Effects of the Civil War on the Writers in the Age of Realism

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Age of Realism is a literary period that took place in the 19th century. Before Age of Realism came the Age of Romanticism and the Civil war in 1861-1865 triggered the change. Thus it can be said that the Civil War had several effects on the writers in that age. So, in order to understand the way those writers thought, it is necessary to mention several events like the Age of Realism itself, the Civil War and the writers and their lives. After those books are analyzed, there can be seen solid evidences about those effects. For example, the thought of free slaves, which was the one of the main reasons why the Civil War happened, has effected Mark Twain as it seen in his book, Tow Sawyer. Also, most of the writers of the time was alive while the war took place so they have experienced its hardship. Furthermore, it is seen that not only the experience but even the stories were quite effective on the writers; Stephen Crane wrote a book about the Civil War he wasn’t even born yet at the time, and there is William Dean Howells, he was in Paris, far away from America, while the Civil War was occurring. The way they were affected by the war was quite obvious. The romantic novels started to be realist, optimists became pessimist and there was even a naturalist one, Stephen’s novel “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets”.
The first step to understand those writers is to understand Age of Realism. When the literary points are looked at, it seen that the setting, the places and the time the piece takes place, is usually one that writer is familiar with. He had been there before or mostly it was his hometown. This made setting incapable of being neither fantastic nor futuristic as the writer obviously can’t go to those places. When the plot is look...

... middle of paper ...

...other as stories and legends (Crane) or the way people in the country writes (Howells). All in all, this hardship of war made them more pessimistic and realistic and less romantic.

Works Cited

Crow, Charles L. A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publications, 2003.
Davis, Linda. Badge of Courage: The Life of Stephen Crane. 1998. E-book.
History Place. Civil War. 1996. Web. 26 May 2014.
Olsen, Rodney. Dancing in Chains: The Youth of William Dean Howells . New York: New York Universtiy Press, 1991. Document.
Paine, Albert Bigelow. Mark Twain: A Biography. Adelaide: The University of Adelaide Library, date unknown. E-Book.
The America Novel. March 2007. 26 May 2014.
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Ver. October 20, 2012. 20 August 2006. David Widger. Belge. 26 May 2014. .

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