Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is a beautiful story about a small town in California. This story includes many plot line but all build to create a bigger picture. There’s Lee Chong a Chinese man who owns a store on the row; that sells about everything. He is a smart and stern businessman but also softhearted, as he take care of the unfortunate. Then there’s Mack and the boys who live together in run-down fish-meal shack owned by Lee Chong. Mack is the leader of the group. He is a very charismatic man who can charm his way through anything. All of the boys (Really men) have uniquely different stories but somehow their stories have led them to live together. One of the boy’s name is Eddie. He is a bartender and is popular among the group mainly …show more content…
Not really working. Those characteristics can be described as lazy. Something like Rip Van Winkle. Another character in the book is Doc. He is a marine biologist, and often takes one of the boys- Hazel to go find things. He is the classic Renaissance man except less wealthy. He is very cultured. He exposes the residents of the Row to knew things. He is a very kind man who is always taking care of someone. He is a womanizer and often frequents Dora’s brothel. But he always seems to be lonely. Dora is the local madam she is big strong woman he runs a tight ship at her brothel. She takes good care of her girls and she took care of families during the depression. Frankie is handicapped boy who Doc has taken in. He is not capable of doing much. He is sent to mental institutions after stealing a gift for Doc. He is very similar to Lenny from Of Mice And Men. Another main character of the is Henri; Doc’s friend he speaks with a French accent but he actually not French at all, even though he keeps up with everything from Paris. Henri is an artist but the only true evidence of this is a boat he is building. He also is a womanizer same as his friend Doc; women are often seen leaving his …show more content…
Steinbeck uses the setting to set off a story about certain places of the the row that they are connected too. For example first we learn that Dora 's "stern and stately whorehouse" is to the next too a vacant lot. From there, Steinbeck gets to the story of William 's suicide in the kitchen of the Bear Flag Restaurant. You see that places are connected/tied to people lives. It much more than a grocer or a restaurant. The fact that the Cannery Row is considered a poorer part of town near Monterey, the rich side of town. Up there are the people who actually work in the canneries, whereas the people who live in cannery row don’t seem to work at all. There also live the rich old men who vista Dora’s brothels on the weekend. Because Cannery Row is considered poor that means people need to help each other to live. Each person may seem hard or mean but in the end they always help each other. This is seen with Lee Chong when he always lets people uses their credit or takes people numerous ways of paying him (Mack and the boys Frogs). This is also seen with Dora she constantly helped people and payed off their credit at Chongs often to the point where she almost went Bankrupt. Doc was one the characters who was nice as is he is outside as he is inside and everyone knew that. It is also seen in real life the less wealth a person has the more likely they are to
As John Steinbeck publishes “Cannery Row” in 1945, the same year when World War II ends, some scholars claim that his book somehow relates to the war. The novel is one of the most admirable modern-American narratives of the 20th and 21st century. It is set during the Great Depression in Monterey, California. The entire story is attached to a sensitively complex ecosystem that creates different approaches for the reader. The system is so fragile that one’s mistake can be the town’s last. Steinbeck depicts unique characters like Mack and the boys (who will stand as one character and/or group), Doc, and Lee Chong. Although there are many themes that can be extracted from these characters, the theme that arises the most is the isolation of the individual as it can be split into two different categories, the psychological and the physical.
In chapter one, Steinbeck introduces us to George and Lennie, two migrant workers who are traveling to a ranch in Soledad, California. The odd duo is trying to survive and save some money during the 1930’s Great Depression.
Steinbeck strikes at the fear in every man’s soul, with his portrayal of the poverty stricken life of the Joads as they travel from one stage of abandonment and what would seem like a helpless state to a journey of enduring perseverance. The Joads, Steinbeck’s creation in the Novel Grapes of Wrath is a large close-knit family living in Oklahoma during the “Dust Bowl” era. Steinbeck documents their journey beginning with their homelessness due to the crop failures to them surviving in a box car at the end of their journey. I think Steinbeck’ intention is to illustrate to the reader that being poor doesn’t always equate with being helpless. The Joads demonstrate this by their resilience to overcome homelessness, death, and prejudice.
...in the people there. Some were able to combat their loneliness they had things to fill their voids such as their friends, spouses and even the parties. While others never found true contentment. In Cannery Row John Steinbeck has clearly emphasized the importance of friendship and community. He illustrated working together. And even the importance of needs such as physiological, safety, love/belonging, and esteem. In essence the people of Cannery Row truly care for each other. And though they are sometimes lonesome when they come together their loneliness instantly diminishes.
However, in Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck, the characters are based on their individual values and personalities, instead of their material belongings. The people of Cannery Row are interdependent, yet the loneliness of some characters displays that even the “undesirables” of our world need community. Steinbeck created a setting in which there were two sides. On one hand, Cannery Row is a bustling town, where everyone was always moving quickly. Steinbeck describes it as “Gathered and scattered, tin and iron and splintered wood, chipped pavement, and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses.”
