This literature unit on Realism is the fifth in the series from the American Literary movement, which includes: The Puritan Era, The Age of Reason, The Romantic Era, Transcendentalism, Realism, Harlem Renaissance, Modernism and Post Modernism. As a reaction against Romanticism and Transcendentalism, Realism was given philosophical ground through German Idealism, American pragmatism, economic theories and further, it was assigned social obligations by the progressive movements. While the Romant