Story" 555). This story also relates to realism by the sadness within it. There is so much sadness and it seems as if nothing is left out. This is the author, Kate Chopin, attempting to depict life as it actually exists (Werlock), which is the exact definition of realism. This work reflects human nature and psychology because of the ways she acts out of the loss of somebody she loves. It is in the nature of humans to be sad when someone we know and love dies. It is an act of realization. We realize we will never see that person again until we are passed away. It just brings sadness to people's lives.




Chopin, Kate. "from The Awakening." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 491. Print.



Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 554-555. Print.



Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.

from "O Pioneers" and "A Wagner Matinée" - Willa Cather

from "O Pioneers" is a great example of realism and especially the realism subset of regionalism. "from O Pioneers" is about a family in what I presume to be in the Western portion of the United States like Colorado or west Nebraska. It is about the Bergson family and how their lives were after the death of their beloved John, They only prospered for a little bit three years after his death. Then they dealt with the droughts that were bound to come to their area because of the harsh climate which they had decided to live in. It talks of depression in their area and of how cheap labor was because no one had money. There are people on wooden sidewalks who describe how they should have never have settled in this rough are of the United States and of how they should have stayed in the prosperous lands of Iowa and Illinois. This fits realism because of how descriptive they are with everything going on around them. It is a brutal life they live in and they have a brutal time managing just to survive. It is because they do not choose they happy details and only what happens to them without leaving anything out that makes "from O Pioneers" a realism work of literature.

from "O Pioneers" is also in the regionalism subset because it applies directly to this small part of Nebraska or Colorado that deal with these droughts. In regionalism, " the primary focus of interest lies in the particular characteristics of a region and people at a particular time" (Kasraie). This is exactly what happens in "from O Pioneers." The American dream in this work would be to farm and be prosperous. They try so hard to get by and they o, but they do not prosper. That is their dream is for rain to come and the crops grow. The hero of this short passage would be the Pioneer, who " should have imagination, should be able to enjoy the idea of things more than the things themselves" (Cather, "from O" 489). These are the men who were the dream of the people, be able to enjoy the times when they are not enjoyable.

"A Wagner Matinée" is a pretty story about a girl and her aunt who go to an orchestra and the aunt is reminded of the times she had as a younger lady and child. It tells of as her aunt is listening to the song, "though her fingers worked mechanically upon her black dress, as if, of themselves, they were recalling the piano score they had once played. Poor hands! They had been stretched and twisted into mere tentacles to hold and lift and knead with; on one of them a thin, worn band that had once been a wedding ring" (Cather, "A Wagner" 525). It is the sad story of a woman who is past her prime and wishes she could be with the cowboy she loved. For this reason, and all of the sadness she felt, "A Wagner Matinée" fits into the realism category.



Cather, Willa. "from O Pioneers!" Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 489. Print.



Cather, Willa. "A Wagner Matinée." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 521-526. Print.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 12, 2011.



Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 12, 2011.

"Letter to His Son" - Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee's "Letter to His Son" is a great political examination of how a loyalist to the Union feels about the United States before the Civil War. He wants the Union to stay together, but unfortunately he knows it will not and he will have to maintain the Union with, "swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take place of brotherly love and kindness" (Lee 385).

This letter from a Union leader to his son is also a great look into the world of realism in the government. Lee is very afraid of the condition of the government which he is living in. He states, "As far as I can judge by the papers, we are between a state of anarchy and civil war.... I fear that mankind will not got years be sufficiently Christianized to bear the absence of restraint and force" (Lee 385). He does not cut any thing out for his son. He wants his son to know everything that is happening and how he feels about it. "I feel the aggression and am willing to take every proper step for redress. It is the principle I contend for, not individual or private benefit..... Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will" (Lee 385). These are just great words describing what is happening in the nation and how he feels about it.

I believe this work could also fit underneath of the regionalism subset of realism. This applies directly to a loyal Unionist who wants to see the Union remain as one. So this would only apply to the states who are in the Union and not the other eight who have already seceded or are going to. There is only a small mention of religion in "Letter to His Son." It says, "mankind will not be sufficiently Christianized to bear the absence of restraint and force" (Lee 385). This is just saying that people in the world were not ready to not have a government; they just are not good enough people as the image of Christians are. Government plays a huge role in the creation of this letter. It is because of the states seceding that this letter was even written. The southern states were not happy with the way the Union was handling the government and so they broke off from the government and formed their own, the Confederacy. This just gets Lee's attention and Lee has to tell someone all the feelings he has of secession and he chooses his son. This letter reflects the society of this pre-civil war time period because it is all about the events that led up to the Civil War. It is talk of secession, the Union, the Confederacy, brotherhood, and things like this that were what this time period before the Civil War was all about. Lee mentions all of these things in his letter and it directly relates to the time period that he is writing in.




Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 12, 2011.


Lee, Robert E. "Letter to His Son." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 385. Print.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 12, 2011.

"And Ain't I a Woman?" - Sojourner Truth

This strong making short declaration written by Sojourner Truth is kind of an anthem for the women of this time. It is written in a way that puts it into the literary genre of realism. Sojourner tells us of the suffering she has had in her lifetime; "That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman?" (Truth 370) She does on to tell us she can do just as much as any man could and then more. She tells of the suffering of women just like her from generations upon generations before her, and even after her life. Not only the black women, but the white ones too. There was a lot of suffering for women before the 1900's. She is telling this crowd, we are led to assume, about her suffering and how God had to have a woman to make people. This may not be one hundred percent accurate, but she gets a point across that everyone has come from a mother who just so happens to be a woman. She demands respect for her sex. She does not necessarily get it, but she does seem affective with her writing style.

This declaration can not only be put into realism, but it can also be put into the realism subset of regionalism. Regionalism, or local color as some know it, is a literary style "in which the primary focus of interest lies in the particular characteristics of a region and people at a particular time" (Kasraie). This is exactly what "And Ain't I a Woman" is. It is about a woman who is protesting women suffrage in 1851. She tells of how she does not get any respect for first of all the color of her skin because she is an African American, and second her sex. She wants respect and more rights. True, this takes place in Ohio, but there was still some discrimination in the northern states at this time from white people to black people. So this region of the United States would be this region of the world where white people looked down on the black people even though they had no right to.

This writing reflects the 1850's because of the woman suffrage that happened in this time period. Women did not get very many rights until the early 1900's and it is evident that Sojourner Truth does not have very many rights because of the color of her skin. Their is also an issue of government in this story. The government is the thing that is refusing to give women their rights, so it is because of them we are given this piece of writing. Truth's human nature is reflected in her anger. It is in human nature to be angry when they are treated fairly and they should be. It is very evident Truth is quite upset with the suffrage that the government has given her.



Truth, Sojourner. "And Ain't I a Woman?." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 370. Print.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 11, 2011.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 11, 2011.

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Go Down, Moses," "Keep Your Hand on the Plow"

The three spirituals "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Go Down, Moses," and "Keep Your Hands on the Plow" are all poems or songs that enslaved African Americans would sing or chant the words during spiritual that the slaves would hold. These poems or songs, or whatever you would like to call them are also an excellent example of realism. The anonymous slaves who wrote these poems were trying to express their sorrow of their enslavement by describing it as what happened with Moses and his people. They feel they are in the same type of situation and some one is going to come and rescue them. We see this comparison in "Go Down, Moses." They are calling for Moses to come and rescue them from their enslavement.

In "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," we read of this slave who is calling for a chariot to take them home. They will look over and see "a band of angels coming after me" (Anonymous. "Swing" 344). These angels will take her home where her friends could be. This was a very uplifting piece of art for the slaves I believe as they were calling for help.

In "Keep Your Hands on the Plow," we read of a man who is telling Biblical tales and how he is supposed to keep his hands on the plow no matter what. He feels imprisoned and this I believe would have been more of an emotional poem for the slaves. These three spirituals would also fall under the literary subset of realism, regionalism. These stories are from the southern states of the Confederacy where slavery was allowed. Therefore it only applies to the states like Texas, Virginia, Georgia, and other states like that in the south who allowed slavery.

These poems reflect the time period because this was the one time in American History where African Americans were enslaved to white people. These writings would not have happened if it were not for this time period and since they were enslaved, they wrote these spirituals for inspiration. It is how they could manage slavery. These poems have a lot of things relating to the Bible, which I would classify as religious. "Go Down, Moses" is all about Moses and the Biblical story of how he took his people out of slavery and out of Egypt to God's land. So that poem is mostly about religion. " Keep Your Hands on the Plow" also deals with Biblical stories. It talks of when Paul and Silas were arrested and then escaped Prison and when Peter would not let Jesus clean his feet or hands. It also says, "Got my hand on the gospel plow, wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now...." (Anonymous. "Keep" 346). Referring to they need nothing but the word of God.