The social setting of the novel is also important, as it could later explain characters attitudes towards other people. It is set in the U.S. in the 1930s; this is the time of the Great Depression. This was a result of the First World War. It affected the rich and poor alike, factory workers and farmers, bankers and stockbrokers. In short, it affected everyone; no one was left untouched. But of all the people hurt, farmers were the worst off. John Steinbeck chose to write about farmers hoping that Americans would recognize their troubles and correct the situation. The great depression is known to be the worst economic disaster in the U.S history. For this reason the depression caused many people to change their ideas about the government and economy.
Born 1902 in California, John Steinbeck grew up in a hard time for America. The Great Depression hit in 1929, leaving thousands of American people jobless, homeless, and poor. Along with this, the Dust Bowl occurred in 1931, which also killed and starved thousands. During this time period, many people did not have a home, and moved from farm to farm in order to feed themselves. John Steinbeck was one of the hundreds of thousands of migrant farm workers during this time. All of Steinbeck’s books are based off of American history, and migrant farm workers in the eyes of the people. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the characters Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife to contribute to the overall theme of loneliness.
First of all, emphasis is placed on the daily struggles endured on a daily basis by the middle-class. Much like George and Lennie, they worry about having enough money to survive, for shelter and for clothing. Also, there seems to be the fear of loneliness that seems to surface throughout the novel. Despite the on going quarrels between George and Lennie, the two men are afraid of being alone on their own. In addition, it seems the two main characters find themselves in positions that are beyond their control. These are the conflicts one finds in this novel.
The minor characters in John Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row are a contradiction within themselves. Steinbeck shows two conflicting sides to each character; for example, Mack is smart and lazy and some of his colleagues are both good and bad. Doc is a father figure with some bad habits. Dora Flood is a kind-hearted saint who happens to run a brothel. Lee Chong is a shrewd businessman who likes to take advantage of others. Henri is an artist with a French background even though he isn’t from France. Through his characters, Steinbeck shows that humans are complicated and can have many faces.
...quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses.” (Steinbeck, Cannery Row, 1) In a very unique way of describing the Row, Steinbeck has captured every concept that makes it up. But for every different person who reads it will have a very real yet very different understanding of what the Row is like. As for Of Mice and Men, the setting is a little more fathomable, taking place east of Monterey, so presumably alike in aspects such as weather or terrain. For both, however, setting is a very crucial part of their respective stories. Setting in general is very important to Steinbeck as well.
John Steinbeck’s use of figurative language and local color in Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday and Of Mice and Men show his growth as a writer and highlight the reoccurring theme of loneliness and ostracism. The time gap in between these books show that Steinbeck grows as he experiences more throughout his life. Steinbeck’s novels are always set in California due to his extensive knowledge of the area since he has lived in the area his entire life. In all of his works the characters use parts of speech and actions that are customary to that area.
The novel is set during the Great Depression, which was “a time of great economic turmoil and disaster” (American History), in Soledad, California. Before the characters are fully introduced, there is a sense of isolation already because the name of the town literally translates to loneliness in Spanish (Study Spanish). Most of the characters experience loneliness. The reader quickly learns that Lennie is a lonely character when George reminds Lennie: "guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place" (Steinbeck 15). As the novel continues, the reader quickly learns that the workers are not the only ones who are lonely; Crooks, Candy and Curley's wife also confess their loneliness. Candy experiences loneliness due to his disability and his age. Candy lost his hand after an accident involving machinery, which ultimately forces him to stay behind. His age also causes Candy to feel a sense of loneliness because he is...
is the understanding of this "rich" character. In this study I will try to analyze some of his traits (invisibility-lack of indentity , blindness) and his journey from idealism to a grim realism about the racism that confronts him in the story.
Cannery Row is a novel John Steinbeck wrote after World War I. At first, the novel almost seems like a humorous book, written in a style commonly used by Steinbeck. The book has its main plot, but also has side chapters that periodically interrupt the main idea, which adds to the story. One would think that these side chapters are there to universalize the book, but in fact that is not true. The side chapters tell their own story, and they have a message that Steinbeck was clearly trying to show through his book. The novel has a main point about respect. In Cannery Row , Steinbeck is trying to say that respectability is the destructive force that preys on the world. Steinbeck uses his characters to tell this story about respect and its effect on society. The central figure of the whole book, Doc, better explains this point by saying, "It has always seemed strange to me . . . The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitive, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second" (131).
The overall setting of Of Mice and Men is a farm in California; however, this novel has four major settings. These include the clearing by the pond, the bunkhouse, Crook’s room, and the barn. Each is important in its own unique way. The clearing by the pond is important because it is the place where George and Lennie meet when Lennie is in trouble. The Bunkhouse is important because it is where all the men live and where they entertain themselves. Their lives are very plain and they are all very lonely. All of the details about the bunkhouse describe to the reader the lifestyle of the characters and provides a view of what they have to live with. For example, “Inside, the walls were whitewashed and the floor unpainted.” Crook’s room is where we learn the inner lives of Crooks, Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Candy. This part of the novel sheds a light on the life of Crooks. It shows that he is a man of learning because he has all of these books and magazines lying around the floor and his bed. These four major sett...