“The Rector” written by Mrs. Oliphant could be characterized as Victorian Realism through the unfortunate events of Mr. Proctor’s life in Carlingford. Victorian Realism is defined as “everyday experiences, moral progress, and inner struggles of an ordinary individual…” (Broadway 615). The narrator emphasizes the normalcy of Carlingford quite frequently in the opening of “The Rector” by describing it as a mild town inhabiting a good society, but “none above the rank of green grocer or milkman.” The residents of Carlingford are also mild themselves, but so too is Mr. Proctor. There is a goldilocks theme throughout Mr. Proctor’s reality where the “right” things are never too this or too that; his character is set up to be mediocre with a lukewarm personality and life. Examples of this are Mr. Proctor’s sermons that are never cut short, but also never exceed a single word deemed unnecessary. “He is neither high nor low church, enlightened nor narrow minded.” Mrs. Proctor, his mother, also views her son as an ordinary man deserving of an ordinary life because she pushes him to choose the oldest of the Wodehouse sisters because “she would make a nice wife-not too foolish, or you know, fanciful.” Realism Literature strives to replicate reality and convey a sense of social misery in its writings paired with ideals of bravery, morality, and duty. “The Rector” mimics these ideals, especially regarding the sense of duty. Duty plays an important role of upholding one’s moral progress, once you abandon duty, so too is morality left behind. The only character that strays from her duty is the young Lucy Wodehouse. In the beginning of “The Rector” the narrator comments that “the times were rare when Lucy did her duty according to Miss Wodehouse’s estimate.” Lucy represents a young, happy, dutiless entity or “creature” as she is so often referred to. These attributes of Lucy just may be precisely why Mr. Proctor has an underlying desire for her that he cannot deny, because he represents the exact opposite. Mr. Proctor is restrained by his duties, and his inefficiency in performing them becomes evident when he cannot provide comfort to an ill woman on her deathbed. It is then when Mr. Proctor truly begins his inner struggles within himself and his obligations. He knows he cannot stay because he is ill-fitted to perform his duties and thus, leaves Carlingford and returns to All-Souls abandoning his duties and moral progress since he is still haunted by the event of the dying woman he could not comfort like Mr. WentWorth could.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a piece of literature that through its own merit and numerous modern re-imaginings , has become a staple in the supernatural and science fiction realm. Yet when comparing the tale to the definition of Victorian realism, there is striking evidence that Stevenson’s story is a definitive example of the genre so focused on the realistic struggles of average people. In two key ways, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde most strongly parallels the genre: it’s protagonist’s struggles and the appeal of it as a cautionary tale to Victorian readers.

The Broadview Anthology of Literature defines the Victorian idea of realism as a genre dedicated to “the everyday experiences, moral progress and inner struggles of an ordinary individual,” (Broadview 615). While Dr. Jekyll’s activities are by no means ordinary, the larger psychological and moral struggle they represent is one that is a universal experience. Dr. Jekyll by the text itself is considered a good, upstanding member of society, even if those who know him best like Lanyon consider him “fanciful” (Stevenson 1126). He is an respected member of Victorian society in the text, and would no doubt be a realistic figure to Victorian audiences- even when his actions become more and more dubious- the facade of normalcy that Dr. Jekyll presents is one that is a familiar facade to many. The idea of having to repress a certain part of our personality or a supposed “dark side” is an experience that both modern and original audiences could relate too and find realistic.

