Realism: The Loons

As we can see in Faulkner's story, realism tries to portray life in its everyday, unidealized aspects, to work with material that touches the lives of average readers, even if some events may seem bizarre. In doing so, it tends to invite us to become involved in the inner lives of characters we can see as believably like us, whatever the differences in climate or culture might be. At the same time, realism doesn't avoid using figurative language to rise expressively above the level on which we usually experience everyday life. Another fine example is "The Loons" by the Canadian novelist, Margaret Laurence. Here, ...