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1. Feelings of disillusionment.
2. Common subjects: slums of rapidly growing cities, factories replacing farmlands, poor factory workers, corrupt politicians.
3. Represented the manner and environment of everyday life and ordinary people as realistically as possible (Regionalism).
4. Sought to explain behavior (psychologically/socially).

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Mark Twain
-Huckleberry Finn
Jack London
-Call of the Wild
-"To Build a Fire"
Stephen Crane
-"The Open Boat"
Ambrose Bierce
-"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
Kate Chopin
-"Story of an Hour"
-The Awakening

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The War between the North and South over slavery

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The time when the North came down to the South to recover and set in new laws in the South

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During this time period, modern art was first created. It rejected any other abstract arts and only focused on realistic arts. It focused on how life was structured socially, economically, and politically.

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/realism/

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Realism time period rejected the idea of Romanticism in books. It centered around fiction novels, making sure there were real life elements in the literature or at least representing a real life.
http://www.longwood.edu/staff/lynchrl/english%20336/american_realism.htm

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(1865-1900)

Description:

Like all the terms relating to literary movements, the term is loose and somewhat equivocal. American Realism began as a reaction to and a rejection of Romanticism, with its emphasis on emotion, imagination, and the individual. The movement began as early as the 1830's but reached prominence and held sway from the end of the Civil War to around the end of the nineteenth century. The movement was centered in fiction, particularly the novel. It attempted fidelity to real life, or "actuality," in its representation. The realist concerns himself with the here and now, centering his work in his own time, dealing with common-place everyday events and people, and with the socio-political climate of his day .

Major Statements:

Samuel Clemens' (Mark Twain) "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses"

William Dean Howell's Criticism and Fiction (1891)

Henry James "The Art of Fiction"

Roots of Realism:

Southwest Humorists:

Harris, George Washington, 1814-1869, sketches Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun

Longstreet, Augustus Baldwin, 1790-1870 Georgia Scenes

Thorpe, Thomas Bangs, 1815-1878 The Hive of the Bee Hunter

Major Writers Representative Works

Name & Genres

Samuel Clemens, fiction The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi

"Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses",

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Bret Harte, short fiction Selected Stories of Bret Harte "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" "The Luck

of Roaring Camp"

Ambrose Bierce, fiction Tales of Soldiers and Civilian (1891)

William Dean Howells, fiction, essays A Modern Instance (1882), The Rise of Silas Lapham, A Hazard of New

Fortunes

Henry James, fiction "Daisy Miller," Portrait of A Lady, The American, The Turn of the Screw

Edith Wharton, fiction The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome, The Age of Innocence

Kate Chopin, fiction The Awakening

George Washington Cable, fiction The Grandissimes , Old Creole Days

Joel Chandler Harris, fiction Uncle Remus stories

Charles Chestnutt, fiction The Conjure Woman (1899), The House Behind the Cedars (1900)

"The Goophered Grapevine," "The Passing of Grandison"

Paul Lawrence Dunbar, poet

Hamlin Garland, fiction "Under the Lion's Paw"

Sarah Orne Jewett, fiction A White Heron (1886), "A White Heron,"

The Country of the Pointed Firs

(1896)

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, fiction A Humble Romance, A New England Nun and

Other Stories A New England Nun

The Revolt of Mother

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, fiction "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Jane Addams, autobiography Twenty Years At Hull House

Rebecca Harding Davis, fiction Life in the Iron-Mills

W.E.B. DuBois, essays The Souls of Black Folks

Booker T. Washington, autobiography Up From Slavery: An Autobiography

Common Themes and Elements in Realism

Pragmatism

literature of the common-place

attempts to represent real life

ordinary people--poor and middle class

ordinary speech in dialect--use of vernacular

recent or contemporary life

subject matter presented in an unidealized, unsentimentalized way

democratic function of literature

social criticism--effect on audience is key

presents indigenous American life

importance of place--regionalism, "local color"

sociology and psychology

Periodicals and Useful Resources:
Atlantic Monthly The Atlantic Monthly archives
Cady, Edwin H. The Light of Common Day: Realism in American Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1971.

