Compare and contrast the major themes of the “genteel tradition,” loca

Compare and contrast the major themes of the “genteel tradition,” local colorists, realists, and naturalists in late nineteenth-century American literature.

What will be an ideal response?

ANSWER
The genteel tradition treated the ideal, moral, and sentimental. Local colorists treated regional differences, rural America, humor, and innocence. Realists dealt with concrete ethical choices in realistic circumstances. Naturalists dealt with how the helpless individual was victimized by harsh natural forces beyond human control, and how industrial exploitation and urban poverty ground the individual into moral despair.