Realism Reflection Paper 
Azia Sandhu
Mrs. Branscum
Honors English III
9 December 2014
Realism
In The Outcasts of Poker Flats by Bret Harte and in To Build a Fire by Jack London we see many of the characteristics of realism. From vivid details and issues of real life, to optimism and dealing with the common or ordinary we see realism very prominently in each of these stories. Both of these stories face the same characteristics of realism such as vivid details as they try to survive in the wilderness, issues of real life such as love and death, and the optimism they try to have as each of their situation’s go from bad to worse.
In The Outcasts of Poker Flats we notice that Harte uses very vivid details that give us a very clear sense of imagery. “As the shadows crept slowly up the mountain, a slight breeze rocked the tops of the pine-trees, and moaned through their long and gloomy aisles” (Harte 16). Harte uses such vivid details that can help us imagine the setting as if we were truly there. When it comes to the characteristic of dealing with the common or ordinary, the example that was very prominent to me was that of love. Tom Simson and Piney Woods, the two innocents in the group of outcasts. “As the lovers parted, they unaffectedly exchanged a kiss, so honest and sincere that it might have been heard above the swaying pines” (Harte 18).
In To Build a Fire, London also uses very vivid details to help describe the setting. “Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little-travelled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland” (London 1) Right off the bat, in the first line of the story, London begins to describe the landscape and give some background onto where the story is taking place. “North and south, as far as his eye could see, it was unbroken white, save for a dark hair-line that curved and twisted from around the spruce-covered island to the south, and
Mrs. Branscum
Honors English III
9 December 2014
Realism
In The Outcasts of Poker Flats by Bret Harte and in To Build a Fire by Jack London we see many of the characteristics of realism. From vivid details and issues of real life, to optimism and dealing with the common or ordinary we see realism very prominently in each of these stories. Both of these stories face the same characteristics of realism such as vivid details as they try to survive in the wilderness, issues of real life such as love and death, and the optimism they try to have as each of their situation’s go from bad to worse.
In The Outcasts of Poker Flats we notice that Harte uses very vivid details that give us a very clear sense of imagery. “As the shadows crept slowly up the mountain, a slight breeze rocked the tops of the pine-trees, and moaned through their long and gloomy aisles” (Harte 16). Harte uses such vivid details that can help us imagine the setting as if we were truly there. When it comes to the characteristic of dealing with the common or ordinary, the example that was very prominent to me was that of love. Tom Simson and Piney Woods, the two innocents in the group of outcasts. “As the lovers parted, they unaffectedly exchanged a kiss, so honest and sincere that it might have been heard above the swaying pines” (Harte 18).
In To Build a Fire, London also uses very vivid details to help describe the setting. “Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little-travelled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland” (London 1) Right off the bat, in the first line of the story, London begins to describe the landscape and give some background onto where the story is taking place. “North and south, as far as his eye could see, it was unbroken white, save for a dark hair-line that curved and twisted from around the spruce-covered island to the south, and