Furthermore, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde falls into the category of Victorian realism because of its role as a cautionary tale. As the textbook argues, “Many Victorian readers sought moral and ethical guidance from their authors,” (Broadview 615) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde serve just that purpose. The narrative warns audiences against the dangers of giving into their vices or their dark sides as it can quickly spiral out of their control. Dr. Jekyll recounted his own first feelings as Mr Hyde as “I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked…and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine” (Stevenson 1148). While Dr. Jekyll exalts in his new form as Mr. Hyde and takes advantage of the freedom, the joy at this escape does not last long. Dr. Jekyll writes that as time wore on, he felt that he was losing “his original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse,” (Stevenson 1151). As the story does not have a happy end for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the narrative ends on feelings of pity, but also those of caution. To a Victorian audience, this ending was moral instruction- engaging in that repressed side can only end in tragedy so it is better to live as a good person, regardless of the temporary buzz wickedness might bring. This function of moral instruction demonstrates how this narrative is Victorian realism.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a clear example of Victorian realism. Through its protagonist of Dr Jekyll, we see a realistic character with universal struggles with morality and duality. The narrative also functions as a cautionary tale attempting to impart moral instruction. Both of these qualities showcase the narrative functioning as a piece of literature a part of the Victorian realism genre.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde seems to go against the Victorian Realism movement. Victorian Realism exposes the life of the people through revealing their habits and desires. It focuses on an ordinary individual’s life and struggles. To add on, it also might have an omniscient narrator who sees moral progress in others. Furthermore, it also shows the economic structures of that certain region in the book. On the contrary, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is more of a Gothic literature text or even a science fiction story. Also, the narrator of the story is not omniscient, it is revealed to be Mr. Gabriel John Utterson. It also reveals how people go beyond what is morally right when experimenting with human nature. Dr. Jekyll went beyond the appropriate boundaries of experimenting and created Mr. Hyde. This is where the story is almost considered a Gothic piece of literature because it builds suspense and anxiety. In the end, he becomes his evil counterpart permanently, adding a sense of darkness and horror to the story. Thus, it is not Victorian Realist literature because it does not talk about the everyday common man and his habits. Instead, it is a Gothic Science Fiction text. It goes against the Victorian Realist movement.

The question of whether or not “The Rector” is an example of Victorian realism or not. To consider this; it would be in our best interests to define the realism first. Such characteristics include, “present an objective representation of real life that reflected the habits, desire, and aspirations of readers.” (615). that would make sense to write a novel connecting to the average reader.  On the same page it continue with the focus “on the everyday experiences, moral progress, and inner struggles of an ordinary individual, while giving a sense of the connections between that individual and his or her broader social networks.” A simpler way of putting this would have been to say that the reader needs to be able to relate to the characters. Another characteristic would be the details written about landscapes, including the city; not to mention the emotional aspect of a character. The final characteristic that I’m willing to discuss is the idea that the text could provide the reader a way to sympathize with others.

                The question now becomes how does the story of The Rector fit in to this landscape of the realism movement?

                Starting with the second to last characteristic of providing readers with details to landscapes, The Rector,where in the sixth paragraph in Chapter I where it talks about Miss Wodehouse sitting on a garden bench.  What’s nice is that at some point any ready can picture this serene garden bench, even in a park. You could even picture this in a spatial backyard, which was where this scene took place, and a group of people just speculating on the new Rector.

                One of the characteristics I mentioned was the inner struggles, and who can personify this then the new Rector, or Mr. Proctor. He follows the head of the house Mr. Wodehouse into the garden where it’s described that he starts to gain color in his face, probably from embarrassment because it’s revealed to us that he has been cloistered in All-Souls for fifteen years. That’s an extreme isolation, but on some level we as readers can relate to when you come to a group of strangers it can be nerve wracking. But in the end I think he realized that his presence wasn’t helpful, because on her deathbed he couldn’t provide any comfort of any kind. Don’t get me wrong, watching a person die is emotionally and mentally taxing for those witnessing it, but on some level one could provide a hand for the person to cling to or an ear to listen. As the rector of Claringford he was no help to provide comfort in her dying moments. He didn’t even have his bible with him. I’m not an expert, but I would think that is something that would be on your person. Unfortunately the woman dies and the helpless Mr. Proctor as Mr. Wentworth, a younger rector for another parish, provides her with solace before she takes her last breath.  What this scene shows is that the reader could sympathize not with Mr. Proctor but with the dying woman and Lucy who was by her side trying to provide comfort for her. It’s understandable that it’s going to be a challenge going form a cloister at All-Souls to being a figure in a community. This provides a social dilemma for him, but hiding away from the world isn’t helpful either. His character provides us with an opportunity to recognize that he was inept for the job. On one hand we argue that his lack of social skills makes him unqualified for his position, but what we need to applaud is that he made the decision to quit his post for the greater good.                

