Realism and Naturalism / Stephen Crane

Realism and Naturalism (1890 - 1914)

• Industrial Revolution
  • Technological advances
  • Transcontinental railroad
  • Telephone
• A few extremely wealthy people (Rockefeller, Carnegie)
• A large amount of poverty-stricken people
• Workers treated poorly (children forced into hard labor in unhealthy environments)
• U.S. became a world power
• Science was increasingly important

• Literary Movements (or, common themes expressed in literature in that period)
• Accurate representation of life without idealization
• Human existence is determined by natural forces that humanity cannot control
• Nature is indifferent to human problems

Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900)

• War correspondent
• Worked as a reporter for a New York Newspaper (fired after writing a controversial article)
• Writer of novels, short stories, and poems
  • Novels include:
  • Maggie, a Girl of the Streets - a harsh look at the horrible situations in the slum areas of New York; a young girl is forced into prostitution by the need to survive

_{Ms. Fye, 1996}