What does it matter?

Honestly, what does it matter. Here I have just spent hours of my life pouring out my honest thought process while trying to study and better understand realism and romanticism, and now I need to close it up. As I sit here trying to compose my thoughts I can't help but wonder, why does it matter. Why does it matter that I understand what realism and romanticism is? Why does it matter that I try to explain what it is to my readers? Why does it matter that the two styles of writing don't exist without the other? Why does it matter that the meaning of such styles would be the same with or without the other style? Why does it matter?

I don't think the point of realism and romanticism was to ever include the theory that they can't exist without each other. I am confident in saying  it is just my theory; however, it is a theory that I created therefore it is valuable. Even if it is just valuable to me, it still matters. 

Realism in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is obvious. Ambrose Bierce is known for being a realist author, and I think he made a statement about what realism actually is through this story. As readers we see that realism is the shell that covers romanticism. I have said it several times and I will stand by this forever. Realism and romanticism cannot exist without each other. Realism; however, allows a reader to know what the picture looks like. It gives us a glimpse into what is there. We know what the story is about and what the big picture looks like. Whereas romanticism is the zoom on that lens. Romanticism is much more than just looking at the flowery language used to describe the story. It gives us the chance to look beyond the surface and recognize what the story is truly about. 

That being said, the meaning of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has two. The first meaning being one about the lesson or moral of the story. I think the meaning is the ability to change our fatality. Peyton was a man with dignity; he knew he was going to die, but he died in a manner that made him feel like he was dying the way he deserved. I think this sends a message of respect yourself enough to the point of when you are at a point in your life and you have no other choice in life but to accept that things can't be changed. You need to respect yourself enough to decide how you will be defeated, even if being defeated is unavoidable. Bierce shows this message through the actions Peyton takes throughout his journey to the end of his life. I am pretty confident that the entire story is a dream in Peyton's mind, and I am also pretty sure it was his way of keeping his dignity to decide to fight to the very last minute. 

The second meaning or message that I gained through my study of this story is the idea that realism and romanticism are surrounding elements in our lives. Realism represents our entire life. It represents the big picture, from start to finish. Romanticism is everything that happens within our lives. Romanticism is the meat, the middle. Without romanticism in our lives we wouldn't have realism and vice versa. I think this was an underlying message that Bierce was making while using the two styles together. They work together because they are meant to be together. 

So the end question, why does it matter? It matters because it is your life. While romanticism and realism are not the terms you will use to describe your actual life in essence all that romanticism and realism encompass is what happens in our lives. With that comes what I think Bierce was actually trying to say with his story; hold to your dignity and live your life the way want to. 

I have really enjoyed dissecting these terms and I really have learned a lot that I know will help me throughout my future...and I hope you did too! 

Thanks for reading! 

-Staci Browning 

Isn't it Always Just a Dream?

Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" offers us as readers options. We have two ways to read the story. We can look at the picture and choose to just look on the surface of the real issue, or we can look from a more romanticist perspective looking for the meaning behind the picture. While realism shows the shot of what is actually there: the entire picture in one or two sentences; romanticism goes deeper. Romanticism shows more than who the character(s) is/are but more fully what they are. I used to like to think of romanticism as a writing style that is flowery or over-dramatic. After carefully studying what romanticism actually is I have come to a more accurate definition and it adds more meaning to every story I now read. 

Romanticism is more than just the descriptive writing style that I initially thought. Romanticism encompasses the life of a character while describing every aspect that is in that picture taken by realism and far beyond even that. To read from a romanticist perspective you have to be looking between the lines. The answer will not be spelled out for you. Bierce does this really well, almost too well. When I was given the assignment in class to read this story for the first time I was really confused at what I was looking for. I thought I knew enough about romanticism and realism to accurately point out what is considered romanticist and realist writing, and I did. However, what I didn't know was how deep romanticism can be. Reading Bierce's story in this new light changed my perspective in a lot of ways, but the most important is what I read for. Romanticist writing is more than just writing. It has messages and themes throughout that are completely on their own agenda. You just have to look for them. When I think of romanticism I think now a little differently than I did before. I look at  how the style affects the story more than just how wordy or descriptive is this part of the story. 

