Henry James, Principled Realism
I read a critical essay by Michael Kearns entitled, "Henry James, Principled Realism, and the Practice of Critical Reading." In it, Kearns invents the terms "principled reality" and "naïve reality" and how to apply these perspectives when reading Washington Square.
As Kearns explores these two types of realities, he states that the readers should take a stance of "principled realism" which he defines as follows: "principled realism, like pragmatism, is a method which holds that no objective truths or transcendentally privileged perspective can be found but that we can understand enough about a situation or event to be able to act responsibly towards all persons involved." We can achieve this, according to Kearns, by understanding that the characters are fully dimensional. We must look at their strong points, their positions on certain issues, and we might speculate what their downfall might be.
Although Kearns thinks that we who read Washington Square with a principled realistic perspective should remain ethically neutral, he does urge that we also become emotionally involved. He states: " Principled realism recognizes the importance of emotional as well as rational responses; to the extent that readers come to care about the novel's characters, they are in a position to perceive and share the fundamental ethical stance of James's fiction."
On the other hand, Kearns defines his term "naïve realism" as characteristic of "someone who mistakenly elevates socially constructed and verbalized knowledge over the individual and inarticulate rather than accepting both as valuable." Kearns believes that Dr. Sloper and the narrator both practice naïve realism and this, he contends, is dangerous thinking. He continues: " Sloper's naïve realism manifests itself in his belief that he can build a valid theory on facts…he has reduced to propositions."
Kearns implies that James creates fictional characters (such as Dr. Sloper) to help his readers form the correct ethical judgement about the novel. The doctor is so cold, so calculating, the readers naturally would want to take the opposing position. He is not the only one that Kearns believes uses naïve realism. The narrator does as well: "as the story develops and Catherine's experience expands, the narrator remains superior; in particular, he grants the young woman no depth of inner life.
From the end of the draft in 1973 to the military data from 2003, the number of women in service rose from 2 percent to 12 percent. A sample of military women studied in 1991 showed 69 percent to have experienced sexual harassmen...
...kes a negative attitude throughout the article. He simply states the facts, supports them, and moves on to his next point. Jefferson never appears to be angry and does not point out anything that distracts the reader from the message that he is trying to convey. He keeps a serious tone throughout that keeps the reader drawn into what he is saying the entire time. The reader feels a sense that Jefferson is serious about what he is saying and he is not to be taken lightly at all.
Although 14,000 sexual assault victims in the military are men, and 12,000 are women (US Commission on Civil Rights), women are seen as the primary victims. Because of this, removing women from equal combat roles has bee...
In the surveys they have referenced in the article, it displays military sexual trauma increases among women during and after military deployment of unwanted sexual contact in recent years. The authors have recruited and conducted of twenty-two US servicewomen telephone interviews from May 2011 to January 2012 to participate a qualitative study with or without their MST experiences. They asked the participants questions regarding about MST during deployment and other factors which are disturbing their reporting and accessing to services against the perpetrators. The issues of sexism, high stress levels, and failed military leadership contributing factors which put these servicewomen in jeopardy of MST. Some of the interview women said that servicewomen do not report MST due to lack of support from peers, unreliable confidentiality, stigma, and other barriers. The interviewees feel more comfortable opening to medical care services after deployment in the United States that grips with sexual assault cases than throughout deployment around the world. The participants have suggested to improving the MST services: by increasing awareness, prosecution, investigation, cultural shift, and independence service providers. The interviewees recognized that Military se...
There is no excuse nor any type of justification for rape. However, because it is a widespread problem, a demand for widespread awareness is in order. As global citizens, the world needs to become more conscious on the effects of stigmas and stereotypes for rape within the military. By eliminating these influences, a decrease in sexual violence cases can be met. Until then, it is crucial that this issue thought about seriously, and taken into perspective. By raising awareness alone, even outside the military, a stand can be taken against these labels that are costing veterans their livelihoods and peace of mind.
Realism in American literature was a profound movement because it depicted current social realities and lives of normal people especially woman. Two major stories had a major description on what realism is. “Story of An Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” showed the characteristics, definition, and how women had a voice and verbalized the reality of life. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman were the authors of these two stories who influenced the movement of realism. With these two stories written by two great authors during the time helped view how it was different from romanticism.
