Time passes once and is gone, leaving no trace other than the memories of its events. Yet these memories are but rude pictures of the actual occurrences, images filtered through the lens of individual perception. This introduces the variable of perspective into the record of history. Differences in perspective are not always detrimental; an additional viewpoint often reveals a lesson or truth that was previously hidden.
As time passed, and American history unfolded, the national culture was being shaped and molded. On the forefront of these changes were the writers of American literature. Writers such as Mark Twain, Henry James, Bret Harte, and Stephen Crane were not only embracing the shifts in culture but also driving it onward, directing the course of both literature and the nation. These men lived through the trying times surrounding the Civil War and began to see life and their roles as writers differently than previous generations. Their perspective on the human condition departed from the idealistic, sanguine view of romanticism and shifted toward the pragmatic, naturalistic interpretations of realism. With these new ideas came new characters, vivid and gritty, and a renewed focus on the common man. Gone were the fancifully contrived characters of romantic conceptions, replacing them were the unfeigned men and women whose existence appeared to extend beyond the page, intertwining itself with reality and drawing reality into the story with them.
Mark Twain, a giant influence in the literary shift, was very much a regionalist writer, drawing on the local color in his writing. The excerpt from Roughing It known as “When the Buffalo Climbed a Tree” is a prime example of his use of eccentric characters in realistic situations for a humorous effect. In the story, the narrator is listening to Bemis, one of his travel companions, recount his harrowing adventure with an angry buffalo bull. The entire selection is primarily dialogue, mostly Bemis talking. As he continues with his story, his tall tale is stretched to the very limit and beyond, concluding with the bull climbing a tree and being shot. The narrator attempts to express his disbelief and finally reaches that the conclusion that if Bemis, “was not a liar he only missed it by the skin of his teeth.”
Twain’s use of dialect, as well as his inclusion of obvious exaggeration, creates a vivid scene in the mind of the reader. The entire story is told through the description that Bemis weaves in his tale, and much unlike romantic literature, there is very little description apart from the dialogue. A romantic author’s approach to this exact same tale would spend time describing the landscape, analyzing the characters’ thoughts, and, assuming that he would even touch a character as ridiculous as Bemis, soften him to make him more “civilized.” The lack of a moral point to the story is also a departure from the romantic style. Twain’s approach to writing comprehensively includes all of the details of the scene without filtering them for relevance to a central theme. However, even though the narrative does not have a specific theme, it does have a purpose. It creates a scene, populates it with a character, and engages the reader by allowing him to feel like he is present at the event. Bemis is a very believable, though not trustworthy, individual, and he seems like a fascinating person to meet. This sort of character development is a definite departure from the scrupulously designed characters of romantic literature.
The tale “The Real Thing” by Henry James is a great example of the genre of realism. In it, James portrays two persons, the Monarchs, who have come to an artist to offer their services as models. They are a gentleman and a lady, formerly from the upper class of life, who have come across a period of hard times and decided to seek modeling as a means of employment. From their point of view, they would make much better models for the “upper class” characters in the illustrations because they would not have to feign the attitudes; they were the “real thing.” However, despite their best efforts, their usefulness to the artist was limited and they would not suffice. In the end, they offered to perform the duties of a servant, if only to remain employed. However, the artist could not bear seeing them in such a condition and dismissed them.
James injects his readers into the scene from the very first sentence; the visitors are announced to the narrator and the audience simultaneously. The first-person tone of narration through the story also keeps the audience engaged, as if the speaker is having a conversation with them. However, even though the account is from the perspective of the painter, it is apparent that the story’s purpose is the Monarchs. The style of realism is immediately apparent through the dialogue. James captures the breath of the conversations, down to the awkward pauses and fleeting glances. This preservation of miscommunication is a unique feature of the realism genre; romantic style authors would not lower their characters to such flaws. Romantic authors would also not dare to allow the Monarch’s fate to have befallen them. To the extent that the reader is allowed to see them, they do everything right, yet they suffer nonetheless. Their persistence and humility is not rewarded; instead, they are dismissed from the studio and the story without ado. This attitude of a lack of equity in life is the perspective that Henry James has about the human condition and it is similarly reflected through the character of the painter. He is impressed by the Monarchs, but despite their desirable attributes, he, and life, simply cannot pause to accommodate them.
A sobering account of death is related in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by author Bret Harte. The story traces the ill-fated party of outcasts from Poker Flat, who must learn to get along if they want to survive their trip to the next town. Led by Mr. Oakhurst, they set out, but fatigue halts them, and an ill-timed snowstorm leaves them stranded miles from civilization. The five outcasts, along with a young couple who happened across them, quickly are reduced to a party of six, as one roguish member of their group absconds with their mules. After days of confinement and the death of one of the remaining outcasts, the young man from the couple is sent off to seek help. His effort is in vain however, as the rescue party arriving a few days later finds the women frozen to death and Mr. Oakhurst dead from a self-inflicted bullet wound.
Bret Harte’s writing is an excellent example of a combination of realism and local color. The gritty nature of this story is another illustration of a dramatic departure from the romantic approach to literature. His portrayal of the group and of Poker Flat gives them the opposite characteristics that might be expected. The town, which is attempting to clean itself up, is presented as the antagonist, and the group of outcasts is imbued with a type of heroism. While the town did not go about its attempt at renewal in the best way possible, and the exiled group is not entirely innocent, this blurring of the lines between good and evil is evidence of the realistic perspective that Harte employs. Particularly in the conclusion of the story, a sense of defeatism is pervasive. Almost all of the characters die, and none of them achieve any sort of physical or even moral triumph. Again, this is very different from the morality driven, romantic approach to literature.
“The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane is another example of the realistic perspective of the human condition in literature. It is the account of four survivors of a sunken steamship battling the elements in a small lifeboat. These men are the wounded captain, the cook, an oiler, and a correspondent. They come within sight of land but are frustrated by their lack of ability to communicate with the people on the shore. Eventually, after braving the ocean for several days, they attempt to break through the surf and swim for shore. This attempt is only partially successful; because, of the four men, only three survive the trip to shore; the oiler is found dead in a pool of water.
The emphasis on death and human frailty is a characteristic of the realism movement, but what really sets it apart from the romantic perspective of the human condition is the additional inclusion of the haphazard nature of life. The death of the oiler at the end of the story comes as a shock; of all the characters, the captain, not him, seemed most likely to die. This indiscriminate killing by the sea highlights the vicissitudes of life; despite man’s best efforts, he is still subject to the whim of nature.
Each of these selections has a unique topic, and the actual writing styles are quite varied; however, there is a uniting characteristic. They all demonstrate a departure from the romantic approach to literature, from the literal point of view to the attitude about the human condition. Each of the authors pulls the reader from the omniscient point of view that is characteristic of romantic literature down to the level of a character, sharing only one character’s thoughts, and seeing events as they happen. They all also display an increased awareness of the frailty of life and the weakness of man in the presence of the hardships of life. The shift in literary focus, while distinctly changing the viewpoint of literature, embraces these new perspectives and presents new truths about life.