• Highly imaginative and subjective
• Emotional intensity
• Escapism
• Common man as hero
• Nature as refuge, source of knowledge and/or spirituality 

This is a list compiled by a website I have linked to my side bar.

http://www.luc.edu/faculty/cschei1/teach/rrn.html

This was a list that helped open my eyes as to what romanticism actually is.

Turning our focus back to Bierce's story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" romanticism is everywhere. I noticed it immediately as I compared this list to the story: 

Highly imaginative and subjective: I think, and I am pretty confident in this "I think", that the story is all a dream. The way the character subconsciously describes the meat of the story is interesting. This is an example for reading between the lines. It took me a couple of times reading through this before I ever picked it up.  For example, in the first section we go through the description of this man, and we know very little about why he is being killed. Bierce puts a lot of focus on the surrounding soldiers what they are doing, and how it is affecting the man. He thinks what would happen if he were to get loose. The last line in section one Bierce writes, "As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside". What does he mean by "doomed the man's brain rather than evolved from it"? This is a question I wouldn't have picked up on had I only read this story from a realist perspective. The thoughts "doomed" instead of "evolved" . The story goes on as if he does escape and goes on this dangerous and treacherous journey. But what if the thoughts are actually just thoughts from that first section of the story. Something to consider. 

Another example is found in the very last section of the story. The man has gone through some pretty rough times and has finally found his way home. Bierce writes, "Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene". Who describes real life as a scene? Unless it is something they are imagining in their minds...coincidence I think not! 

I also think you could label this coincidence as escapism. Peyton Farquhar is in a very stressful situation imagining a more dignified way of dying could be and certainly looks like escapism. This also encompasses emotional intensity. As the entire story is based around Peyton's quest to find happiness again. 

The list goes on and on but it became clear to me that romanticism is found in everything we read. It is a cycle of the deeper we read the more romanticism we will find. 

Maybe that is the point, maybe the romanticism is really in our minds. I think romanticism is a style of writing and does have distinct characteristics that differentiate them from other types of writing; however, maybe when you get to the meat of the story is when we have to allow our minds to wonder in order to find an answer. 

This is probably making no sense and it probably only makes sense to me but these are sincere thoughts I had while reading this story. I bet you didn't know I had it in me did ya?!

Again my wonderful professor, Brother Cameron, provided this description with romanticism: 

"Romanticism is the reaction to the Enlightenment". 

"I think therefore I am" (Descartes).

 I again will open this up to you. What do you think it means? To me it means that romanticism is whatever you want it to be. It involves so much more than just the character development, plot development and writing style. Romanticism dives into the world of uncontrolled chaos and I think that is beautiful. I think it is amazing that writers are able to write in such a way that the meaning is different to everyone who reads it. Because romanticism and realism are so closely connected through this story the meaning to me remains the same, I'll get into that meaning in another post. But, the way Bierce and other writers utilize the attributes and qualities of both styles allows for a great and sensational thought provoking process for the reader. And to me that is powerful! 

Realanticism

The thing I love most about blogging is it allows me to be myself. I can be honest, and I can write how I want to write. I like to think of myself as a simple person; I am someone who likes to keep things in perspective. Realist writing is very similar to that. I think that is why I relate so easily to it. I like things to be spelled out plain and simple; realist writing definitely follows that format. Realism literature is often compared to photography. When you take a picture you are capturing what is in that moment. It is real life. I think that is what writers who wrote in a realism perspective tried to capture; that essence of this is exactly what it is. There is no flowery way to describe it. It is what it is. 

The thing that becomes interesting with this style of writing is you wouldn't think to pair it with the exact opposite and expect it to work. You'll soon discover you actually can't have one without the other. In Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" we're are thrown into this man's life as he "escapes" his brutal death. The way Bierce captures the middle of a catastrophe for this man is very realist. There is little background about him, and the background is introduced after readers see that picture. The opening statement from Bierce's writing is this "A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below" (1). I have no idea who this man is, why he is looking down to his death, or even what he is doing in northern Alabama, and it doesn't matter. The picture that Bierce took with his opening statement tells me what he sees, and with that what he wants others to see. This picture that Bierce is taking for me allows me into a shot of reality. 