These were just small examples of The Rector making the case for it being an example of realism, even if his awkwardness was exaggerated a bit.

                The Rector, by Margaret Oliphant, is a classic example of Victorian realism.  Before looking at what makes this piece of literature an instance of realism, I think it’s important to first look at what drove this literary movement.  The Victorian era was marked by upheaval, revolution and social change.  Realism was spurred from this tumultuous time and was designed to fill a specific social need.  People were in search of answers and still sought council in the modern authors of the time.  This is where the want for realism began. There was a dualistic belief that first declared art as an expression of life, and this spurred a deeper need for art to be a beacon in dark and confusing times.  One could say that the times were demanding functional art, and Victorian realism was a reaction to this yearning.

            The Rector was a somewhat controversial piece of literature, which called into question the true spirituality and societal usefulness of “high church” clergy.  I think this controversial aspect, combined with a tone of spiritual questioning is what makes this novel a solid example of Victorian realism.  Much of the beginning of the story revolves around a small community’s need for a compassionate and involved rector.  Ironically, the rector mostly thinks about a young lady, half his age, and his reluctant obsession for her.  While he is thinking with “guilty consciousness” that his “own powers of resistance” were lacking, the people of Carlingford wondered about the rector’s true ambitions and motivations.  Mrs. Oliphant makes it clear in her writing that this rector is completely out of touch with the people he was sent to guide and serve.  This is specifically clear in his inner dialogue which is more sexually driven than spiritually.

            The rector’s ineptitude becomes more and more clear as the novel progresses.  It is the Rector himself who discovers the truth of who he is, a spiritual fraud.  Although the rector saw himself as “the most magnanimous of men” he had to “confess that he [had] undertaken an office for which he [had] not found himself capable”.  This spiritual incompetence, of a distinguished clergyman, is the dose of realism that the author intended.  Instead of forwarding the heroic sentimentality of the Romantic era, Victorian realism often depicted the anti-hero, steeped in failure and lacking in valor.  However, I would argue that the theme of this story goes deeper than the individual rector and questions the entire worth of scholarly high church society.  Novels of this time didn’t just deliver a story of entertainment, but tried to wrestle with all the political and societal issues of the times.  

For most of the stories we read for this era I felt that all of them (besides the rector) rejected the realism movement, a good example of Sherlock Holmes has long been known as not only the world’s greatest detective, but also been able to find answers in very extreme ways but that can be identified as realistic. Which is why I find it so odd that I think his adventure with “The Speckled Band” is somewhat against the realism movement. The story centers around the idea that the step-father went to India, and became evil and decided to off his children for money.

Not only is this very contrived, but the realism movement relied on non exotic plot points in stories. So even the idea that a man could go to India and become evil because of the exoticness of the area, but also adopt several different wild and exotic animals and have them live with him in London. The story seems very unrealistic, and not just by today’s standards. Even in the Victorian era this does seem to follow non-realism rules.

The piece to me feels like Doyle wanted this piece to be a sort of jab to the realism movement in someway or more a parody of the movement, as the opening and everything that leads up to the whole reveal at the end of it being nonrealism, similar to that of Northanger Abbey. How at first it seems like a courtship novel but at the end turns into a parody of Anne Radcliff novels. The whole intro seems to follow that of a realism novel but once we arrive at the doctors house we seem to enter an unrealism world as we see a lot of the story revolve around the exoticness of India and how it corrupted the doctor’s soul.

In this way it is rejecting the troupes that preceded the movement and turning it on it’s head, as if Doyle is saying you can have a good story even with non realistic troupes, that forcing yourself to not add some unusual to the mix can make a story rather dull at times. I think a good example of a story that could be rather dull without much else contributing to the plot is The Rector, the story is pretty bare bones and is mainly just an awkward guy who has a hard time getting a girlfriend and is bad at his job. Theirs not much else going on, but if we look at Sherlock Holmes, he saved a girl from being killed from an exotic snake and revealed that her father wanted her dead to inherit her money. The story has a lot more happening and more excitement, which is what I think might have been Doyle’s point in making this story, to show that realism needs more to it as a simple story won’t truly cut it.

