Steinbeck uses a great amount of foreshadowing in his novels. The first example of which is when he speaks directly to the reader at the beginning of Cannery Row and The Pearl on how he or she should interpret his work. In Cannery Row, He claims that the best way to read the novel is to “let the stories crawl in by themselves,” This is a reference to the work carried out by the people of Cannery Row and a foreshadowing of the writing style of the novel, which is a collection of stories from different people from different lives in the working class (Steinbeck 3). In The Pearl, Steinbeck also speaks to the reader …show more content…
Steinbeck often uses the concept of a dreams or hallucinations to get his symbols across to the reader. In Cannery Row, Doc has a hallucination of a dead body of a pale girl with dark hair floating in the water while he was looking for Octopi. The body symbolizes two things. First, it symbolizes natural beauty because Doc stands there and admires how beautiful she looked in the clear water. Second, it symbolizes a parallel image of what happens to the marine animals he takes into his lab once he catches them (Steinbeck