Chase, Richard. The American Novel and Its Tradition. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday Anchor, 1957.

Geismar, Maxwell. Rebels and Ancestors: The American Novel, 1890-1915. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1953.
Harper's Weekly Harper's Weekly Archive Harper's Weekly Online Harper's Monthly Library of Southern Literature Literature of Slavery and Freedom New York Spirit of the Times Spirit of the Times Database Spirit of the Times Webpage North American Review The North American Review Archives The Online Archive of Nineteenth-Century U.S. Women's Writings
Pizer, Donald, ed. The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism: Howells to London. New York: Cambridge U P, 1995.

Sundquist, Eric, ed. and introd. American Realism: New Essays. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1982.

Trachtenberg, Alan. The Incorporation of America: Culture and Society in the Gilded Age. New York: Hill and Wang,
1982.

Ziff, Larzer. The American 1890s: Life and Times of a Lost Generation. New York: Viking, 1966.

Realism in Other Arts:

While realism in Western art was nothing new, as accurate presentation, nearly photographic, had been practiced as early as the Renaissance, the "new" realism eschewed any alteration from reality insisting instead on precise imitation. Subject matter was limited to the modern world and modern life. As in literature, works centered on the commonplace--lower class peasants and the urban working class, common people. Winslow Homer once said of his method, "I paint it exactly as it appears." French Realist Gustave Courbet may have said it better, "Everything that does not appear on the retina is outside the the domain of painting." Among the major practioners of American Realism in painting were: Homer, Thomas Eakins, William Michael Harnett, John Singer Sargent, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

Click on the thumbnails below to view a larger image.

Thomas Eakins

Winslow Homer

The Army of the Potomac - A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty

John Singer Sargent

Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears

James Abbott McNeill Whister

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander

Symphony in Grey and Green: The Ocean

Test Your Knowledge:

Take a quiz on some of the major characters of American Literary Realism.

Practice for the Major Field Assessment Test.

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Like all the terms relating to literary movements, the term is loose and somewhat equivocal. American Realism began as a reaction to and a rejection of Romanticism, with its emphasis on emotion, imagination, and the individual.

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Mark Twain's real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens and he was not expected to live during his childhood years due to health complications. Twain briefly served as a soldier on the confederate side only because he lived in the South. Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn based on a real person he knew that was much like Huckleberry in his story. Twain died with no direct descendants to carry his name.

https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-mark-twain

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Alice Walker and her ex-husband was the first couple to interracially marry which caused some commotion. Alice Walker's first essay won her 300 dollars and it was her first published work. Alice wrote a book called, The Color Purple which was turned into a film that went huge in the box office.
source: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/635875/alice-walker-facts

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1. Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the "American Dream": the independent, self-reliant, individual will triumph.
2. Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form over the traditional.
3. Interest in the inner workings of the human mind (ex. Stream of consciousness).

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Lorraine Hansberry
-A Raisin in the Sun
F. Scott Fitzgerald
-The Great Gatsby
William Faulkner
-"A Rose for Emily"
Eudora Welty
-"A Worn Path"
Robert Frost
-poetry
T. S. Eliot
-The Waste Land
-"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
John Steinbeck
-Of Mice and Men
-The Grapes of Wrath

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World War 1: 1914-1918
The Great Depression: 1929-1939
World War 2: 1939-1945

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During this era the past was "thrown out" and new things started to form which started the industrial revolution.  World Wars started to break out  and many people lost the sense of romanticism.

https://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/guidepages/Modernism2.html

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During this period authors started shifting their poems and writing styles to different styles. Poets started to write their poetry in free style and broke the original structure of writing.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Modernist_literature#:~:text=Literary%20modernism%20has%20its%20origins,was%20%22Make%20it%20new%22.

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The American Dream during the 20s was that the person can accomplish anything in life regardless of family history or social status if you work hard enough.

Source: https://inforefuge.com/demise-of-american-dream-the-great-gatsby

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The American Dream was also about acquiring riches and become wealthy. During that era everything was about materialistic things and not about values although some people did still believe in values as the American dream but it was a rare sight to see.

