Question

The Civil War was a traumatic and destructive conflict that remains the bloodiest war in US history. Realism began around the end of the war in 1865. Rejecting romantic-era ideals that focused on allegorical characters, symbolic settings, and dramatic subjects, realism depicte ordinary people in everyday situations What aspects of the Civil War might have cause this dramatic shift in style, form, and thematic discourse in American literature?

Answer 1

In order to explain how realism appear in the history, it is important to clarify the different between this two movement: Realism is a direct contrast to romanticism, as it does not beautify, or make things more appealing. Meanwhile romanticism typically shows fantastical situations, realism uses fact to depict ordinary experience.

After the Civil War, the rapid growth in industrialism and urbanization, an expanding population base due to immigration, and a relative rise in middle-class was the main causes for this dramatic shift in America. Rational thinking based on science and the study of history helped start this movement, and it represented the middle class in the late 1800’s.

Answer 2

One of the aspects of the Civil War that might have cause this dramatic shift in style, form, and thematic discourse in American literature is that for the first time Americans were unequivocally at war with themselves.

This must have had a profound effect on all members of society. The fact that over six hundred thousand Americans died, which is more than any war in the United States made it impossible not to know somebody, who had died or had been wounded, maimed in the war. In many cases that person was also a member of the family.