To begin with, realism is an approach given by philosophers which suggest that we should deal with racism the way it is, allowing us to deal with any challenge from the fact that we acknowledge that there is a problem. It is the true description of the natural events without interfering with the available facts of the subject matter. Realism gives people the ability to accept what we see. If you see race then race is what you get. In fact, philosophers argue that racism will never end since we all belong to different races. The philosophy of realism calls for people to accept racism is what is in front of us thus we should not pretend that it does not exist. Through this approach, we are able to understand the root cause of racism and come up with a solution on how to deal with challenges brought by our different...
Watt argues that the characters in a novel owe their individuality to the realistic presentation. "Realism" is expressed by a rejection of traditional plots, by particularity, emphasis on the personality of the character, a consciousness of duration of time and space and its expression in style.
The armed forces have a lot of work to do, in general, with preventing sexual assault and acting on it in the correct way. But testimonies of brutally raped individuals show that the military’s leaders are the ones who are doing the real hurting. These commanding officers are preventing victims from getting the justice and help they deserve by either favoring the perpetrator or punishing the victim using law. In the civilian judicial courts, rapists can get years in prison while military members may only get reduced in rank. Military sexual assault cases need to be taken out of the military’s hands and put into the civilian courts where victims can get the satisfaction they deserve by putting their attackers behind bars.
Realism, in philosophical terms, refers to the concept that there is a reality beyond our perception. This means that how we see things and what we believe about them has no impact on the nature of said things. For example an individual may see an object as blue and another see the same object to be red, this is merely a disagreement between both parties about how they should label the colour. This wouldn’t mean that both parties are discussing different objects, this shows that no matter what individual’s beliefs or thoughts on the real world are only ever approximations and do not accurately capture reality. (O’Brien, M and Yar, M, 2008)
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the issue of rape and sexual assault in the military. The number of attacks for rape and sexual assault in the military are at an all-time high. Women have recently been allowed to fight on the front line. While this may be a huge achievement for women-kind, for this woman, it is a very scary thought. I am a junior at Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences; a school geared towards students wishing to enter the medical field. I may be forced to join the military one day if a war breaks out and women are needed to protect the country. I would be happy to serve my country if I did not have to be scared of my fellow soldiers. Rape and sexual assault are major issues in the military and have been for many years without much effort to decrease the attacks. I am suggesting that unless the rape and sexual assault issue is fixed, the amount of people joining the military, specifically the women, will decrease greatly.
Realism claims that what we can review about our surrounding is established in the fact that they absolutely exist. What we believe about gathered information is what we think about the actual world. It states that there is an actual world that assimilates directly with what we think about it.
Realism occurs everyday, one may not know but its the reason why know not everyone gets to live their lives to a happy ending, its the reason why sometimes you can't get everything you want in your life. Realism is the attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly. Realism is a trend which takes place in the nineteenth century during which literature depicted life "as is," and focuses on real life. This literary movement frequently depicted everyday life; it follows the rule of a phenomenal world and that nothing is added to your life. It is the reverse job of what a filter would do to all the troubles that one may encounter later in life. Realism is represented in Kate Chopin's short stories The Story of an Hour and A Pair of Silk Stockings. In both the short stories, the main characters get to face a dream/fantasy that they’ve always wanted to encounter; something rare that lasted only for a short amount of time. The freedom that each character got was some sort of new freedom that they never experienced before. For example in The Story of an Hour, the main character Louise Mallards is feels oppressed because she can't live for herself. She realizes at the end that her husband was alive the whole time and that her short fantasy came to an end. She thought that it would last forever until the death of her but she was wrong. Another example of realism is A Pair of Silk Stockings, the main character of this story was Little Mrs Sommers. She finds fifteen dollars on the floor and this feeling of having this much money eventually controls her until its all gone. Her lack of being able to control herself and curiosity controls her and the money. W...
Literary realism is the trend, beginning with mid nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors, toward depictions of contemporary life and society as it was, or is. In the spirit of general "realism," realist authors opted for depictions of everyday and banal activities and experiences, instead of a romanticized or similarly stylized presentation. (Wikipedia, Literary Realism)
Writers like Mark Twain wrote about what really mattered to the majority of the population. His stories were not considered fairy tales, but narratives. Realism was an important change in literature, because it allowed the average Joe story to be alright. Instead of paying or reading a story about something you will never have, a person will read about the everyday problems. People saw that humans had more in common than they taught. Mark Twain’s narrative, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn expose the literary movement that is known today as Realism. Mark Twain also criticizes the “ills” of the American society, which he hopes he could be able to correct by raising awareness to the problem.