Dora Flood In John Steinbeck's Cannery Row

Dora Flood; the whore house Madam with a heart of gold in John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row” embodies the books major theme. Cannery Row opens with a simple message regaurding the folks that call the row home saying “"Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, 'whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,' by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, 'Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,' and he would have meant the same thing." (Steinbeck) because of her profession Dora is considered to be a bad person but Steinbeck shows throughout his narrative that if they could overcome their superficial preconceived misconceptions about her character they would find her to be one of the most upstanding characters in their community. Dora runs an honest and clean business that benefits her community, she takes care of her employees, keeps strict rules of conduct, and is a continually giving back through service to a town that doesn’t appreciate her because they only see her through one “peephole” in the wall. Dora Flood takes care of her community with acts of kindness and monetary donations throughout Steinbeck’s narrative. It is made clear that charitable organizations extort her because of the nature of her business. Dora admits that because of …show more content…
Some would like to look through a narrow world view and see Dora in the category of “whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,” (Steinbeck) because of the business she runs. Steinbeck shows us Dora Flood acting as an honest businesswoman that is consistently acting with the utmost integrity to better her community. Dora is straightforward about her motives and treats everyone with the same respect. Steinbeck wants his readers to see that Dora truly is one of the” Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men” (Steinbeck) if you take a moment to gain the proper