ABSTRACT
Over the last half of the century, the working poor and the question of Americanization emerged as subjects of national concern and, concomitantly, as characters and themes in American literature. For most of the twentieth century, scholars primarily considered naturalism in the work of its loudest advocates, including Emile Zola in the French tradition and Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, Stephen Crane, and Jack London in the American tradition, and within a fairly narrow set of texts. The novel blends elements of regionalism, psychological realism, and naturalism in the story of Edna Pontellier. It was in the paper that Wells-Barnett first radical editorials appeared in 1892, calling on African Americans to leave Memphis and boycott the streetcar system after the lynching of three Memphis men went unpunished. Her emphasis on community building is part of what Schechter identifies as a distinctive tradition of local organizing and protest among African American women.