The Rector has steamed in my mind, lingering at random moments in my head. Yes, my head is constantly disrupted by literature thoughts. But unlike An Ethiopian Romance, The  Princess Bride, or East of Eden; The Rector was a curiosity I couldn’t help but battle. I find myself lost in thought still. Do I love it? Or am I still unsure due to the ending? 

After learning that the story continued in other books, I couldn’t help but wonder more about the story. However, when Oliphant continued the story, it shifted to the life of Frank Wentworth making him the protagonist of the story. 

My brain again shouted at me as I folded laundry; ‘Was the Rector ever the protagonist of his own story?. No, not really. Throughout his entire story the Rector fails in his duty as a clergyman, and in the end fails miserably and turns tail home. 

‘Wentworth was really the protagonist all along?’, I questioned. He was everything the Rector wasn’t and needed to be. And was there to be a Knight in Shining Armor whenever the Rector couldn’t be. At the woman’s death bed, the Rector was lost for words and was utterly confused on what to do. Low and behold, here was Wentworth to say and do the right thing, to aid this woman, and bring her the peace and calm the Rector so lacked. 

‘If Wentworth was the protagonist all along, then what does that make the Rector, and how the hell does it all fit into Victorian Realism?’, my brain was firing rapidly now and laundry was a lost cause. 

So, who is the Rector? I ponder now and view this character with an intriguing appreciation. He is no regular guy, or part of the lower class, he is a clergyman. Clergyman, as characters, usually are wise, and a powerful leader to whatever society they are a part of. NOt to mention, a firm, loud believer in their specific doctrine. Our beloved Reactor however, is terribly shy and is not the devote preacher the town was hoping for. He is uncomfortable with the townspeople and has no confidence in himself or his faith really. He is a man that likes the wrong sister, and is bad at his job. It is these aspects that play to realism. While the Rector is in no way a villian, and maybe he isn’t exactly the hero, he is just a person. One who is combatting faith, straining under new responsibilities, and is scared of love and marriage. Pretty realistic if you ask me. 

Despite the Rector’s failure, his story is still centered on ‘everyday experiences’(Broadview615). This was something else that toyed with my mind. The story is based in a quiet little country town, about a clergyman, and yet still isn;t really about the church, or the royals, or even poor peasants. Everyone around the Rector in the quaint little town seems simple and normal. A young beautiful couple everyone knows will marry. A father, trying to marry off his two daughters, socials and dinner parties. The story is not about the supernatural or crime or even love. It is about the life of the Rector, and the townspeople who were too much for him. We get to see a main character who really fails and doesn’t really recover. This was why I was so upset initially. Until I realized in the end maybe he does make it back? Was she trying to say that? Is that just life? Is this the realism she wanted? Is it even realism? After much internal deliberation, yes. I really think it is. The Rector may have lacked the right words and compassion, but in reality his confusion with conveying his faith and fear of the opposing sex is  something we all face on a daily basis. So realism? Sure why not. 

In looking at Victorian Realism, there are many attributes that come with it. Those attributes are that they focus on “everyday experiences, moral progress, and inner struggles of an ordinary individual, while giving a sense of the connections between that individual and his or her broader social networks.” (pg. 615) In the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it exemplifies a couple of these points that do make it a piece of Victorian Realism while also not being totally realistic at the same time.

            Within the story and the legends surrounding Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there is nothing but fantastical elements that surround these characters in our popular culture. In terms of this story, that is the same with Mr. Hyde being this disfigured creature that is understood to be a threat in the eyes of the law and of science. In the elements of Victorian Realism that is listed above, this story does touch on a few of those as well. One of the key ones is “inner struggle.” Whenever someone gets diagnosed as bipolar or to have a behavioral situation between split personalities, sometimes it can be mentioned that the patient is acting as if they were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Those two characters are two sides of the same coin. It is more of an inner struggle between these two characters. With that split personality, it also affects the social networks surrounding the characters within the story. Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield are the ones that are the main focal points of this story and their worlds are shaken by what Jekyll and Hyde are doing.

