Analysis of the Pastures of Heaven

1265 Words3 Pages

John Steinbeck, the author of many books including The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, writes the book The Pastures of Heaven. This book describes the lives of multiple families and life in a town called the Pastures of Heaven. One family in particular, the Munroe’s, seems to be involved in all families living on the Pastures of Heaven. The Munroe family serves as a dramatic foil character to the rest of the families since, wherever they are, the lovely Pastures of Heaven turn into chaos. In chapter three, Edward “Shark” Wicks is the father of the most beautiful girl in town; he is extremely protective over his daughter, so much so that she cannot even speak to Jimmie Munroe. Jimmie happens to kiss Sharks daughter, Alice, despite her father’s warnings, which in turn results in the family’s downfall. The Munroe family, Jimmie in specific, unknowingly ruined Sharks reputation as the richest man in town. Jimmie Munroe was the dramatic foil character which resulted in Shark’s reputation being ruined. Had Jimmie Munroe not been around Shark would have never went on a rampage against Jimmie and in turn would not have had to expose his fraud. He could continue living his life as a lie and continue deceiving people into believing he was rich. Tularecito was an abnormal child found by Pancho in the brush of the Pastures of Heaven. After being told a story about gnomes Tularecito injures Bert Munroe and is sent to an insane Asylum. Tularecito happened to be digging holes in Bert Munroe’s house, in order to find the gnomes. Bert Munroe was a dramatic foil character by covering the holes that Tularecito dug, eventually leading to Tularecito being sent to a mental institute. Had Bert Munroe not interfered with Tularecito’s digging, the... ... middle of paper ... ...eight Miss Morgan has a wonderful settlement in the Pastures, when the Munroes take her back to her childhood, she is taken back to the reality of her life. Raymond Banks in chapter nine was living a false reality where watching executions was fine, but the Munroes brought the reality back to Banks. Chapter ten was an exception because Pat Humbert lived in the reality of his childhood, yet the Munroes took him out of that reality and into fantasy. Eventually however Humbert returns to his reality at the end of the chapter. The Whitesides live in a fantasy where generations upon generations could live in one house; however the Munroes, by burning the house, took them back to reality. If the Munroes weren’t around all the families would live a fantasy in the Pastures, hence it was not such a bad thing that the Munroes were around bringing the families back to reality.

Open Document