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The Great depression swept across America and the start of WW2 forced some women to go into the work force and create war weapons or transportation. The Dust bowl also happened during the 30s.

Link: https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/1930s-america-culture#:~:text=The%20Great%20Depression%2C%20the%20Dust,for%20fun%2C%20and%20much%20more.

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The first nuclear bomb built to bomb Japan in which it ended War World 2. The end of the 40s, the Cold War began to rise creating tensions between Russia and America.

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During the 50s, the Korean war starts and ends. Rosa Parks is arrested which then starts the boycott of buses. After the war, the baby boom began. Babies began to be born during the 50s.

Resource: https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1950s.html

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Frozen dinners is first introduced along with Ellis Island ceases to be  a point of immigration into the U.S. Alaska and Hawaii are now part of America in 1959.

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The Harlem Renaissance is known as the Jazz Era and Roaring 20s era.

1.Black cultural movement in Harlem, New York
2.Some poetry rhythms based on spirituals and jazz, lyrics on the blues, and diction from the street talk of the ghettos
3. Other poetry used conventional lyrical forms

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African Americans trying to find equality

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Alcohol was banned

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Famous Authors and Works: Harlem Renaissance 

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Famous Authors and Works: Harlem Renaissance 

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James Weldon Johnson
Claude McKay
Countee Cullen
Langston Hughes (poetry)
Zora Neale Hurston

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During this era, Black artists began to control how black culture was seen and the literary works began to be influential for African Americans. This era was the boom of African American authors and their works were known throughout the United States.

Resource: https://www.britannica.com/summary/Harlem-Renaissance-Key-Facts#:~:text=The%20Harlem%20Renaissance%20(c.,civil%20rights%20and%20reform%20organizations.

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This era was also known for jazz music and blues. Once again, the African Americans influenced the music during that era. Blacks would play jazz or blues at clubs and people loved it. Music changed during the Harlem Renaissance since it was the movement of African Americans.

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In the 1960s, the moon landing occurred along with JFK assassinated and Martin Luther King Jr. The end of the Cold War ends with Bay of Pigs.

Resource: https://www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/timelines/1960-1970/

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The Watergate Scandal forces Nixon to resign from office in the 70s. The Vietnam War is still going while the Americans at home are unhappy with it. Roe Vs. Wade court while Roe wins in the 70s, accepting abortion.a

Reference: https://www.historic-newspapers.co.uk/blog/1970s-events/

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As the 1960s drew to a close and the world had just seen the first man take his steps on the moon, a new tumultuous era was beginning. From a major American political scandal to the break-up of the Beatles, the 1970s was filled with big events, making the decade one to remember.

Along with iconic movies such as Grease and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory hitting our screens, the 1970s saw punk and disco dominate the music scene and the world mourned the death of the King of Rock n' Roll. If you're interested in exploring genuine newspaper articles from this eventful decade, take a look at our 1970 newspapers in our archive.
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The End of the Swinging Sixties

Naturally, the beginning of the 1970s meant the Swinging Sixties had come to an end. The 1960s earned this nickname from the youth-driven cultural revolution that emerged in the UK, in which art, music and fashion flourished. The Swinging Sixties was characterised by the Beatles, the miniskirt in fashion, the mob subculture and, in terms of politics, the anti-nuclear movement.

London was at the centre of the Swinging Sixties, with the Who and the Kinks popularised as "London sound," and Carnaby Street became an iconic shopping area. The decade also brought about a change in values, allowing young people greater freedom, less responsibilities and changes in sexual and social politics. This revolution largely impacted young, middle class people, with many other social groups not participating in these cultural migrations.

Many conservatives in the United States began to respond to the turbulence of the 1960s by embracing conservative populism, glorifying political conservatism and traditional family roles, which the 1960s had tried to move away from.

The Vietnam War and the Anti-War Movement

The Washington Post front page, Sunday, April 25, 1971
The Vietnam War was an ongoing controversial battle for the United States, with soldiers fighting in the fields and protests breaking out at home. By the 1970s, many Americans had begun to resent their nation's involvement in the war, with many travelling to protest such as the April 1971 demonstration in Washington D.C.

The anti-war movement grew throughout the United States, with protestors opposing the war on both economic and moral grounds. The public became more aware of the ongoing casualties and growing costs, believing that the war had gone beyond national interest and was restricting Vietnamese independence.

On January 27, 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords, which brought direct American involvement in the war to an end. In 1975, the Vietnam War came to an end.
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End of the Civil Rights Movement

While the classical Civil Rights Movement took place during the 1960s and the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, activists continued to fight for equality throughout the 1970s. The death of Malcolm X in 1964 and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 ushered in a new era of activism, and the 1970s is often referred to as the beginning of the post-civil rights movement era.

During the 1970s, African American activists made great progress in business, academia and politics. Here are a few standout civil rights moments from the decade:

The Supreme Court case Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education took place in 1971 , which upheld the right of students to take part in bussing to achieve integration .

Shirley Crisholm was the first African American candidate in a major party for President, and she was the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972.

Black History Month was founded in 1976 by Professor Carter Woodson.

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The Gay Liberation Movement

The Gay Liberation Movement flourished in the 1970s, fighting for equal rights for LGBTQ people and the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

In 1969, the Stonewall riots took place, during which members of the LGBTQ community fought against a police raid that began at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar, in New York City. The Inn was raided by police officers attempting to clear the area of "sexual deviants." The riots are considered to have ignited the gay rights movement in the United States, just in time for a new decade.

The movement achieved immense gains throughout the decade, especially in light of the profound negative stigma attached to homosexuality at the time. Although Canada, England and Wales had decriminalised homosexuality, the United States was yet to do so, with the American Psychiatric Association only removing homosexuality from its psychiatric disorder list in 1973. Many people became more open about their sexuality, even though same-sex marriage would not become legal in all American states until 2015.
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The Watergate Scandal

The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal that took place in the United States and was one of the most important events of the 1970s. The scandal was made public after five burglars were arrested at the Watergate office-apartment-complex on June 17, 1972, and led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

It was discovered that these burglars were spying on the Democratic Party, whose headquarters were in the Watergate complex. Their first break-in proved successful, but the second time they were arrested. Richard Nixon was re-elected President in November 1972 and denied any involvement in the break-ins and his staff tried hard to cover up the incident.

However, it was later uncovered that President Nixon had been involved, with two Washington Post reporters receiving leaked information from an anonymous source named Deep Throat. President Nixon and some of his staff were aware and involved in the break-in, and Nixon had used the CIA to stop FBI agents investigating. Initially there was no proof of his involvement, but then investigators found out that Nixon taped all of his conversations in the Oval Office, which the Supreme Court managed to get hold of.

With the discovery of the tapes, President Nixon had no choice but to resign as President, making him the first American President to do so. His criminal charges were pardoned by the succeeding President, Gerald Ford, but many of the government officials involved had to spend time in jail.
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The Cold War

Throughout the 1970s, the Cold War between the capitalist West and the communist East was ongoing. Although historians debate the start and the end of the Cold War, the war is often considered to have begun at the end of the Second World War in 1945, and have ended in 1991. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 and the humiliating Vietnam War, the United States, the Soviet Union and China all attempted to make an effort to improve relations and reduce tension.

In 1972, SALT I was signed by United States President Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev, the leader of the Soviet Union. The agreement set a limit on how many Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles each country was allowed to have, but did not put a limit on the creation of nuclear weapons.

However, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 led to an increase in tensions once again, with the United States supporting the Mujahideen of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union were hoping to establish a Communist government in Afghanistan, and the United States did not approve of the intervention.
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Roe v. Wade

In 1973, the United States saw groundbreaking legislative change following the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade , increasing women's reproductive rights . By a vote of 7 to 2, it was ruled by the court justices that the government did not have the power to prevent abortions. In other words, the court case legalised abortion in the United States.

This ruling came following Norma McCorvey's challenging of the criminal abortion laws in Texas, which prohibited abortion by deeming it unconstitutional, except in instances where the mother's life might be in danger. McCorvey was under the pseudonym "Jane Roe" and was 25 years old at the time of the case. The judgement of the court came from the decision that the right to terminate a pregnancy falls under the freedom of personal choice in family matters, which is protected by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
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The First Female Prime Minister of the UK

The UK saw its first female Prime Minister at the end of the decade. Margaret Thatcher resided in 10 Downing Street from 1979 to 1990, making her the longest serving Prime Minister since 1827. She was also the only Prime Minister of the 20th century to win three consecutive terms.

Ted Bundy

In more shocking news of the 1970s, Ted Bundy was a prolific serial killer who confessed to 30 homicides across 7 states in America between 1974 and 1978. Bundy targeted young women and girls, committing kidnapping, rape and murder, and the actual number of his victims remains unknown.

Many people struggled to believe Ted Bundy was really a serial killer due to his seemingly charming personality, handsome appearance, and law school background. Bundy did not fit the mould of the typical serial killer stereotype, and this did not go unnoticed by the public and journalists. His Florida trial in 1979 was the first to ever be nationally televised in the United States and interestingly, Ted Bundy made the decision to handle most of his own defence.

To find out how the press reported on Ted Bundy's trial in 1979, take a look at our newspaper analysis all about the Ted Bundy murders .
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The Break Up of the Beatles

The Beatles are considered the most influential rock band of all time. Their split changed the music scene at the start of the 1970s and traumatised fans all around the world, after achieving unparalleled fame throughout the 1960s. The Beatles' break up was sparked by a number of factors, including the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, in 1967, the domineering role of Paul McCartney, the strain that Beatlemania had put on the group, the use of heroin by John Lennon along with his relationship with Yoko Ono, as well as managerial disputes.

During the second half of the band's career, it was clear that the members were beginning to express individual styles, causing arguments about the direction of their music. After Lennon informed his fellow band members privately that he wanted to leave the band in 1969, it was on 10 April 1970 that Paul McCartney stated he was no longer working with the band in a press release. McCartney's statement worsened relations between him and the rest of the band, and sparked a widespread media reaction. Due to legal reasons, the official split-up of the band was not finalised until 1974.

The Beatles were a pioneering band in so many ways. They were central to the development of 1960s counterculture, as well as the recognition of popular music as an art form. They revolutionised areas of the music industry and were considered leaders of the youth and sociocultural movements of the decade, making their split a significant 'end-of-an-era' in music.
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The Emergence of Punk and Disco

What were the 1970s like in terms of music? The 1970s is remembered for the insurgence of punk and disco, two musical forms that ended up defining the decade. The two genres brought on a clash of cultures, both of them thriving in their own way and creating two popular, opposing styles. As well as this, the emergence of punk and disco represented a clash in race and class.

Bands such as the Ramones, the Smiths and the Clash were prominent in the rise of punk music, a more aggressive, no-apology form of rock music. Disco music was popularised through artists such as Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, and KC and the Sunshine Band, taking influences from blues and R'n'B to create a new sound that would get people dancing. Disco was also at the foundation of Saturday Night Fever, a 1977 film featuring music from the Bee Gees and many other artists from the disco era.

The "Battle of the Sexes" Tennis Match

In 1973, the world watched a highly publicised tennis match take place between the former number one ranked men's player Bobby Riggs, and the women's top player Billie Jean King. Riggs, aged 55 at the time, was a self-proclaimed chauvinist, frequently boasting that he could defeat any female tennis player and that women weren't able to handle the pressures of a tennis game.

The tennis match was televised, with a huge 50 million viewers and was watched in person by more than 30,000 spectators. The game was one of the most watched sporting events in history and it was the first tennis match to be viewed by so many people.

