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The story The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, tearfully tells the tragic story of a poverty-stricken couple and their ill baby who suffer from life-altering consequences of desire. Similarly, A White Heron is a story where the main character, Sylvy, is faced with a life-changing decision. In The Pearl and A White Heron, the authors portray realist elements through the tenets of focusing on the harsh reality of the world, the emphasis placed on the middle-class lives, and how the authors use regionalism to provide realistic depictions of the appropriate settings.
In both The Pearl and A White Heron, we identify similarities in both books on how the authors show the harsh realities of the world. We can distinguish the harsh reality in the book The Pearl when Steinbeck states, “Evil faces peered from it into his eyes, and he saw the light of burning. And on the surface of the pearl, he saw the frantic eyes of the man in the pool.
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And in the surface of the pearl, he saw Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot away.” (Steinbeck, 89)
This quote from The Pearl shows the harsh reality and consequences of greed and in this case result in death. We can also see this in the book A White Heron when the author states, “I can't think of anything I should like so much as to find that heron's nest,' the handsome stranger was saying. 'I would give ten dollars to anybody who could show it to me,' he added desperately, 'and I mean to spend my whole vacation hunting for it if need be.' (Jewett) Through this quote, we see the reality of hunters’ will to kill innocent animals for money and self-honor.
Similarly, both examples show the harsh reality of death in this world. We see realistic elements through both these stories, which is portrayed through the realistic tenet of focusing on the harsh reality of the world. A tenet of realism was the emphasis placed on the lower and middle social classes through both The Pearl and A White Heron. The emphasis placed on lower class people are discussed throughout the book. One example is when Steinbeck states, “Have I nothing better to do than cure insect bites for 'little Indians'? I am a doctor, not a veterinary...Have you money to pay for the treatment? Now Kino reached into a secret place somewhere under his blanket. He brought out a paper folded many times. Crease by crease he unfolded it, until at last there came to view eight small misshapen seed pearls, as ugly and gray as little ulcers, flattened and almost valueless.” (Steinbeck, 11)
In this quote, we can see that Kino and his family are part of the lower class society because they do not possess enough money to provide treatment for their ill baby. An example of lower class people in A White Heron is when Jewett states, “But Sylvia does not speak after all, though the old grandmother fretfully rebukes her, and the young man's kind, appealing eyes are looking straight in her own. He can make them rich with money; he has promised it, and they are poor now.” (Jewett) In A White Heron, we can see that Sylvy and her family are as a lower class family because by receiving money they won’t be poor. Both these passages from The Pearl and A White Heron contain the element that the main characters are from a lower class society. Both authors use the realistic tenet of regionalism in a way that gives both books a unique identity and meaning as the reader reads them. In The Pearl, we can see the use of regionalism when Steinbeck states, “The uncertain air that magnified some things and blotted out others hung over the whole Gulf so that all sights were unreal and vision could not be trusted; so that sea and land had the sharp clarities and the vagueness of a dream. Thus, it might be that the people of the Gulf trust things of the spirit and things of the imagination, but they do not trust their eyes to show them distance or clear outline or any optical exactness.” (Steinbeck, 14)
Through this quote, the author is describing a particular setting where Kino and his family live, hazy and unclear. We can also identify the use of regionalism in A White Heron when Jewett states, “The companions followed the shadywood-road, the cow taking slow steps and the child very fast ones. The cow stopped long at the brook to drink as if the pasture were not half a swamp, and Sylvia stood still and waited, letting her bare feet cool themselves in the shoal water, while the great twilight moths struck softly against her. She waded on through the brook as the cow moved away, and listened to the thrushes with a heart that beat fast with pleasure. There was a stirring in the great boughs overhead. They were full of little birds and beasts that seemed to be wide awake, and going about their world, or else saying good-night to each other in sleepy twitters. Sylvia herself felt sleepy as she walked along. However, it was not much farther to the house, and the air was soft and sweet. She was not often in the woods so late as this, and it made her feel as if she were a part of the gray shadows and the moving leaves.” (Jewett)
This quotation uses regionalism by expressing the beauty of the setting, the forest, and making the forest sound like a relaxing place to be. We can see that both authors use two distinct regionalism of landscape to elaborate on their characters’ background. The Pearl uses a confusing and hazy place while A White Heron uses the beautiful and relaxing forest. Both stories use very different environments (opposite settings), which itself is an extension of the characters’ emotions and lifestyle. In conclusion, both authors portray similar and diverse realistic elements through the tenets of focusing on the harsh reality of the world, the emphasis placed on the lower class lives, and how the authors use regionalism to provide realistic depictions of the settings. The Pearl and A White Heron both exemplify the tenet of realism but express them either similarly or differently.
The Pearl and A White Heron. (2022, Feb 11). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-pearl-and-a-white-heron-essay
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