Realism Realism
 By: Scott Bartucca
Have you ever been to an art gallery and looked at a picture that you could have sworn was a photograph? This style of art is called realism. In realistic painting, the artist produces seen images. They paint exactly what they see, using extreme detail. Their paintings are precise and the subjects they use are real. Unlike most other types of artists, realist artists do not put emotions into their paintings. It is said that "art arises from visual sources." Some famous realist artists include Chuck Close, Duane Hanson, and Mark Prent.

Ralph Ellison uses this realistic style in his novel, Invisible Man. Ellison also manipulates a surrealistic (the exact opposite of realistic, in that it is more a dream than reality)style in his writing. This style of writing disturbs many readers. Literary critic, Jonathan Baumbach, said that these two writing styles reveal "...the novel's crucial flaw, its inconsistency of method, its often violent transformations from a kind of detailed surface realism in which probability is limited to the context of ordinary, everyday experiences to a surrealistic and allegorical world of almost endless imaginative possibilities." This shift is often very effective. One instance in which Ellison manipulates this transformation occurs when Invisible Man and Mr. Norton enter the insane and chaotic world of the Golden Day. While they are here, the scene is placed in a realistic setting and the characters interacting with Invisible Man and Norton are also realistic. For a rare moment, Norton is exposed to a realistic society and as a result, finds out the shocking truth about the community. Also in this section, Norton is forced to learn about himself. This self-recognition is an example of how Ellison links the realistic world with the surrealistic.

Baumbach also commented that "given the nature of his vision, Ellison's world seems real-or alive-when it is surrealistically distorted, and for the most part made-up or abstract-when it imitates the real world. Largely recounted in the manner of traditional realism, the picaro's (Invisible Man) adventures in the Brotherhood up until the Harlem riot constitute the least interesting section of the novel (because Ellison fails to use his surrealistic writing style)." Ralph Ellison mastered a style of writing which few authors will ever emulate.