Cannery Row | Cannery Row

At a glance:

Author: John Steinbeck
First Published: 1945
Type of Plot: Sentimental realism
Time of Work: About 1940
Setting: “The Row,” a sleepy fishing village near Monterey, California
Principal Characters: Doc, Mack, Dora Flood, Hazel, Hughie, Jones, Gay, Eddie
Genres: Long fiction, Character study
Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Prostitution or prostitutes, Depression, economic, 1930’s, Poverty or poor people, California, West, U.S., Adventure, Pacific Northwest, Fishing or fishermen
Locales: Monterey, CA

Cannery Row is a sentimental, nostalgic portrayal of the lazy, the shiftless, the good-natured lowlifes who survive at the fringes of a fishing and canning community outside Monterey, California. Working only when they must, preferring drinking, fighting, and indolence, “the boys” of Cannery Row are somewhat akin to the old picaresque heroes of the seventeenth and eighteenth century novel. The picaro of these early novels was something of a rogue who lived by his or her wits, and who, despite poverty and social ostracism, displayed a basic goodness and a...

Cannery Row | Cannery Row

At a glance:

The Novel

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