Realism in Fiction
Short Story Journal: Realism in Fiction
Realism can be defined as a description of what is, the practical and common-sense awareness of the world around us as seen through literary characters and their situations.
Choose one of the following stories:
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
“The New Dress”
In a two-page journal response (500 words), explain how this story expresses the idea of “realism” through the author’s style of writing, the characters, the setting, the events, and the language (choice of diction). When describing the idea of “realism,” use one of the following statements to help you define how the author approaches realism in his or her story:
Realism in short fiction can be seen in the use of ordinary and/or extraordinary events.
Realism in short fiction can be seen in the simplicity of the events, often focusing on one main event throughout the story.
Realism in short fiction can be seen as an escape from reality.
Realism in short fiction can be seen in ordinary activities and the routine of daily life.
Directions:
Complete your journal in a minimum of 500 words in well-developed paragraph form using direct quotes from the story. WRITE this essay USING your own ideas and the skills you’ve learned this semester to interpret the events of the story from YOUR OWN THINKING. No outside sources should be used. YOU MAY USE a dictionary or thesaurus to find definitions of words from the story you are analyzing.
Post your journal to Assignments under the forum Realism in Short Fiction.
Use MLA style for formatting your writing:
heading,
title,
double-spaced lines,
in-text citations, and
works cited section.
