Jane Tompkins writes about how 19th-century domestic novels typify "a monumental effort to reorganize culture from view of women... in some cases, it offers a critique "of American society far more devastating than any uttered by better-known critics such as Hawthorne and Melville." Indeed, Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Awakening seem to adhere to this tradition, although on different tangents of realism and sentimentalism. I will examine these texts as branches of domestic tradition and assess their respective effectiveness in terms of social discourse. I will explore how affect theory applies to the use of emotion in women's writing and how this has given a new dimension to social criticism in American literature by recognizing that emotions are essential to moral judgment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay Due to its massive popularity and emotive style, domestic women's writing has always had connotations of non-literary, self-indulgent consumerism and passive. Tompkins corroborates this, talking about how popularity is often equated with degradation, emotion with ineptitude, and domesticity with insignificance. These female writers are believed to have used "false stereotypes, distributing weak-minded propaganda to fuel the prejudices of a poorly educated and underemployed female readership." The idea of ​​stereotypes is certainly true in the case of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but such a statement is problematized by the example of The Awakening's more elliptical writing style. This is where the tradition divides between realism and sentimentalism; although the use of different styles both uses emotion and includes the theme of the primacy of human connection and emotion in moral judgment, valuing the concept of affective experience. Certainly, the Deleuzian concept of affect distinguishes the way in which such a tradition offers a new dimension to social critique. Affects are states of mind and body related to feelings and emotions, composed of pleasure or joy, pain or sorrow, and desire or appetite. This non-cognitive reaction undoubtedly determines a certain moral coding. Thus, art that produces this effect can discover new truths otherwise lost in rigid logic. Undeniably, social problems, including slavery and female oppression, can only truly be addressed in relation to moral judgments determined by emotional experience. Shaun Nichols writes about emotivism, the idea of ​​expressing rather than reporting one's feelings. He asserts that "sentimental accounts are meant to give a more accurate interpretation of moral judgment on the ground, as opposed to the disconnected and emaciated characterization of moral judgment promoted by some in the rationalist tradition." Indeed, this emotional reflection on human morality seems to bring additional degrees of empathy and therefore affect for the reader. This affect is exploited in various ways in the realist and sentimentalist traditions, reaching different readerships and effective in different ways. Uncle Tom's Cabin is about how women can become political actors through their capacity for expression and compassion; in fact, writing the book was a political act in itself. Meanwhile, The Awakening is about self-expression and female liberation on a personal level. To this extent, they are respectively apt for realism/sentimentalism because they act at differentscales. Contemporary reaction to The Awakening has been marked by great critical hostility. Certainly, at a time when one could not openly express such deviations from patriarchal structure and sexual inclinations, this naturalistic depiction resonated deeply with its readers. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that much of Edna's story stems from Chopin's own thoughts on women's liberation and independence, as she read many feminist writings and writings. in her diary her resentment towards various social obligations she had as a woman. This is depicted when Edna gets up in the middle of the night and "she couldn't have said why she was crying." The unadorned depiction of a woman's unspoken and unheard conflicts offers the potential for significant affect in the reader, speaking to the repressed voices of women and giving them the opportunity to express themselves by describing how they are not alone, this that Edna also “had her whole life”. been accustomed to harboring thoughts and emotions that were never expressed. » Lawrence Thornton describes the novel as a “political novel”. Indeed, Chopin describes Edna's liberation not only on a socio-political level, on a literal level, but also on an emotional level, on a sentimental level. In other words, the hybridity of realism and sentimentality creates a new category of social commentary; we move from realism of observation to realism of embodied desire. Influenced by Darwinist thought, Chopin uses The Awakening to describe the domination of humans' natural instincts, thereby providing a study of the fundamental truth that humans cannot repress their sexual desires, despite social restrictions. In the process, critiques of the institution of marriage, motherhood, and Christianity are implicitly explored with this vision of emotional liberation. Sandra Gilbert writes that “Edna’s “awakenings” become