Summary:
In his novel Cannery Row, John Steinbeck depicts a Great Depression-era town full of color and simplicity that is pursuing its own way to happiness. The blue-collar characters in the novel have no material possessions, yet they form a family, a home, and a sense of belonging out of each other. Steinbeck shows through these characters and theme that while we focus on making life more complicated, life itself is quite simple.
"Simplicity of character is no hindrance to the subtlety of intellect."
John Morley
"Cannery Row in Monterey in California, is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream"(Steinbeck, pg.111). Anywhere one travels in America, one common issue re-occurs; society is seen as divided. In Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, this theme is discussed from the lower class's point of view. Cannery Row itself is an old beachfront town in Monterey, abundant with Sardine Canneries and factories. This novel focuses on the other people who live in Cannery Row, individuals who struggle to make an income by pursuing professions other than fishing. Steinbeck shows through these characters and theme that life itself is quite simple, only somehow we focus on making it more complicated. All these characters.....
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