Cannery Row Essay, Research Paper

Cannery Row

By: John Steinbeck

Cannery Row is about a neighborhood in Monterey

Bay, California, during the aftermath of the

depression. The neighborhood is built around a

sardine company, but the main characters don?t have

much dealing with the workers there. The

neighborhood consists of a general store owned by

Lee Chong; a whore house called ?Bear Flag

Restaurant?, owned by Dora; a group of bums that

live in the Palace Flophouse; and Doc?s Laboratory.

It narrates their experiences and how they survive

during a short course of time.

John Steinbeck shows this era of the depression

in a positive perspective rather than a negative

one like it was frequently perceived. He shows the

humor in all situations and veers away from

pessimism. Steinbeck showed people?s place in

society, how they depended on one another, and the

exuberance of a community. He also let the reader

see the loneliness of an individual and their

acceptance of life.

The story?s setting had a huge relevance to

John Steinbeck?s life. He grew up in Monterey Bay,

California, during the depression. Although the

characters in the book are fictional, their

personalities are based off of real life people

that Steinbeck encountered. The book was written

after the depression, so it is more of a realistic

approach to the actual life of people in that time.

The over all conflict was people?s survival

during the depression. It had many minor conflicts

as well. One was when Mack and the boys threw a

party for Doc and it all went wrong. Another one

was the outbreak of the flu.

The book had a resolution…somewhat. It ended

when Doc finally got a party and nothing went

wrong. The thing is, that Doc ended up throwing

the party for himself, so everything ended up like

it was before and how it had always been. Doc had

helped everyone in the community as usual. It

leaves the reader with the impression that things

will go on and everyone and everything will be all

right.

Cannery Row was published in 1945 and has lived

on for over 50 years. The themes represented by

this book have relevance to today?s society and

probably will have pertinence to the world in later

years. The author, John Steinbeck, won the Nobel

Prize for Literature because of this novel. The

book was appropriate for it?s audience and purpose

because so many people could relate to it, so

Cannery Row truly deserves it?s classical status.