View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who leaves La Ida's in the company of girls?

2. What kind of dog does the watchman have?

3. What is the mood at the Palace when Mack returns from the lab?

4. Which of the boys have taken jobs at the Hediondo Cannery?

5. What is Mack's method of catching the frogs?

Short Essay Questions

1. What bet does Doc make with Frost on the Fourth of July?

2. Which character seems to assimilate the combined woes of everyone in Cannery Row?

3. What does Steinbeck believe about truth which is explained by Doc's walking trip during college?

4. Why does Mack initially reject the captain's offer of whiskey?

5. What is the significance of the flagpole sitter at Holman's Department Store?

6. Describe Steinbeck's use of humor in the frog-catching scene.

7. How does Doc respond to Mack's request to know Doc's birth date?

8. How do Mack and the boys react to ruining Doc's party?

9. What is the symbolism of the music in Doc's head when he finds the body of the beautiful dead woman in the water?

10. What raises the ire of the normally even-tempered Doc while on the road?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Model T Ford has importance in the story for the frog-catching expedition of Mack and the boys. What does the car symbolize for Mack and the boys? For its owner, Lee? What significance does Steinbeck say the Model T has on American culture for the past two generations?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Dora Flood. What is her role on Cannery Row? Why does Steinbeck say she is loved by the intelligent, the learned, and the kind? Why is she hated by "married spinsters," whose husbands are attracted to the whore house? Is Dora the classic whore with a heart of gold?

Essay Topic 3

Steinbeck mentions "the hour of the pearl" several times in the novel. How else could he have described this fleeting time in the mornings? What name would you give to the California sunsets? What is the significance of "the hour of the pearl" in relation to Doc?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 928 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample