“Our art is a reflection of our reality” (Gray, Straight Outta Compton). Realism was a movement that started in the 1850s that focused on the avoidance of the exotic and the overly exaggerated drama that came with the Romantic movement which basically was the exact opposite of Realism. The Realism movement came in many forms and one of the bigger forms of Realism was literature and one of the books called “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck came along with movement. The book “Of Mice and Men” is a Realist piece of literature because of the Realist Elements it contains which include the emphasis on characters from the cities and lower class, the use of everyday speech patterns to reveal class distinctions, and the detailed depiction of ordinary…show more content… This person could exist in the real life and this event could actually occur and with the both of these combined it can create a real life scenario or simulation. The text in the book says “They had walked in a single file line down the path, and even in the open one stayed behind the other. Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons” (Steinbeck, 1937, p 2). This text describes how the main characters dressed and how the clothes they wear affect where they are at in society. They aren’t wearing fancy or expensive clothing but instead they are wearing with what they got and what works with them. They wear their essentials instead of wearing to impress or show off.
These three elements of the realism, which are the emphasis on characters from the cities and lower class, the use of everyday speech patterns to reveal class distinctions, and the detailed depiction of ordinary characters and realistic events, are only some of the many elements that “Of Mice and Men” contains. The art that authors make is how they see reality and how reality is cruel and unusual compared to other forms of writing because at that time they were the ones who saw the world as it is and wanted help others see it as well. The realist authors truly reflected reality with their form of
