Realism Project

As students have gained the skills to evaluate literature and use research and literary criticisms as support to validate their points and opinions, the Realism Project gives students the opportunity to be self-directed learners. Due dates for the project are

• B1 Class: due by the beginning of class on February 16
• A4 Class: due by the beginning of class on February 17

1. Students will blog on each of the following topics (40 points each - 325 words minimum):

• Define Realism (provide support and give proper MLA attribution for your sources) - include the descriptions of the American Dream, Hero, and outlook on Society, and the historical changes that occurred at the end of Romanticism that changed the American style of writing, evolving it into Realism (including Naturalism/Regionalism)
• Define Naturalism (provide support and give proper MLA attribution for your sources)
• Define Regionalism (provide support and give proper MLA attribution for your sources)

2. For each of the following literary works, students will blog an evaluation/analysis of the work in regards to how it characterizes Realism (if the work falls in the Naturalism or Regionalism subset, be sure to include that discussion); a comparison of how the literary work reflects society of that time period; and an evaluation of the topics of religion, government, nature, human nature/psychology, the American Dream, use of figurative language, and the Hero (provide support and give proper MLA attribution for your sources - 50 points each - 500 words minimum):

• Frederick Douglass – from The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro
• Abraham Lincoln – from "Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865" and "The Gettysburg Address"
• Anonymous – "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Go Down, Moses," "Keep Your Hand on the Plow"
• Sojourner Truth – "And Ain‘t I a Woman?"
• Robert E. Lee – from "Letter to his Family"
• Willa Cather – from O Pioneers! and "A Wagner Matinée"
• Kate Chopin — from The Awakening and "The Story of an Hour"
• Stephen Crane – from The Red Badge of Courage
• Mark Twain – "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County"
• Mark Twain – "Two Views of the River"
• Edgar Lee Masters – Spoon River Anthology (or excerpts from)
• Chief Joseph – "I Will Fight No More Forever"
• Paul Laurence Dunbar – "Douglass" and "We Wear the Mask"
• Edwin Arlington Robinson – "Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy"
• Jack London — "To Build a Fire"