Throughout the rest of the story Bierce transitions into a very flowery or romanticist style of writing. We really get to know the history of this man on Owl Creek Bridge. We really become invested in the story and learn sometimes even more than we want to; however, Bierce's closing statement follows the exact same style as his opening. Bierce writes, "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge" (6). Again, a picture was taken for us. We know more of who this man is because of what we read in the meat of the story. His name is Peyton Farquhar, and we know he is dead. With the first sentence and the last sentence we know all we need to know about the plot of this story. We have a character who goes through a trying time and ends up being unsuccessful in an attempt to save his life.  

This idea that realism captures a picture is something Bierce effectively does. It is a powerful tool. This idea that stating a simple sentence that includes hardly any detail and yet we know all we need to know. That is realism; it is seeing things for what they are. 

In one of our class lectures my professor, Brother Cameron, showed us this picture with this quote by William Dean Howells 

"Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material." 

What does that mean to you? It is a quote that is simple to understand yet you know there is so much more behind it. To me it means that realism writing is real. Make sense? Haha didn't think so! What does it mean to be real? People use the word as if it encompasses every attribute and quality they are or want to have. There is so much that goes into being "real" it is much more than what you portray on the outside, much like realism writing.  When we describe ourselves as being "real" we are limiting ourselves to what we really are and really want to be. 

I find it ironic that Bierce wrote the two of his most realist sentences at the beginning and end of his story, but the inside of his story follows the romanticist style so perfect. Bierce is considered a realist writer but I think he is making a strong argument for what realism actually is. A shell that hides what is really there and what is really happening. Is this a bad thing no, but I think realism and romanticism are often thought of as two separate things; however, you cannot have one without the other. 

What did you say?

Hello to anyone and everyone that is brave enough to read this post. I have been thinking long and hard about what I wanted to write or say to introduce the purpose of this blog and I don't think I will ever come up with a perfect way so I'm just going to throw it out there! Here we go! For a class I am taking right now I am required to do some sort of a project that will take up 8 hours and through my work show what I have come to understand better, narrowing that down was hard. I've learned a lot through the last several weeks, and to choose just one thing to focus on is much easier said than done. Nonetheless I came out successful with a brilliant idea that will knock your socks off...ready for it? 

ROMANTICISM and REALISM! Most of you are probably wondering what the heck these words are...like I was when I first heard them...and then some of you are wondering why you are still reading this post. Don't worry it will get better! Romanticism and realism are two terms that we discussed at the very beginning of this class and they were the two terms that have stuck with me throughout the entire semester! I don't know why they resonated with me so well, all I know is that I understand the thinking process of both sides a little better and because of that I can better understand romanticism and realism literature. Have you ever heard of the word "realist" or "realistic"? I'm sure you have but just in case; a realist person is someone who sees life the way it truly is. There is no sugar coating the good, bad and ugly. It is very plain and simple, no ifs ands or buts about it. Romanticism on the other hand is the complete opposite. It goes above and beyond sugar coating the good bad and ugly. To keep it simple romanticism romanticizes life. Speaking in literature it is written in a much more delicate and flowery way. I like to think of them this way: men are like realism and women are like romanticism. Think about it long enough and it will eventually start to make sense! 

While the two terms are almost completely unrelated in definition, I am here to argue that when used together they work magic. When romanticism and realism are written in a work of literature the meaning not only combines to one, but it makes the meaning more thought provoking, more understandable, and more glorious than it ever could be without one or the other. As surprising as this is I am going to prove it to you! Ambrose Bierce wrote a story titled An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. In this story Bierce effectively and appropriately uses both realism and romanticism in his writing. Courtesy of my professor Brother Cameron I have a link for you to read the essay for yourself. Feel free to read the story understanding nothing about realism and romanticism but purely enjoying the story. In my next blog post I will discuss with you how we know there is realism in the work. And what the realist meaning would be. Get excited because it is going to be great! 
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge