The passage is a strong example of realism in literature because it shows people performing ordinary activities in a setting that feels familiar. Realism focuses on depicting everyday life and the experiences of ordinary people. In this excerpt, the description of the town and its inhabitants emphasizes the monotony and sameness of their lives, which reflects the realistic portrayal of society and the often repetitive and dreary nature of working-class existence during Dickens' time. The emphasis on the sameness of the environment and the people contributes to a nuanced understanding of their realities.
Read the passage from Hard Times by Charles Dickens.
It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it. . . . It contained several large streets all very like one another, and many small streets still more like one another, inhabited by people equally like one another, who all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the same pavements, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and to-morrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the next.
Why is this passage a strong example of realism in literature?
It portrays heroic figures performing difficult jobs during a time of trouble.
It focuses on an imaginary setting that does not currently exist in the world.
It shows people performing ordinary activities in a setting that feels familiar.
It uses red brick as a symbol of life, and smoke and ashes as symbols of death.
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