Realism

1. Realism focused on the facts. So they made sure their writing was very detailed. The Story Of An Hour it shows this aspect very well. it details everything to the motions of her breathing, "Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously." It describes in detail the woman, and her room and surroundings. It shows how her illness and the loss of her husband has taken a toll on her. "Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach her soul." The woman is very tired and her body has become to much to even pick up. When she sits all her weight drops on top of her. It describes the outside and how the weather is. My favorite line was, "The delicious breath of rain in the air." It explains that smell left in the air after it rains. You can smell it and feel it, to me the best time to be outside is right after it rains.

The woman was having heart problems before, but it's obvious her husbands death took a toll on her and led her to her early grave. At the end of the story right before she dies, her husband walks into the door. "It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been one." The news reported that Brently had been killed in the accident when in actuality he wasn't. The matter to be fixed in this story is accuracy. People needed to get better about getting the facts right. They reported him dead without even knowing he was for sure, and because of this, his wife died.

2. The part that caught my attention in The Battle With Mr. Covey was the trip Frederick Douglass took through the woods and the fight. It was so detailed that you could picture the image in you head. "After lying there about three quarters of an hour, I nerved myself up again, and started on my way, through bogs and briers, barefooted and bareheaded, tearing my feet sometimes at nearly every step;" it gives you the image of him stepping on briers, thorns, and all sorts of things, tearing up the bottoms of his feet. "While he was in the act of doing so, I watched my chance, and gave him a heavy kick close under the ribs. This kick fairly sickened Hughes, so that he left me in the hands of Mr. Covey. This kick had the effect of not only weakening Hughes, but Covey also. While he saw Hughes bending over with pain, his courage quailed." This explains that when Hughes came to help Mr. Covey while they were fighting he kicked him down and sickened him. After seeing this Mr. Covey knew he was helpless against Frederick.

The problem surfacing from this story is slavery. It explains how horribly slaves were treated. When transferred over to another owner, he was worked harder then ever. We were worked in all weathers. It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow too hard for us to work in the field." Nobody should have to be worked that hard, certain weather should excuse a day working out in the fields.

He couldn't even enjoy the one day he had off from working. "At times I would rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would dart through my soul, accompanied with a faint gleam of hope that flickered for a moment, and then vanished. I sank down again, mourning over my wretched condition." A Romantic might write a story about a slave imagining his life as somebody else, like a free man. Realist thought this unnecessary. The problem of slavery needed to be dealt with. This story invites you into what it was like for slaves so that maybe you could see how much of a problem it truly was.

3. I chose a quote about life as my example of Realism. The quote states, "I've made mistakes in my life I've let people take advantage of me and accepted way less then I deserve, but I've learned from my bad choices and even though there are some things I can never get back and people who will never be sorry I'll know better next time and I won't settle for less than I deserve." This quote expresses Realism to me because it's being honest. It doesn't try to deny the fact that bad things have happened in life, or that they have made mistakes. Instead of ignoring it or acting as though it didn't happen, they take notice of it and decide to do something to change it.