Pete Dunbar Realism Analysis

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Everyone experiences realism multiple times throughout their lives. Realism is accepting a situation as it is and adapting to it for the reason that you can not control the situation. Realism is also seeing things as they truly are. Most people accept realism and know that it is best to adapt to just adapt to the circumstances. Others try and fight realism and try to change their current situation even though it is futile. The idea of changing a situation instead of adapting to it is very shortsighted and simpleminded. Realism has been apart of mankind since the beginning and it has not changed since then. All of the extravagant writers to date have had a great understanding of realism and this in turn has helped them in their writing tremendously. …show more content…

His parents were enslaved, so he grew up hearing about all the pain, hardship, and tragedy of slavery. At this point in his life he understands he is fighting an uphill battle being an African American. He then has to go through hardships of his own when his father dies while Dunbar was still a child. He carried the sorrow from this tragedy throughout his entire life. Although, this tragedy did help him to become a more successful writer and poet. Instead of feeling bad for himself and his circumstances he chooses to try and be come a writer, knowing he is already at a disadvantage. He uses his tragic experiences and his understanding of racism in America for writing inspiration. Dunbar shows realism very well by adapting to racism and his tragedies then making the best of them instead of trying to fix them or just quitting. It was difficult becoming a well know author as an African American in the late 1800’s. Thomas L. Morgan says “As a black male author in a predominantly white literary world, Dunbar had to navigate the racial presumptions of editors and readers alike in order to succeed” (1). Dunbar found a way to write where white editors and readers both would like his poems and novels. Dunbar adapted to the white editors and readers very well, this in turn let him live solely off of his writings and Poems becoming the first African American to do so. Dunbar understands realism very well as he shows it consistently throughout his entire

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