Contents: 1 introdiction 2

CHAPTER II Characteristics of realism and pessimism.

2.1. Characteristics of realism

Realism is a new and harsher of realism, The term realism itself came from Emile Zola . It is believed that he sought a new idea to convince the reading public of something new and more modern in his fiction . he argued that his innovation in fiction writing was the creation of characters and plots based on the scientific method. Skinnerian principles of learning through conditioning and Darwin hierarchy of survival of the fittest are the underlying themes involved in shaping the human character. There are many defining characteristics of literary realism . Gregory Phipps University of Iceland Confronting the ‘’Hard Facts’’: Pragmatism, Realism, and the Anticipation of Truth Charles Peirce, one of the founders of American pragmatism, writes, [facts are hard things which do not consist in my thinking stand unmoved by what you or I or any man or generations of men may opine about them. It is those facts I want to know , so that I may avoid disappointments and disaster. This quote provides one entry point for discussing intersections between realism and pragmatism. In my research ,I have returned repeatedly to the question of how characters in a diverse array of literary works, written by people ranging from Henry James To Richard wright to Jessie Fauset, work to anticipate, control and accommodate the ‘’ Hard Facts’’ of their social environments.
One of these of realism is determinism.
Determinism is basically the opposite of notion of free will .for determinism, , the idea that individual characters have a direct influence on the course of their lives is supplanted by focus on nature or fate .Human beings are living in natural environment like animals . They can react toward the exterior and interior forces but they are helpless before these forces[ Lin Xianghua, 1989 p 528]. Often a naturalist author will lead the reader to believe that a character’s fate has been pre-determined usually by heredity and environmental factors, that the destiny of humanity is misery in life and oblivion in death and that he she can do nothing about it.