I think that these poems refer to the American Dream a little bit, as they just want to be freed form their enslavement and not be ruled by the white people any longer. There is also no mention of a literal hero other than someone who would play the role of Moses freeing the slaves. So this could be somebody like Harriet Tubman or Abraham Lincoln. People like these who have helped the slaves to their rightful freedom.




Anonymous. "Go Down, Moses." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 345. Print.


Anonymous. "Keep You Hands on the Plow." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 346. Print.


Anonymous. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 344. Print.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 11, 2011.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 11, 2011.

from "Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865" and "The Gettysburg Address" - Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln's speeches, The Second Inaugural from March 4, 1865 and The Gettysburg Address are some of the most famous speeches of all time. They would fall underneath of the writing genre of realism. According to Werlock, "Realism is the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past. A realist carefully chooses details that illustrate this vision, unlike the naturalist who tries to include all possible details" (Werlock). This is just what Lincoln does within his speeches. This Illinois man does not cut out anything about the nation, he tells it as it is. "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any other nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure....that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom" (Lincoln, "The Gettysburg" 402). He does kind of romanticize the whole idea of rebuilding the world after the war, but he mainly does not. He talks of how this war has split the country in two. He talks of the people who have risked and many times given their lives for the sake of the war, and if this war does not come to anything, it would be a waste of their lives. He is not leaving anything out. He tells us of how the nation is at this point in time.

These speeches relate directly to the time period because they are legitimate speeches from the time around the Civil War, and in the Civil War. So these speeches are very relevant to the time period. Lincoln is kind of telling us the state the nation is in and what we need to do to make it the nation it is capable to be. There is a little bit of religion in these speeches. In the "from Second Inaugural Address, March 4th, 1865," there are a couple of mentions of God, "The Almighty has his own purposes...in the providence of God....having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove and that He gives us both North and South.....Yet, if God wills that it continue....with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right..." (Lincoln, "from Second" 339). This speech is kind of centered upon what God wants the country to do at this time. A lot of it is focused upon this. In "The Gettysburg Address," there is not mention of God; at least in this excerpt there is not. This is a big part of the government as well because it is the President of a government and it states what the country he is governing should do. The American Dream in these speeches would be to have the Civil War ended and having the nation be one Union again; brothers not fighting against brothers.

The hero of "The Gettysburg Address" would be the soldiers in the war; "The brave men, living and dead" (Lincoln, "The Gettysburg" 402). These soldiers are common people that are fighting for what is they believe is right. These are commonly the heroes of realism as well.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 8, 2011.


Lincoln, Abraham. "Lincoln, Abraham."The Gettysburg Address." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 402. Print.


Lincoln, Abraham."from Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 339. Print.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 8, 2011.

from "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" - Frederick Douglass

This short excerpt from Frederick Douglass's "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" is very much so a piece of realism. According to Abby Werlock, realism "is the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past. A realist carefully chooses details that illustrate this vision, unlike the naturalist who tries to include all possible details" (Werlock) In this short passage, Douglass describes his torture and his bondage of being an African American at this time and tells of how he is not free. He wishes he was free, but he is unfortunately not free and he ridicules the white people for this day of "freedom" for the country. He does not leave out the details of how he feels for them, otherwise known as the white people. It is brutal; "To him (an African American slave), your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery.... a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages" (Douglass 337). This passage is just one of hate towards the people who are keeping him in captivity. I believe this work would also fall under the subset of regionalism. It is clearly in the southern states, since they were the only ones to have slavery. "The primary focus of interest lies in the particular characteristics of a region and people at a particular time" (Kasraie). This is in the south at the time of slavery, in 1852, so it fits this genre of realism. This literary work reflects the anger of not just African American slaves at this time, but also the abolitionists and the freedmen. They were enrages by this "freedom" that black people had at this time and they had their emotions to deal with. This is what we see in Douglass's "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." This story reflects the feelings of thousands of people just like Douglass at this time period.

There really are no arguments with religion as this is mostly a political issue. The government had no right to keep these people in bondage underneath them, but they did anyway. Douglass recognized this and he was infuriated by his position in the world just because of the color of his skin. This is what we see in this story is Douglass's anger towards the United States' government and the whole idea of slavery in the south. Nature is not included much in this story unless you want to count the nature of slavery angering Douglass to write this story. He believes that he should be an equal and share in the freedom that whites are given, but the white people are celebrating through lies and terrible crimes. He feels very angered by this. The American Dream in this short story by Douglass would be the idea of freedom for slaves, which would eventually come to the slaves, but after many more years of separation. There would be no hero in this story.


Douglass, Frederick."from The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 337. Print.


Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 7, 2011.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 7, 2011.