Dorothea Lange

I chose the work of Dorothea Lange as my example of modern realism. Lange traveled across the U.S. documenting the plight of Americans during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Her photos were not posed or edited, they are the raw images of the strife and suffering that people were experiencing. It expresses Realistic ideals because not only does it show you something that you don't need your imagination to understand, it shines light on a serious social issue.

The Battle With Mr. Covey by Frederick Douglass

Douglass explains in great detail how he felt after the fight with Mr. Covey. "I felt as I never felt before. It was a glorious resurrection from the tomb of slavery to the heaven of freedom. My long- crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place..." He wrote about the resurgence of his will to live and the determination he had to become free. He describes his intentions perfectly with little room for interpretation, which is a defining characteristic of realism writing.
Douglass is obviously throwing into harsh light the "bitterest dregs of slavery" with his retelling of his time with Mr. Covey. First he tells of how Mr. Covey broke his "body, soul, and spirit". Mr. Covey worked slaves so hard that Douglass says it completely changed him, "My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!" Douglass is trying to get people to understand how truely awful slavery is by realating the harsh conditions he and his fellow slaves were subject to.

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

The description of what Louise sees out of the window in front of her chair is very detailed in my opinion. "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves." That paints a vivid picture of what Louise was experiencing as she sat in her chair. Realists didn't want their readers to have to use their imagination when they read their stories, so the descriptive and detailed way that Chopin explains the setting of her story is a good example of realism.
The social issue that Chopin addresses in The Story of an Hour is women's rights. In the story Louise is happy after her husband is thought to be dead, because she is finally free to live her own life as she sees fit. I didn't get the feeling that Louise's husband was tyranical or abusive, but Louise just wanted the chance to live of her won free will like many women would not have been able to during that time period. "There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination." Back then a wife would have been expected to be meek and willing to follow her husband wherever he may choose to go. Louise wanted to make her own decisions for once, which would be a growing desire of women in the years to come. "'Free! Body and soul free!'"