Billie Jean King was herself a strong advocate of gender equality and her game against Bobby Riggs put her fight in the limelight. In the end, King defeated Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, and achieved the $100,000 prize. While the game was so important in King's career, the importance of the game went beyond tennis, with it being an opportunity for women to prove themselves as equal to men in sport.
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The Death of Elvis Presley

In one of the most shocking 1970s events, the death of the King of Rock n' Roll on August 16, 1977 propelled the world into mourning. At the young age of 42, Elvis Presley fans all over the world couldn't believe they were saying goodbye to their idol so suddenly. His unexpected death made front-page headline news all around the world, especially since he had recently been performing before his death and showed no signs of major health problems.

At the time of his death, Elvis Presley was resting between shows at his mansion in Graceland, and he was found lying face down on the floor. After being pronounced dead after a speedy ambulance trip to the hospital, a doctor performs an autopsy to try and find the cause of death. They discovered Elvis was very ill with diabetes, but he had no signs of having suffered from a stroke, lung disease or heart disease. The actual cause of death still remains a mystery, with some people having a hard time believing Elvis had really died. Some people thought he was still alive and in hiding, and others contested the way he passed away.

The death of Elvis ended his era of rock n' roll but his legacy is unparalleled. Elvis influenced so many up and coming musicians, including the Beatles, and had a great impact in pushing rock music to a prominent position within American culture.
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Important Events in the 1970s - Historic Newspapers

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What were the most significant events in the 1970s? From the death of Elvis to the Vietnam War, discover the biggest events of the decade.

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The Berlin Wall is torn down in 1989, ending communism in Germany.  Ronald Reagan is elected president in the 80s starting the Reagan Revolution. New technology begins to develop in the 80s as well.

Link: https://www.sechistorical.org/museum/timeline/1980-timeline.php

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The Challenger explodes killing all of the crew members.  Microsoft releases their "word" processing program. While in Russia the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explodes.

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In the 90s the tv channel Nickelodeon was created and ruled over the tv programs. The toy Furbies was the top toy in the 90s and almost impossible to obtain. Microsoft saved Apple from bankruptcy by giving 150 million dollars to Apple.

Link: https://www.redbookmag.com/life/charity/g31088041/memorable-90s-events/?slide=6

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2001 was the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers shaking America as a whole. In March of 2000, the PlayStation 2 became one of the most famous selling product. The last Peanuts comic strip was posted in the newspapers after Charles Schultz's death.

Link: https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/2000.html

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1. Influenced by studies of media, language, and information technology.
2. Sense that little is unique; culture endlessly duplicates itself.
3. New literary forms and techniques: works composed of only dialogue, or combining fiction and nonfiction, experimenting with physical appearance of their work.

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A fight between North Korea and South Korea over Communism

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Conflict between Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. A war that America lost in

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Famous Authors and Works: Contemporary "Postmodernism"

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Famous Authors and Works: Contemporary "Postmodernism"

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Alice Walker
Wallace Stevens
e.e. cummings
Maya Angelou
Anne Sexton
James Baldwin
Richard Wright
Sandra Cisneros
Amy Tan

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The Contemporary Postmodernism era was when people began to see reality as subjective and not objective. People began to find their own "truths" and began to leave God out of the picture.
Link: http://jordansylaramericanliterature.weebly.com/the-postmodernist-period.html

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As implied by its name, the Postmodernist period occurred directly after the Modernist period. Events that inspired this movement were the end of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights movement. Postmodernism works were characterized by multiple qualities. These contemporary works often featured ordinary places and portray a release from meaning, a desire to correct the past, and a desire to enjoy oneself. These events influenced the writings of this era that display the diversity, materialism, and pride seen throughout America. Authors began to describe everyday life and new technology. Postmodernism focused on the present and the future. It was and is an ongoing, evolving period of American literature. Introduction:

With the end of World War II and the discovery of the holocaust and the atomic bomb, American society began to see reality as subjective. New types of art displayed this new mindset as well as the literature of the time period did. There was also a strong desire to correct the past and right the wrongs that occurred during both of the World Wars.
With advances in technology and rights, Americans could better define who they were. Americans now saw themselves as a major world power because of their atomic bombs. Women and African Americans also began developing a voice and identity distinct in American culture. With people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X leading the Civil Rights Movement, the African American identity started becoming recognized by society. Because not everyone supported this, racism also became another important theme of the Contemporary era.

