A Complex Reality: The Aftermath of the Civil War 2 The Civil War marked the turning point in American history and in the American imagination After such a violent and turbulent test of the nation's soul.Americans viewed their experience in a more complex, unvarnished light and began to question their ideas about religion, society, and what it meant to rebuild the country.American writers and artists rejected the idealism and lofty symbolism of the Romantic and Transcendentalist movements because they failed to address the realities of rapid socio -economic change in post-war American life, Instead, artists tried to hold up a mirror to America and truthfully reflect people's common experiences. The result was an artistic movement known as Realism which emerged in the latter half of the nineteenth century and attempted to create a representation of reality in the arts by authentically depicting everyday life in comprehensive detail. American Realist writers took a down to-earth approach as they explored ethical and psychological conflicts involving the individual's relationship to nature, society.and the past. "How was life portrayed by Realist authors?