The Diary Of Adam And Eve Literary Analysis

Gone are the overused expressions and ideologies of the Romantic period. America is a recently united country that realizes the depth and representation of issues that the pre-war literature era lacked. The quote by Henry James, “When history is so hard at work, fiction has little to say” is a complete reflection of the work of the Realism period. Real experiences became an important tool to describe issues uncovered by changes in society instead of fabricated and exaggerated tales. Leaving behind the overused themes of the Romantic period, authors from the 1860s to the early 1900s created a fresh style of writing to depict new changes in America after the Civil War. In Mark Twain’s short story, “The Diary of Adam and Eve”, he exhibits elements

Literature during the Romantic period ignored problems such as poverty and discrimination. In addition, those writers used condescending tones regarding people who could not control these harsh conditions in which the lived under. Realism challenged this unawareness and ignorance by addressing the facts of American life and the different perspectives that a broad spectrum of people had. According to James Farrell, “It seeks to present in the more humanizing terms of literature much of what the newspapers sensationalize and view with alarm”. In other words, realism created a stage that placed the general population’s problems in a spotlight. One example of a realist author who created societal connections is Mark Twain through his character in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn who questioned the morality of slavery as child. The fact that a young boy would help a runaway slave was groundbreaking for his readers and very advanced for the period. Realism broke barriers that once prevented the American people from knowing the truth about the culture they lived in.
Twain creates a truly American anecdote out of a traditional Bible story. Once America became a leading country of the world, its citizens began feeling pride and patriotism. In “The Diary of Adam and Eve”, Twain places the story in America, which is evident

In the late nineteenth century, men still dominated the professional work sphere while the women completed domestic tasks such as raising children. Men did not believe women could perform strenuous tasks outside of the home and state governments passed laws to prevent women from lifting more than fifteen pounds (WIC). This stopped women from working in factories and other professions, even though they were more than capable. Adam, like men at the time, put himself in charge of situations to prove his independence. He built a shelter for himself and would not share with Eve until later in the story (Twain 273). This shows how Adam’s masculinity and pride restrained Eve’s ability to have shelter and think logically, which she eventually proves. Simultaneously, Eve’s character portrays a classic vain female character. Even today, society classifies many women as conceited in their appearance along with Eve in Twain’s story. In his diary, Adam writes, “She fell in the pond again yesterday when she was looking at herself in it, which she is always doing” (Twain 275). This describes Eve as a self-obsessed girl whose vanity got the best of her and caused her to fall into the pond at least twice. The lack of society and class in the story could not prevent gender differences that cultures all over the world have