Romanticism And Realism

Writing is a time-sensitive talent. For nearly all writers, there’s plenty of evidence that the time period in which an author writes can make all the difference in what their work turns out to be like. Characteristics influenced by politics, social norms, and economy, can dominate writing and art of a certain era to behold a certain feeling or quality. Because of this influence, movements are created. The flow from one era to another is sometimes very minimal in change and other times very drastic, depending on the changes in the era. The transition from Romanticism to realism is a great example of how there are many reasons for a transition in creative movements, and there are many instances that display this change in the works of art and literature we’ve evaluated in class.

Romanticism dominated most of the first half of the nineteenth century and was categorized by an emphasizing on emotions, nature, and the exploration of the individual. It also had a motivating factor socially, as it led to “a focus on emotions, nature, and the exploration of the imagination and it also motivated social action, such as the abolitionist movement, women’s rights movements, and the drive for universal education.” (Romanticism and Realism. Northland College, n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2014 . ) The idea of following ones heart was celebrated and what contributed to those changes it caused socially. Romanticism dealt with various imaginative and subjective writers in the early 1800’s, and in stories, usually features the common man as the hero and nature as a sort of spiritual refuge. This expresses relational rather than rational thinking, moving on from what was shown during the Enlightenment perio...

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...er story is focused on very little about her feelings or relationships, but her surroundings. A situation like in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain also features this selective focus, in which the struggle of both Huck morally, and Jim physically, is based more on the setting, theme, and Huck’s character development more so than the complexity or quality of the plot. In this quote, (one of many), Hucks development from being bigoted to seeing slaves as human starts early on when Huck feels badly after realizing that he hurt Jim after playing a trick on him: "I wouldn't done that one if I'd 'a' knowed it would make him feel that way." (Twain, 84) and this is the entire focus of Huck and Jims relationship: Huck realizing more and more that the right thing to do for someone has nothing to do with the color of their skin, but the fact that they’re human.