Final answer:
Regionalism and Realism are literary styles that explore American life with a focus on regional details and psychological insights. While both styles use detailed settings, Realism emphasizes verifiable reality and universal issues, separating it from the nostalgia and sentimentality found in Regionalism.
Step-by-step explanation:
Regionalism, Realism, and Local Color are literary styles that emerged after the American Civil War and address the distinct features of American life. Both Regionalism and Local Color are dedicated to depicting the characteristics of particular locales, but Regionalism provides a more complex narrative and psychological insight into characters, often using a main protagonist's point of view for storytelling. This style is closely aligned with Realism, which focuses on ordinary characters in realistic situations, portrayed with objectivity and a lack of authorial intrusion. Realism diverges from Regionalism by not being confined to specific regions, by avoiding nostalgia, sentimentality, and contrived endings, and placing greater emphasis on the verifiable reality of the story's setting and the accurate depiction of contemporary life.
Regional stories reflect different parts of the United States, showcasing the unique features that distinguish one region from another through the use of detailed descriptions, dialect, and social customs. For example, Sarah Orne Jewett and Mary Wilkins Freeman wrote about New England's customs and characters, whereas Kate Chopin focused on the Creole and Acadian cultures of Louisiana. These stories provide rich, psychological portraits of their characters while maintaining the distinctive attributes of their setting, contributing to the wider tapestry of American literature with themes that often intersect with larger societal issues, such as gender roles and self-agency.
Works from the Regionalism movement typically employ narrative techniques and character development aspects from Realism. This blend allows authors to delve into psychological traits from a universal perspective while retaining a firm grounding in the specific time and place they depict, often through the use of authentic dialect and rich, cultural details.