Both realism and naturalism styles of writing were used to show the everyday life. Naturalism, however, was used to make more of a statement on more taboo subjects, as seen in “Hedda Gabler” by Ibsen.

The purpose of realism was to show readers what an everyday life was like. When thinking about “A Simple Heart” by Flaubert, readers are able to see what it was like living as a maid in the country side. You’re able to see a very candid vision of what life was like. Since a large portion of readers were the rich in the major cities, it was different for them to see what life was like for the other kind of person. As stated before, realism was a type of writing that didn’t have much of a motive behind topic. The best way to describe this is if readers compare “A Simple Heart” to “Candide” by Voltaire. His enlightened writing was obviously used to make a statement on people, how they needed to start thinking for themselves, and to make a comment on world leaders of the time. Realism really moves away from that.

I believe that naturalism is the even more so candid version realism. Naturalist writers like Henrik Ibsen did write about everyday life but, in the case of Ibsen and they play “Hedda Gabler”, naturalist were more open about more taboo subject. I noticed in Hedda Gabler, however, that instead of making certain subject painfully obvious, like Moliere would have in “Tartuffe”, that those certain subject were approached in a more subtle way. They were still addressed but they were more delicately placed and integrated into each story. This is unlike “Candide” where all subject were obvious and every chapter dealt with a new hypocrisy.

In both realism and naturalism, I feel like, while all characters had a back story, they were not “fleshed out” so deeply. By this I mean that literally anyone could n\be Felicite or Hedda Gabler. The characters were not described in specific detail, nor were their pasts so narrowly defined that someone could not “place themselves” in Felicite’s or Hedda’s shoes and become them. I believe that this is a great literary technique because it allows readers to relate and better understand each character better.