Division, Reconciliation, and Expansion

American Literature

1850 - 1914

Division, Reconciliation,and Expansion

American Literature1850 - 1914

America goes from an agricultural nation

to an industrial nation

America goes through the CIVIL WAR

THE FRONTIER DISAPPEARS

Railroads

mining

Cattle Ranching

All contributed to the shrinking0f the frontier.

By 1890, virtually all of the Native Americanshad been forced from their land

Technology Explosion!

Electricity replacesSteam power.

The Telephone!

The AutomobileThe Phonograph

THEMOVIEPALACE

TheSkyscraper!

GreaterExtremesBetween theRich and thePoor.

Naturalism/Realism

Began shortly after the Civil War

Writers focused on “real life”

Depicted people in real life situations – but believed That greater forces like

FATE RULED AN INDIVIDUALS DESTINY

Focused on the changingculture.

TIMELINE

1850 1860 18701855 Whitman publishes 1860 Abraham Lincoln 1876 Twain

Leaves of Grass is elected president publishes The

Adventures of

Tom Sawyer

1859 Darwin introduces 1861 Civil War begins 1877 military

theory of evolution occupation of

the south ends

1865 Lee Surrenders

to Grant

TIMELINE

1880 1890 19001884 Twain Publishes 1895 First professional 1905 Einstein

The Adventures of football game played in proposes

Huckleberry Finn Latrobe, Pa relativity theory

1886 Statue of Liberty 1895 Stephen Crane 1908 Ford builds

dedicated in New York publishes The Red Model T.

Harbor Badge of Courage

Ambrose Bierce

1842 – 1914?

Was a Union Officer in the Civil War

AFTER THE WAR

Worked as a Journalistin San Francisco - Wrote political satire

- used the pseudonym “Jonathan

Oldstyle”

Was nicknamed “The Wickedest Man in San Francisco”

HENRY JAMES1843-1916

Considered to be the master of the Novel andNovella forms.

Many of his stories and novels center around America’s culture clash with Europe in the late1800s.

His observations about proper Europeans and brash Americansare chronicled in “Daisy Miller”

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN1860 - 1935

Is considered a “FeministUtopian”

Was an activist for social reform

What she accomplished in her lifetime was considered exceptionalfor a woman.

Her short story, “The YellowWallpaper” is Semi-autobiographical.

EDITH WHARTON1862 - 1937

Wrote about America’s “Privileged” Class

Was a good friend ofHenry James

Like James, she also explored culture differences between “young” Americans and Europeans

Often employed dramatic irony and humorIn her writing.

KATE CHOPIN1850 - 1904

Most of her stories are set in a Louisiana Creole background

Her novel, The Awakening(1899) was a banned book in America for a period of time.

The novel was consideredcontroversial because it explored the issues of infidelity, divorce and women’s equality.