Essay Comparing The Pearl And The Yellow Wallpaper

In John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper” (TWY), both examine the idea of the difference in power between different people. Charlotte gives clues of this, by having the husband be dismissive toward his wife, and not taking Charlotte's opinion on what she thinks that would be the best treatment for herself. However, John Steinbeck shows this difference by having the pearl dealers and/or doctors hired people to try and take the pearl away from Kino, and yet, he can't do anything about it. The two writers both use this literary element, to form an advanced story, and an easier understanding of the plot. However, Charlotte and John Steinbeck also enabled naturalism, irony, and leitmotif in their stories, in some ways similar, and different. …show more content…
In “TYW,” Charlotte had “a nervous depression,” and to cure her, she was told that “she was absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ ,” until she was well. However, This led to her slowly going insane, because she didn’t have a output to write all her ideas and thoughts, instead of making her be better. Charlotte further says that she “must say what I [Charlotte] feel and think in some way,” which is probably the best cure for her: More writing, and no restrictions for her.And as irony goes, the mansion was supposed to help her, but it actually made her become insane. The irony in “TYW” is the similar to “The Pearl.” In “The Pearl,” Kino finds “a great pearl”, however, this leads to him losing more than he gained. The pearl dealers/doctor tried to steal his pearl, but in the process of that, they destroyed his home, his boat, and killed his son, quite ironic since the pearl should have given Kino a better