more and more fantastical and poetic, stirring the imagination’s desire for “amplitude and respect.” rather than protests of reason against unreasonable constraint.” It is obvious that such a category of emotional expression was necessary during this period of oppression. She goes on to say that the passage in which Edna learns to swim is symbolic not only of her movement toward liberation and independence, but also of the novel itself, moving from a realistic text to "a typically feminine fantasy of heavenly accomplishment.” Certainly, it is evident that the novel's observational, literal and descriptive style transforms into a style of philosophical reflection, metaphorical imagery and erotic implications, marking Chopin's rejection of the male-dominated style of realism and , ultimately, of society dominated by men. The novel nevertheless retains its naturalistic plot, thus preserving its credibility and resonance. The sentimental aspects, for example when she refers to the night of her first "awakening" as "like a night in a dream" and goes on to remark that "we must Be spirits abroad tonight", although it is dramatized, is based on a realistic feeling, which therefore makes it more naturalistic in its effect. The fantastical imagery provided by Edna's dinner party and her sense of being a "royal woman, one who rules" seems contrary to the realistic tone of the novel, but it touches on realistic emotion and the true fantasy of empowerment. Furthermore, when she asks how many years she slept in Madame Antoine's bed, it gives an almost fairytale image, but reflects feelings of passion that are the reality of female existence. Finally, the symbolism and ceremony of his martyrdom may seem theatrical,but it is not unthinkable to consider such a situation as true, and such suicidal feelings are tangible for a subordinate public. Sentimental novels are often considered to be inherently false in their feelings, or, as James Baldwin puts it, "fantasies that have no connection with reality, that are sentimental." Yet this can be contested, as Beecher Stowe draws on her own experience of losing a child and her personal feelings of attachment and empathy. She seems to appropriate these emotions to the large-scale problem of slavery; indeed, separation and loss were real factors in the slave trade, meaning that the novel consists not of "fantasies that connect nowhere to reality" but of the actual emotional ramifications of the industry. The incidents and injustices in Uncle Tom's Cabin are not exaggerated in themselves, but the superficial characters and situations are dramatized, which could be considered inauthentic and potentially less sympathetic. Certainly, Baldwin notes that sentimentalism adheres to “the formula created by the necessity of finding a lie more acceptable than the truth.” The non-naturalistic depiction makes the story more palatable, but it can also be seen as more sympathetic to those who had not considered the humanity of the black characters, meaning that exaggeration is necessary to explicitly subvert the dominant prejudices. In other words, it must be made acceptable to a broad audience who would be opposed to such assertions as the humanity of slaves; these theatrical clichés offer an understanding, a universality and a plausibility accessible to the general public. Dobson corroborates this, noting that "the emphasis on accessible language, a clear prose style, and familiar lyrical and narrative patterns defines an aesthetic whose primary quality of transparency is generated by a valuing of connection, an impulse toward communication with as wide an audience as possible. ' . For example, the lack of subtlety that describes Eva's death and the clichéd gesture of the senator and his wife giving away the clothes of their deceased child easily and simply convey the theme of empathy, denoting the search for affect in the drive. This differs in The Awakening, in which metaphors are more commonly used than direct narrative advice. Additionally, the episode with the senator and his wife depicts the effectiveness and resonance of sentimentalism. Mr. Bird's decision to help is completely understandable to the reader because they have already established sympathy for Eliza and her child. Ms. Bird sums up the moral of this passage unequivocally: “Your heart is better than your head, in this case, John. » Thus, she draws attention to the importance of emotion in political judgment. George Orwell corroborates the effects of this cliché/truth dichotomy, stating that “this is an unintentionally ridiculous book, full of absurd melodramatic incidents; it is also deeply moving and essentially true.” Ultimately, due to the subhuman status of African Americans in this era, one could see that such hyper-sentimentality and guided narrative are necessary to forcefully provoke a new perspective. Together, these subgenres constitute the national tradition, with Beecher Stowe examining the institution of slavery from a domestic and emotional perspective, while Chopin explores the public position of women from a private and psychological perspective . Indeed, contemporary women have been placed in the domestic sphere by society, meaning that domestic references and family and emotional ties represent all that they held in their capacity, 1985).