Learning Outcomes

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

• Describe the post-Civil War context of American culture at the time Realistic writing came into prominence.
• List the features of American Literary Realism.
• List the features of the two sub-movements that preceded Realism: Local Color and Regionalism.
• Identify stylistic elements of Local Color, Regionalism, and Realism in literary selections.
• Identify major distinctions and differences among the literary styles of Local Color, Regionalism, and Realism.
• Analyze the ways in which women’s literature develops in this period.
• Analyze themes in an early work by an African-American writer.