            Another way that this story follows Victorian Realism is that it follows the everyday experiences of its main character and goes through what this character does in terms of his work and relationship with Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Utterson was a lawyer and dealt with the final dealings of Dr. Jekyll while also the story gives insights into his common routines with others in his social circles.

            This story is one that can be described, I feel, on terms of the realistic and unrealistic. It does check some of the boxes necessary to classify it as Victorian Realism, but there are also elements that deem it as a horror tale. As this tale and character of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have moved throughout the times, it is still relevant to talk about these two characters when discussing split personalities and the effects of multiple personas. So in a way, there is connectivity there to reality while also being fantastical.

I struggled to see a parallel between the realist art movement, where the art presented a very realist nature about it, and the Victorian literature that came derivationally. Of course, the precise–and perhaps best understanding of it–comes from George Eliot: “all truth and beauty are to be attained by a humble and faithful study of nature, and not by substituting vague forms, bred by imagination on the mists of feeling, in place of definite, substantial reality.” This review that Eliot left in response to a novel by John Ruskin seems to come to terms with a very non-Romantic idea of the world, where Darwin has become pervasive and physics seems to entangle the realities of worship into the firm grip of mankind–there was no room for dreamy depictions of a spiritual divinity ever-present in the nature that surrounded them (I suppose transcendentalism never really carved too deep of a valley in the literary world). However, humans love to speculate, and despite that they think they were following “realist” intentions with their art, they were following fantastic imaginations, even within their realist delusions. Even now, in the scientific scope of the world, the fantastic has become pervasive: extra-dimensional bubble-universes and the supporting string-theory; the ironically unquantifiable quantum real and its perplexities beyond us. The “realism” of the victorian era, despite “substantial reality,” fell short of being “true” or of being a “faithful study of nature.”

Of course, I’ve not read every work of victorian realism and so I cannot substantiate those claims, yet, The Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde exemplifies such claims. How would it ever be feasible to concoct a potion of sorts to grant a man an entirely different persona and person? Werewolf-like creatures/people are certainly not very real. Darwin, I don’t suppose, would have thought it very realistic. However, as Wilde speculates, realism does not necessarily deal with the real in the Victorian era of literature. Realism is much more about the emotions conveyed, and making sure that the literature can provoke enough pedagogical influence, hold a sort of philosophy in entertainment and solemnity, and cast a net of understanding: of what is real in the world, aligning not with the divine (mythology or clerical beliefs and teachings), but with the world as it is. Science showed the Victorians what it meant to handle nature and own it–to control it. Science was the new religion, and, until recently, it held to that truth. It screamed, “We have answers…and we can show them.” So, in the very strictest sense of Victorian realism, understanding that it’s not like the 19th/20th century American Realism, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde does shine a light on the nature of the real world. But how so? To the Victorian, it was obvious: the world hinges on duality. There’s a duality in everything, and the thing they cared most about was death and life and evil and good and science and religion. Stevenson brought all of that under his wing, writing the novella in a feverous fervor (rather fantastic, ironically, considering how many drafts he piled through in so short of a time). He wrote a novel about how a man, consumed with good in his normal life, was consumed with evil by night. The Victorian would quickly realize that it mustn’t be Dr. Jekyll who’s evil, but Mr. Hyde. But, all of them have a little of both in them, surely. That’s what it meant to be alive and that’s what science was telling them: that religion doesn’t hold all the answers, and so how can religion show them what’s good and what’s evil. Where religion fails to answer that question, Stevenson presented science, a thing that showed evil as separate from good, yet coinciding within the same body. That was the “real” takeaway. The plot isn’t real in any sense. It can be argued, however, that the scientific speculation was offered as a realistic perspective of the current and emerging scientific revolutions. The characters were believable, but they always are. So the science seemed plausible, therefore the Science Fiction of it seems real, and because the ideas of the novel convey real concerns, it’s therefore a realist novel? What a paradox.

