AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1845-1910

The Civil War and It’s Aftermath, Regionalism/Realism, & Mark

Twain

IMPORTANT DATES:1845-1880

1848—first Women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls

1850—Fugitive Slave Act 1860—Abraham Lincoln elected president 1861—Civil War begins

Confederate forces win first battle at Bull Run 1865—Civil War ends, Lincoln assassinated,

13th Amendment bans slavery 1867—US buys Alaska from Russia 1870—Hiram Revels becomes the first

African American in US Senate

THE CIVIL WAR

Brought about by regional differences South—enslaved African Americans

provided the labor needed for an agricultural economy based on raising and selling cotton

North—free people—both white and black worked in mines, factories, and trading companies for an industrial economy

South wanted slavery to expand as nation expanded—North did not

When Lincoln won election, Southern states seceded from US

RECONSTRUCTION

Eleven year period after the civil war Marked by economic growth

South rebuilt North expanded industrialization

Both North and South: Still oppression African Americans battled discrimination/racism—

not enslaved Women fought for Equality—Susan B. Anthony was

arrested in 1872 in NY for attempting to vote Native Americans continue to struggle to protect

their land from the spread of white settlements

LIFE & TIMES

Underground Railroad Social network of hideouts for people fleeing slavery Harriet Tubman becomes most famous guide

Firsts First transatlantic telegraph cable laid in 1858 First typewriter produced in 1867 Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the first

telephone in 1876

FOOD/FASHION

Laws prohibiting consumption of alcohol go into effect between 1846 and 1857

Invention of sewing machine makes possible production of inexpensive, ready-to-wear clothing

1870s clothing maker in San Francisco begins making rugged pants out of blue denim reinforced with copper rivets. Levi’s blue jeans

Fashionable women wear skirts that are held out from bodies with wire frameworks

ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT

Baseball—1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings become the first team of all professional players

Photographers photograph war

LANGUAGE

Dialects Variety of language common to a specific region

Writers often mimic dialects in realist writing

REALISM

Before the war, fiction and poetry depicts people and situations that are highly imaginative

Nonfiction depicts hope and ideal notions of life in America

After war, people shocked by war’s brutality Writers begin to change what they write

about—shift to portrayal of real human experience with all of its imperfections and find truth in everyday people and experiences

Inspiration for realism found in colorful portrayal of own local region

REGIONALISM

Feed American’s curiosity of different regions of US by taking inspiration from local region

Uses distinct language, landforms, and custom’s of certain part of the country Way of speaking that is localized geographically Characteristics

Sound/pronunciation (cah/car) Word formation (crick/creek) Variations in syntax (on accident/by accident) Word choices (soda/pop) Figures of speech (by and by) Mark Twain uses 7 different dialects in novel, Huck Finn

MARK TWAIN

Born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri Real name Samuel Clemens 4 years old moved to Hannibal Missouri Father died from overwork when he was 11

years old 14 apprenticed the publisher of a local

newspaper 18 ran away to the East where he worked as

a temp printer in many cities: New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati

TWAIN CONTINUED

Father Free thinker, intellectual, held puritanical views,

was community minded Mother

Always helping others, highly religious, highly regarded by Twain

Hannibal Good-sized river city along the Mississippi; has

newspapers, churches, good schools Twain read a lot and decided to go to South

America

TWAIN CONTINUED

Met a river-boat pilot named Horace Bixby and hired him to teach him how to be a river-boat pilot Became familiar with all the towns along the Mississippi

River Important part in Huck Finn

Stopped when Civil War put a close on Mississippi to riverboat navigation

Twain enlisted in Confederate army—deserted after two weeks

Went west and wrote short stories 5 years later moved to New York, married, edited a

newspaper Wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884 Died in 1910

HUCK FINN

Somewhat of a sequel to Tom Sawyer Set in the Mississippi River Valley around

1840 Book centers on Huck and Jim’s travel from

their hometown of St. Petersburg, Missouri, north of St. Louis, to hundreds of miles into the deep south.

Written in regionalist style Various dialects

HUCK FINN CONTINUED

Uses figurative language throughout Simile/metaphor Symbolism Allegory--a representation of an abstract or spiritual

meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.

Irony—subtle, sometimes humorous perception of inconsistency in which the significance of a statement or event is changed by its content the firehouse burned down.

Personification—giving a non-living object human characteristics

Satire—using humor to ridicule or comment humor

THE CONTROVERSY

Huck Finn is one of the most debated books

The “N” word Morals of the main characterSmoking, drinking, swearing