Strolling along Cannery Row in Monterey was a wondrous experience. I witnessed history brought to life. Over sixty years after the publishing of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, there have been many modern tourist attractions built, such as the Intercontinental Hotel, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Pinkberry. However, key historical landmarks mentioned in the novel still exist, such as Wing Chong’s grocery, La Ida’s cafe, Dora’s whorehouse, the Malloys’ boilers, the Palace Flophouse, Doc’s laboratory, and many colorful tide pools. Tide pools are inhabited by a variety of sea creatures, such as “crabs… starfish… mussels and limpets… orange and speckled and fluted nudibranches… snapping shrimps… hermit crabs… [and] octopus” (Steinbeck 30-31). These
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They must establish a community, even if they are from extremely diverse backgrounds. Animals depend on each other for food and nutrients. In Cannery Row, however, the community depends on Mack and the boys. Mack and the boys seem to dictate the mood of others on the Row. This is because their community is so tightly-bonded that if one person is upset, everyone is upset. If Mack and the boys are down, everyone else goes into a slump. This happens right after the failure of the first party for Doc. Steinbeck writes, “It was a bad time [after the first party]. Evil stalked darkly” (144). Mack and the boys are viewed as troublemakers, the Malloys fight with one another, Dora closes for two weeks, and Doc has to take out loans to repair his lab. Even Darling, Mack and the boys’ precious dog, gets sick. Steinbeck writes, “To cap it all, Darling got sick. She was fat and lively… but five days of fever reduced her to a little skin-covered skeleton… Now a genuine panic came over” (146). The one sign of hope throughout the novel becomes sick, which is an omen that things are not going so well in the Row. Gloom can be contagious; it has spread all throughout Cannery Row. These depressing events are not directly connected to one another, but they all occur at the same time that Mack slumps. However, this mood greatly changes when Mack and the boys …show more content…
Dora says, “‘You gave him a party he didn’t get to go to. Why don’t you give him a party he does get to?’” (Steinbeck 150). Mack and the boys, alive once again, start planning for the party and the happiness starts to come back to the Row. The dark cloud of the first party starts to drift away, replaced with gladness in anticipation of the next one. Steinbeck writes, “Now a kind of gladness began to penetrate into the row and to spread out from there” (157). The happiness first comes to Doc and Darling, who were greatly affected by the previous depression. Doc, a natural womanizer, was “supernaturally successful with a series of lady visitors. He didn’t half try” (Steinbeck 157). This shows that Doc is open to visitors once again and that his home is fully repaired. Consecutive nights filled with different lovers does means happiness to Doc, whose dames, according to Mack, “‘go in [to Doc’s home]… [and] never come out’” (Steinbeck 44). Darling, the sign of hope who was previously sick, “was growing like a pole bean, and… began to train herself” (Steinbeck 44). Life is magical again in Cannery Row because of infectious happiness that began with Mack and the boys and ends all the way in “the County Jail in Salinas [with] Gay” (Steinbeck 157). Mack and the boys, much like sardines and tides which affect the environment, affect the community surrounding them for better or for worse. Along with
They must establish a community, even if they are from extremely diverse backgrounds. Animals depend on each other for food and nutrients. In Cannery Row, however, the community depends on Mack and the boys. Mack and the boys seem to dictate the mood of others on the Row. This is because their community is so tightly-bonded that if one person is upset, everyone is upset. If Mack and the boys are down, everyone else goes into a slump. This happens right after the failure of the first party for Doc. Steinbeck writes, “It was a bad time [after the first party]. Evil stalked darkly” (144). Mack and the boys are viewed as troublemakers, the Malloys fight with one another, Dora closes for two weeks, and Doc has to take out loans to repair his lab. Even Darling, Mack and the boys’ precious dog, gets sick. Steinbeck writes, “To cap it all, Darling got sick. She was fat and lively… but five days of fever reduced her to a little skin-covered skeleton… Now a genuine panic came over” (146). The one sign of hope throughout the novel becomes sick, which is an omen that things are not going so well in the Row. Gloom can be contagious; it has spread all throughout Cannery Row. These depressing events are not directly connected to one another, but they all occur at the same time that Mack slumps. However, this mood greatly changes when Mack and the boys …show more content…
Dora says, “‘You gave him a party he didn’t get to go to. Why don’t you give him a party he does get to?’” (Steinbeck 150). Mack and the boys, alive once again, start planning for the party and the happiness starts to come back to the Row. The dark cloud of the first party starts to drift away, replaced with gladness in anticipation of the next one. Steinbeck writes, “Now a kind of gladness began to penetrate into the row and to spread out from there” (157). The happiness first comes to Doc and Darling, who were greatly affected by the previous depression. Doc, a natural womanizer, was “supernaturally successful with a series of lady visitors. He didn’t half try” (Steinbeck 157). This shows that Doc is open to visitors once again and that his home is fully repaired. Consecutive nights filled with different lovers does means happiness to Doc, whose dames, according to Mack, “‘go in [to Doc’s home]… [and] never come out’” (Steinbeck 44). Darling, the sign of hope who was previously sick, “was growing like a pole bean, and… began to train herself” (Steinbeck 44). Life is magical again in Cannery Row because of infectious happiness that began with Mack and the boys and ends all the way in “the County Jail in Salinas [with] Gay” (Steinbeck 157). Mack and the boys, much like sardines and tides which affect the environment, affect the community surrounding them for better or for worse. Along with