Cannery Row a novel by John Steinbeck - Essay Example

The setting for John Steinbeck’s novella Cannery Row is the of Monterrey, south of the San Francisco Bay area. The time period for the story seems to be in the waning years of the great depression but prior to World War II. Some evidence in the story suggests the year might be 1937. While exact dates are not supplied, the brief timeline of events that lead to Mr. and Mrs. Sam Malloy living in a ruined boiler offers some clues. Steinbeck writes that the boiler blew in 1932 and that the Malloy’s occupied the boiler in 1935. By 1937, Mr. Malloy has set himself up as a landlord, renting out drainage pipes for people to sleep in. Mrs. Malloy complains that she wants curtains, even though they have no windows at some point in 1937. The following exchange between Mr. Malloy and Mack is then written. “How are you, Sam?” Mack asked. “Pretty good.” “How’s the missus?” “Pretty good,” said Mr. Malloy. “You know any kind of glue that you can stick cloth to iron?” Ordinarily Mack would have thrown himself headlong into this problem but now he was not to be deflected. “No,” he said (Steinbeck, 1953). This passage gives the impression that unless Mr. Malloy had been trying to fasten the curtains to the iron walls of his home for years, then the year the story is taking place is 1937. The lack of references to World War II lead me to believe that even if this is taking place at a later time than 1937, it would still be prior to the outbreak of the war. This setting is representative of the America of that day. Many people were what we today would call homeless as a result of the depression. The jobs available involved manual labor and few technical skills. More people were engaged in “blue color” occupations during this era than they are today, so I do not feel that this represents the America of today. For example, even though the men living in the Palace Flophouse would be considered slackers or bums by most of society, they did possess valuable marketable skills that allowed them survive. They could fix cars, tend bar and heal animals. While these skills did not make them successful in the traditional sense, they did however possess them. I feel that today, America has become so technically oriented that most people are helpless to do things for themselves. We are no longer Jacks (or Janes)-of-all-trades. We have fewer real survival skills than the Americans of the era depicted in Cannery Row. The characters are the real interest in Cannery Row. First and most important is Doc, proprietor of Western Biological. He is in many ways the soul of the community. He is the only access most community members have to the arts and sciences. This coupled with his magnanimous yet very private nature makes him the leader of the community. Lee Chow is the grocer that is owed money by everyone in the community but only collects when he has to. He is shrew, but with a heart. He represents both the Good and bad aspects of enterprise and trade. Dora is the madam in the local brothel. She is identified as toeing the line between legal and illegal at all times. She is revered for having strict rules in her house and for maintaining the decorum of her girls. Mack is the leader of the group of individualists living in the Palace Flophouse. He is a smooth talker and is always looking to work a deal to his advantage. He is not trustworthy, yet not without certain charms. Other minor characters include Frankie, a damaged boy that loves Doc simply because Doc is kind. And finally there is Henri, the French painter who is neither French or a painter. These characters are timeless. They do not represent the characters of just their time period. Steinbeck uses each one of them to give us all a glimpse into our own humanity. In Henri, we see our ridiculous contradictions. Frankie shows us our extreme vulnerability. Lee Chow depicts the struggle between avarice and compassion. And Doc is the archetypical loner constantly thrust back into society by events and his own desire to do good. The story of Cannery Row begins by slowly introducing each important character. The plot is definitely backdrop to the description of characters and the physical setting of each scene. The story meanders from scene to scene of daily life as the characters are introduced. The plot begins when the boys living in the Palace Flophouse decide that Doc is such a good guy, someone should throw a party for him. After the consumption of much alcohol, the boys hatch a plan to do some work for Doc to earn the money so they can throw him a party. Doc hires them to travel to Carmel to catch frogs. He promises to give them a nickel for each frog. Doc then heads to Los Angeles to catch squid. On the way to Los Angeles, Doc drinks a lot of beer and eats a lot of hamburgers. Meanwhile, Mack and the boys are encountering opposition on their frog hunting excursion. Their borrowed truck breaks down and they are forced to steal a carburetor from another truck. They then get caught trespassing but overcome this by getting good and drunk with the landlord. They end up catching about a thousand frogs. Returning home, Mack and the boys decorate for Doc’s party. But before Doc can return, they drink all of the alcohol, get in fights, trash Doc’s laboratory and make a general mess of things. Doc comes back and beats up Mack. The boys from the Palace Flophouse feel terrible and are ostracized by the community for destroying Mack’s lab. After this, a streak of bad luck hits Cannery Row. Spouses fight, Lee Chow won’t extend credit to anyone and Doc becomes more withdrawn. Mack and the boys seek out the advice of Dora as to how they can make things up to Doc. She suggests giving Doc a birthday party that won’t destroy his lab. The balance of the story describes how the entire community prepares to give Doc a surprise birthday party. The party is awkward and forced at first, but soon Doc is playing records and reciting Persian poetry. People grow introspective until some party crashers come along. The whole party erupts in a huge fight featuring the residents of Cannery Row against the outsiders. The fight spills into the street. Doc’s lab is only slightly damaged and luck returns to Cannery Row with the successful completion of the party. I think the theme of the story is about the cohesion of a community that has been ostracized by mainstream society. Everyone in Cannery Row is on the fringe of acceptable society in some way. Dora’s profession, Henri’s mental illness, Mack’s indolence and Doc’s misanthropy all serve to marginalize them. The real theme of the story is how this diverse group of “losers” represents us all by shoeing how they form their social connections. I believe the story is saying that common American people in that time and place were survivors. They were highly individualistic, yet formed strong social bonds that helped them to cope with despair, loss and misfortune. Fewer economic advantages in this time and place meant things such as respect in the community and your neighbor’s opinion of you was very important. Works Cited Steinbeck, J. (1953). THe Short Novels of John Steinbeck. New York: The Viking Press. Read More