_____________________________________________________________

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."
-Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 as the youngest of five children to Amasa Lee and Frances Finch in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father practiced law in the Alabama State Legislature and also owned part of a local newspaper. Her mother was a homemaker. As a young child, she loved to read and was also a tomboy. One of her best childhood friends was the famous author Truman Capote, who was the author of In Cold Blood.
While Lee attended high school, she developed a love for literature. She graduated from high school in 1944 and then attended an all women's college. She stood out because she did not care about fashion, makeup, or dating and only focused on her writing. Twelve years later, she received a Christmas present from a writer and composer, Michael Brown, that was a year's worth of wages so that she could spend a year only focusing on writing. She collaborated with editor Tay Hohoff, and produced her only novel to date. It was first titled Go Set a Watchman, then Atticus, and then To Kill A Mockingbird. To Kill A Mockingbird was published in 1960, and became an immediate bestseller. It won much positive critical acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize in 1961. In 1999, it was voted best novel of the century. This book was a coming of age story, but it also reflected many racial prejudices of the south.
After the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird , Lee accompanied her friend Capote to Kansas, where the two of them worked to gather information for an article that Capote was writing for The New Yorker . This article evolved into Capote's most famous novel, In Cold Blood. After returning home, Lee became somewhat of a recluse and participated in very few interviews or public appearances. She attempted to work on two more novels, but left them unfinished because she was dissatisfied with them. To this day, she has no further publications except for a few essays because the success of her novel and the fame that followed it were too much for Lee.
Despite her desires to avoid the it, Lee often found herself in the limelight. She became good friends with Gregory Peck, the actor who portrayed Atticus Finch in the screenplay adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird , and won an Oscar for his performance. She often visited the set and did interviews to support the film. Also, president Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Lee to the National Council of Arts in 1966. She accepted many honorary degrees, but still refused to make speeches.
In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S. Today, Harper Lee lives in an assisted-living home, wheel-chair bound, partially blind and deaf and as a victim to mild memory loss. Lee has agreed to release a novel that she completed in the 1950s and set aside called "Go Set a Watchman" to be released in July 14, 2015.

The Postmodernist period focuses on several themes that are evident in the works of the time period. The themes of identity, racism, and a search for goodness in humanity are the main themes of this time period. Identity is a theme commonly found in many African American works as they began to write about their culture and heritage. The theme of identity can also be seen in the women's civil rights movement of the time where women fought for their place in society. From the Civil Rights Movement also comes the theme of Racism. It is shown in To Kill A Mockingbird .
The title of "Postmodernism" fits well within this era because it depicts how people reacted to the events of the modern era. During the modern era, two major World Wars and The Great Depression left many Americans looking for hope in society. The holocaust and the atomic bombs left Americans searching for hope in humanity. Authors tried to reflect society and humanity in a way that showed that there was still some goodness left in it.
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"This is not a pipe." by Rene Magrite

Sunrise by Roy Lichtenstein

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As implied by its name, the Postmodernist period occurred directly after the Modernist period. Events that inspired this movement were the end of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights movement. Postmodernism works were characterized by multiple qualities.

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Literature in the Contemporary Postmodernism began to show diversity, materialism, and there was pride shown. Authors began to add in new technology terms in their books and described everyday life.

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The Help is a story about an African American who is maid and the story is written in her point of view on white families she works for. The story describes the hardships African American maids went through during the Civil Rights Movement. The theme is an exploration of racism in the south and how it took over everything including culture.

Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/plotsummary

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Adding time periods from the beginning of time all the way to present has been a fascinating journey. It's been cool adding facts and seeing what type of literature was written during that era. I learned so much researching time periods and understanding why certain books were written the way they were. Although, I disliked doing this assignment at first, it became fun. It's been so cool to look behind the stories and connecting them with a specific era. All books were written for a reason and the way they were written has been influenced by a time period. I'm grateful to be on the learning journey this year.