Favorite Sights

Realism
It’s Time To Get Real

Do the names Faulkner, Sinclair, London and Twain ring a bell to you? The four afore mentioned writers were probably the four of the most proclaimed writers of the Realistic Era. The change from the previous time period from romanticism to realism was mostly due to the changes that America as a country began enduring in the last half of the 19th century.
The Civil War, the building of railroads, the extreme amount of immigrants, and speedy industrialization all combined together to turn the United States into a more productive society and a higher standard of living. Needless to say, with all the changes that American was going through, the Authors never went without a topic to write about. They began writing such pieces that to this day are still praised for their genius and how well they captured the time and subject in which they were writing. These writers believed that humanity’s freedom of choice was limited by the power of outside forces, which was extremely different from the belief of writers from the romantic and natural time period. All writers from the realistic time period focused their writing on select groups or topics; For example, Upton Sinclair focused on factory workers.
American Realist set their stories to specific regions across the United States. They wanted to capture the local color before all of it was lost and forgotten. With this method of writing there was always something to write about that the reader could relate to whether it was sad realities of everyday life, or the breakdown of traditional values or the trouble that the poor were going through. The main plots to their stories were written around normal, everyday lives, and the readers loved this. How much easier could it be than to relate to a character in a book who has the same problems that you do? Realism was the faithful report of all the aspects of everyday American life.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Years and years after the civil rights movement, the United States has finally progressed to become a society with virtually no racism. Of course, there are the minute few who choose to go against the laws and harbor a secret hate for minorities and even whites. However, the American justice system has taken care and rid the United States of all hate crimes, and if one is committed, the person would endure whatever punishment the judge saw fit for that crime.
So how is it that a society that has used African Americans as slaves in the past, developed into a society where African Americans were seen as equals to every other race. A lot of credit I believe should be owed to Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird which has set a climbing stone for our American culture. In the book, a black man is accused and sentenced to capital punishment for allegedly raping the daughter of a white farmer. He is solely named guilty because of word of mouth from two very racist whites, rather than being given a fair trial based on proof and evidence. His lawyer however, is a white man who believes in truth in the justice system and although the man loses his case, his death and the help of white lawyer set the stage for the civil rights movement to begin.
The civil rights movement started moving forward after the novel was finished. Without the novel would it have ever progressed to help the nation achieve the anti-racism position it holds today? We will never know for sure, but Harper Lee’s novel is one of the greatest books written by an American author in this century.

Acceptance?
Diversity.

It is scary to notice how quickly and well our society has progressed. It almost makes you think that something bad is bound to happen, because of how well we have morphed into acceptance and diversity. Coming from a time where virtually no one other than white’s were accepted into our American Society as equals, people like Martin Luther King Jr. have helped us take the scary first step forward to a better life.
Acceptance is a characteristic that people still have a hard time accustoming to about themselves, so why is it that we have been able to accept everyone else? I believe over the time period that we as Americans have matured in some insane way, and we have finally recognized that the color of one’s skin does not determine their worth or ability to be a productive part of society. The United States has become one of the most, if not the most, diverse nations in the world. North America is home to people of all races, religions, and cultures. Though with the extreme differences, everyone comes here with the same goal; to better their life and their families life. America has become the land of dreams, and probably one of the only places in the world where it is possible to make those dreams come true.
American citizens are old, young, new, white, black, brown, red, yellow, small, large, rich, poor and hopeful. We all want to make our lives better, and each progression of a better life, leads to a better society as a whole. Without the acceptance and diversity we have achieved, we more than likely would not have progressed into the society that we have developed to be so great. Our diversity makes us different, it makes us strong.