Final answer:
Realist novels reflect and critique society by accurately depicting everyday life and emphasizing truthful, detailed representations of characters from various social classes, often with a focus on societal reform.
Step-by-step explanation:
Realist novels aim to depict contemporary society accurately, rather than idealizing or romanticizing it. By presenting characters and situations found in everyday life, these novels reflect the realities of different social classes without embellishment. Realist authors such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Gustave Flaubert focus on actual experiences, often highlighting societal issues with the intent to spark reform. Realism is characterized by its avoidance of dramatization and the refusal to present characters as entirely good or bad. Instead, characters are often depicted as middle class with realistic struggles, emphasizing the mundane and even the sordid aspects of life in detail. This unvarnished honesty serves to implicitly critique the elements of society that the author perceives as flawed or in need of change.
Social realism, a branch of realist literature, particularly emphasizes the lives of the working class, portraying them with the same seriousness as other classes and often addressing social inequalities through the narrative. The role of the realist author is more to show than to tell, allowing the story to unfold with minimal authorial intrusion and a focus on revealing truth through accurate detail.