I’d like to point out that though this is science fiction, and though it is Victorian realism, there’s an irony to it all. They truly indoctrinated science as the new religion and we’ve told ourselves for so long that science has so many answers to everything. We’ve known from the beginning the frailty that those terms hold: “truth” and and “substantial reality” are facades that act no different in literature and life than religion or fantasy do. This new realism really was not real at all, and so I cannot say that Dr. Jekyll really showed us a realist depiction. How can the nature of good and evil, made as a scientific observation in the contrast of Mr. Hyde, ever be substantially real? The Victorians deluded themselves, the same way scientists and artists always–and will forever–do. Literature has always been the act of crafting things true to life by reshaping them in unimaginable or fictitious ways. Some think that The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first work of Science Fiction, but if The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is science fiction and, based upon Victorian realist understandings (such as Wilde points out), realism too, Gilgamesh also holds that “realist” title. Really, the Victorians worked themselves into a paradox. When Wilde’s character says that realism in the realist’s world need not be real in literary depiction, but only present real ideas, it’s just fiction as fiction has always been. Just like the DNA strand has never been new, only changing in arrangement to enact change in life, so too is this “realist” idea the same change from Romanticism as Romanticism was from classical literature. Perhaps Americans had it differently, as their realism kept a strict adherence to crafting a reality you could imagine actually happening (it’s why many non-literature majors find the works of London, Sinclair, and Steinbeck “boring”), but even then it’s a thin–very thin–line. Calling it anything but fiction or literature is always difficult to do, but even so, I guess we must seek to understand, conquer, and disseminate titles to everything that happens; ’tis the human way.

And though this is a very long–perhaps excruciatingly so–blog giving a very simple answer, it seems only right. It’s what artists do. The Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde will never fall under an easy, bite-size understanding. It’s real in ideas, fantastic in plot, and utterly Victorian.

Victorian realism, according to are text is defined as a story that focuses on the everyday experiences, and moral and inner struggles of a mundane person, while also giving the reader a means of connecting to the mundane person and their social network (Broadview 615). Many novels and short stories fall into the category of Victorian realism. There are also some that don’t. Of all the Victorian era works that we have read this semester the one short story that stuck out to me is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes short story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes short story “The Adventure or the Speckled Band” was written in the era of Victorian Realism. Doyle’s story is about the case Sherlock Holmes takes on involving the death of a young woman and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the young woman’s cause of death. Being a story written in the era of Victorian realism does this story fall into the category of Victorian realism or does it react against it?

In my opinion, Doyle’s story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” falls into the category of Victorian realism. I think that Doyle’s story falls into the category of Victorian realism because this follows a several of the Victorian realism criteria. The first criteria it follows is that the story follows the everyday experience of an ordinary person. This story is written in the perspective of Dr. Watson. In a way, this story is the story of what he experiences on a daily basis working for Sherlock Holmes. However, it could also be the daily experiences of Holmes’s life as well. The next criteria this Doyle’s story follows is moral and inner struggle of the individual person the story is following. Watson’s doesn’t really have the inner struggle in this story it is Sherlock’s inner struggle. Holmes’s inner struggle is figuring out what is going on at Stoke Moran. This struggle isn’t a moral one it is a problem-solving struggle. The last criteria that Doyle’s story follows is being able to connect with the mundane character being followed and their social network. In Doyle’s story, the story is written in Watson’s perspective. I think that this gives reader an easier time connecting with Watson and Sherlock Holmes. I think this because though Watson is the one writing, everything is focused on Holmes and Holmes’s daily life. The reader is connecting with Holmes actively and Watson passively. The reader connects with Holmes actively because the story is about Holmes’s daily life. The reader connects with Watson passively because he is one telling the story, and the reader can see what he thinks about different situations that he and Holmes get into.

In conclusion, Victorian realisms defined as a story that focuses on the everyday experiences, and moral and inner struggles of a mundane person, while also giving the reader a means of connecting to the mundane person and their social network. Of all the Victorian era works that we have read this semester Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes short story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” in my opinion, falls into the category of Victorian realism.