Romanticism vs. Realism

For my blog, I have read the following two stories by Willa Cather: A Wagner Matinee and Consequences. A Wagner Matinee is a story about a boy who takes his aging Aunt Georgina to a concert, and her reaction to the music after so many years of living in a constant routine and sheltered life. Consequences depicts the story of man named Eastman, whose neighbor Cavenaugh is stalked by a mysterious man.
As far as Consequences goes, American literature has made a vast change from Romanticism into Realism. This story isn’t one whose narrator reached enlightenment through a walk in the woods, talked about nonviolent resistance, or was approached by some shady demon with an axe. It instead focuses on a frightening but real world issue of how people are sought out not by shady demons, but by shady characters instead, as they are obsessively shadowed and in the end are pushed over the edge. However, (I just realized), the stories of Eastman’s neighbor and Tom Walker have interesting similarities. Both characters become friends with an unlikely being in a strange place (both Walker and Cavenaugh met their “friends” in a woodsy type place), and drive themselves mental after spending so much time under the influence of these “characters”. For example, Cavenaugh cracked and committed suicide while Tom Walker , as he got older, tried to routinely go to church and pray really loud, not to mention the obsession he had with carrying around bibles with him all the time. There are only a few differences, such as of narration (Tom Walker is narrated by the author and Consequences is narrated by Eastman), how they met their “friends” (Tom Walker happened to stumble upon the demon while Eastman was stumbled upon on by his “friend”), and how you define suicide (it is assumed Cavenaugh killed himself and technically Tom Walker killed himself by saying “the devil take me” however sarcastic that was).
And, thinking about it, A Wagner Matinee has realistic and romantic aspects about it. American Realism depicts that humanity's freedom of choice is limited by the power of outside forces. In A Wagner Matinee, Aunt Georgina is limited by her environment. She lived in Nebraska on a homestead, where instead of going to see orchestra’s and practice her scales, she had to attend to chores and limit herself to the hymns of her Methodist church. Methodists themselves are rigid. Her life was reduced to a boring routine. And her ability to turn her life around is limited by her age. She is too old to start completely over.
Romanticism is an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature. It also stresses strong emotion through experience. In A Wagner Matinee, it stresses the vast emotions of Aunt Georgina watching an orchestra as they come pouring out through every bow stoke of a violin strong. In her experience, she suddenly comes to terms with her passion, and decides that she doesn’t want to face her reality.
In synopsis, I don’t think there is much of a change. Realism just doesn’t focus so much on demons and mythology. Both of these different genres of writing (Consequences and the Tom Walker Story, that is) focus on the same story lines and morals. In addition, a Wagner Matinee contains elements of both romanticism and realism.