Cannery Row Essay, Research Paper

John Steinbeck is the author of several award winning books. before he became a

writer he was a non-conformist, he was discharged from a New York newspaper for

writing opinions instead of facts. He was an apprentice hod-carrier, an apprentice painter,

a working chemist, caretaker of a Lake Tahoe estate, a surveyor in the Big Sur country,

and fruit picker before he began writing. He studied science at Stanford University and

was a qualified marine biologist.

This book was written in 1945. This book is a based on true events. This book

took place in Monterey. This book is about a real-life street in Monterey. This street is on

of America’s most talked about streets. This is about the events that took place in that

town and street one week.

The book Cannery Row is about several people who live on Cannery Row.

The first lady I will explain is Dora. She has flaming orange hair and always wears

green evening dresses. Dora owns a place called the Bear Flag Restaurant. It is a whore

house. Dora gives money to the Chamber of Commerce, Red Cross, Boy Scouts,

Community Chest and Police Department, so she can keep her illegal business open. She

has a soft heart and gives the poor people of Cannery Row a meal or two, if they need it.

Next there is an old Chinaman. Some think he is a God and some think he is death

and comes to get the dead at night. All the people of Cannery Row are scared of him

except a little 10 years old named Andy. Andy was there visiting family and didn’t know all

the rumors of him. Andy would watch the old Chinaman come in and out of the water

each night. One night he decided to approach the old man. The old Chinaman talked to the

little boy for about two hours and then returned to the water. No one ever heard what they

talked about. There was something strange about him, he had one brown eye and one

green eye.

Then there is Mack and the boys. Mack is the main leader of this group. He is a

drunk and lives in an old vacant building, he conned from the town grocer. Eddie is an

understudy bartender. He fills in at the local bars when needed. Everytime he works he

steals alcohol for “the boys”. He lives with Mack. Next is Hazel, who was named after his

mother’s sister. He is also a poor drunk. Hazel helps the Doc of the town. He loves to help

with the animals. Guy is next, he is married but he left his wife to live with Mack, because

he was tired of being tied down. He is a mechanic. Most of these guys like to sponge off

of all the towns people. They are the town drunks and bums.

Doc owns and operators the Western Biological Laboratory. He studies all types

of animals. He is a big softy and he helps out Mack and the boys a lot. Mack and the boys

tend to take advantage of Doc because he has a lot of money. Doc feels sorry for them so

he usually helps them out. Sometimes Doc gives the boys jobs to do like collecting animals

and he will pay them. But Doc is very careful that the boys don’t outsmart him.

There is a young boy named Frankie. He is only eleven and he was looking for

work on Cannery Row, so Doc hired him. His family is very poor, and Frankie wanted to

help out. Also he was very slow, so they didn’t want him in the schools. He became very

interested in the work Doc did. So Frankie began helping Doc day after day. Soon Doc

began loving the child and aloud him to live with him.

Lee Chong owns the town grocery store. Mack and the boys are always trying too

get free things from him. Mack and the boys borrow his truck when they help Doc. Lee is

an old man with a big family. All the towns people can charge things and he will let them

pay as they can.

Mack and the boys set out to get frogs for Doc. On the way to get the frogs many

things happen along the way. The truck broke down and Guy tried to fix it but he need

some parts. So he set out to get some. He never made it back because he was involved in

a bar fight and was arrested. He was drunk and went to jail. So the rest of the boys had to

try and fix it themselves.

The guys killed a chicken and they started a fire to cook it. The owner of the

property came out after them. He yelled at them to fix his property and put the fire out or

he would call the police. Then little puppies came out. Hazel feel inlove with them. One of

the pups were hurt. Hazel offered to help him. The owner came around and let the guys

stay and fed them, while Hazel took care of the little pups. They began to tell the man

what they were doing. Mack ended up finding out that the owner had a frog pond, and he

offered to pay the boys to take the frogs away. He said the frogs keep him up at night. The

guys collected the frogs and helped the man with the pups. When they were ready to go

the man offered to give them a puppy and Hazel took one.

The men found a lot of frogs for Doc. When they finally made it back to Doc’s

place, Doc wasn’t very happy. The boys were only suppose to be gone over night not a

whole week. Doc had a lot of questions for the boys too. Doc still paid them for the frogs

and was in shock that they brought back so many.

Mac and the boys carried out what they set out to do and that was to give Doc a

party. They wanted to do this because Doc had helped them all so much. Mack and the

boys went and got the alcohol for Doc’s party from Lee Chong. Lee was very suprised

they had money to pay for it. They had a successful party for Doc and he was very

suprised and happy. Mack and the boys were very proud of themselves.