Realism conventions
Characteristic features of realist literature, including truthful representation of ordinary life, psychological depth, social observation, cause-and-effect plotting, and relatively straightforward narrative style.
Real World
George Eliot's 'Middlemarch' applies realist conventions by grounding Dorothea Brooke's idealism in the specific social constraints of 1830s provincial England — her choices are shaped by law, money, and marriage, not fate or fantasy.
Exam Focus
When analysing realism, link narrative technique (free indirect discourse, social detail) to the ideological purpose of representing life truthfully.
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