Cannery Row By John Steinbeck

1. Cannery Row ByJohn Steinbeck By Shanan Burgess, Anna Chen, Shannon Slattery, and Camille Tulet

2. Author Biography Steinbeck was born in Salinas Valley California, which is an area that is rich in cultural diversity. Steinbeck lived a middle class lifestyle, and because he came from a place with such a developed immigrant background, all of his stories give an overwhelmingly strong sense of place. Steinbeck is known for his authentic voice, and his seemingly random imagery that somehow, manages to connect back with everything else mentioned. Not only does he include an ample amount of details in his descriptions, but Steinbeck makes sure that each of the five senses is taken into consideration, which is what helps make his sense of place so strong. 

3. Details.I.D.L.S.S “The carburetor of a Model T is not complicated but it needs all of its parts to function. There is a needle valve, and the point must be on the needle and must sit in its hole or the carburetor does not work. Gay held the needle in his hand and the point was broken off. “ how in you s’pose that happened?” he asked. “Magic,” said Mack, “just pure magic. Can you fix it?” “Hell, no,” said Gay. “Got to get another one.” “How much they cost?” “About a buck if you buy one new -- quarter at a wreckers.” “You got a buck?” Mack asked. “Yeah but I won’t need it.” “Well get back as soon as you can, will you? We’ll just stay right here” “ any ways you won’t go running off with out a needle valve,” said Gay. He stepped out to the road. He thumbed three cars before one stop for him. The boys watched him climb in and start down the hill. They didn’t see him again for one hundred and eighty days.

4. Details.I.D.L.S.S • Steinbeck describes the Model T truck with much detail but fails to explain what happens to Gay. Steinbeck does not portray any main characters throughout the novel. His style of omitting details, enables him to allow the readers mind to wander. • This also shows that Gay’s part in the novel is miniscule compared to that of the Model T truck. Steinbeck in previous chapters goes about describing the trucks history for at least 2 pages

5. D.Imagery.D.L.S.S “The sea is very clear and the bottom becomes fantastic with hurrying, fighting, feeding, breeding animals. Crabs rush from frond to frond of the waving algae. Star fish squat over muscles and limpets, attach their million little suckers and then slowly lift with incredible power until the prey is broken from the rock. And then the starfish comes out and envelops its food. Orange and speckled and fluted nudibranchs slide gracefully over the rocks, their skirts waving like dresses of Spanish dancers. And black eels poke their heads out of crevices and wait for prey. The snapping shrimp with their trigger claws pop loudly. The lovely, colored world is glassed over. Hermit crabs like frantic children scamper on the bottom sand. And now one, finding an empty snail shell he likes better then his own, creeps out, exposing his soft body to the enemy for a moment, and then pops into the new shell. A wave breaks over the barrier, and churns the glassy water for a moment and mixes bubbles into the pool, and then it clears and is tranquil and lovely and murderous again.”

6. D.Imagery.D.L.S.S • Steinbeck has a very detailed style and with his writing comes numerous images into the readers’ mind. He sets the mood of the book by describing the tranquil environment. Although the descriptions might be lanky and hard to follow, he creates a wonderful scene. • This is also a description of what Doc sees almost everyday. This reflects Doc’s character in many ways. The ocean pool is a symbol of Doc’s personality and life style and through his work, we can tell that he lives a delightful life.

7. D.I.Diction.L.S.S “The old man stopped and turned. Andy stopped. The deep-brown eyes looked at Andy and the thin corded lips moved. What happened then Andy was never able either to explain or to forget. For the eyes spread out until there was no Chinaman. And then it was one eye-one huge brown eye as big as a church door. Andy looked through the shiny transparent brown door and through it he saw a lonely countryside, flat for miles but ending against a row of fantastic mountains shaped like cows’ and dogs’ heads and tents and mushrooms…the loneliness-the desolate cold aloneness of the land-scape made Andy whimper because there wasn’t anybody at all in the world, and he was left.”

8. D.I.Diction.L.S.S • Because his descriptions are so rich with metaphors and comparisons, it almost makes it hard to tell the difference between imagination and reality. Did the Chinaman really disappear?  • Steinbeck’s metaphors are very languid (flowy) and his language varies between Cacophonous (harsh sounding) and (euphonious) and his descriptions are usually abstract, but still very understandable. • Many authors describe their already given descriptions, but Steinbeck uses connotative (or suggested) meanings, and lets the reader interpret it in their own way. This makes the book easier to read because there is not a strict guideline that the reader MUST follow

9. D.I.D.Language.S.S “His tapping finger on the change mat speeded up a little when Mack came in. Mack wasted no time in sparring. “Lee,” he said “Doc over ther’s got a problem. He’s got a big order for frogs from the New York Museum. Means a lot to Doc. Besides the dough there’s a lot of credit getting an order like that. Doc’s got to go south and I and the boys said we’d help him out. I think a guys friends ought to help him out of a hole when they can, especially a nice guy like Doc. Why I bet he spends sixty seventy dollars a month with you.” Lee CHong remained silent and watchful. His fat finger barely moved on the change mat but it flicked slightly like a tense cat’s tail. Mack plunged into his thesis. “Will you let us take your old truck to go up Carmel Valley for frogs for Doc--for good old Doc?” Lee Chong smiled in triumph. “Tluck no good,” he said. “Bloke down.” This staggered Mack for a moment but he recovered. He spread the order for gasoline on the cigar counter. “Look!” he said. “Doc needs them frogs. He give me this order for gas to go get them. I can’t let Doc down. Now Gay is a good mechanic. If he fixes your truck and puts it in good shape, will you let us take it?” Lee put his head back so that he could see Mack through his half-glasses. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the proposition. The truck really wouldn’t run. Gay really was a good mechanic and the order for gasoline was definite evidence of good faith.”

10. D.I.D.Language.S.S • Steinbeck uses different language for each of the characters to group them into a specific type of person and give you a familiar tone each time they are present in the story. (i.e. Lee Chong who has a thick accent) • Mack, one of the main characters always gives off a suspicious feeling because he is seen as a bit conniving. He is very slick and has incredible means of manipulating people to get what he wants, however, the people who are familiar with him, are cautious of him and careful not to fall into his traps. • Mack’s dialogue is rarely in proper English as he is not a properly educated man. This shows he is more street smart than book smart. • A big contrast to Mack’s character is Doc who is a scientist and always has philosophical mind set. I think their conversations are often linked in the story to compare the differences of where they come from, and illuminate their characters identity

11. D.I.D.L.Syntax.S Long Sentence “Then the creeping murderer, the octopus, steals out, slowly, softly, moving like a gray mist, pretending now to be a bit of weed, now a rock, now a lump of decaying meat while its evil goat eyes watch coldly. It oozes and flows toward a feeding crab, and as it comes closes its yellow eyes burn and its body turns rosy with the pulsing color of anticipation and rage. Then suddenly it runs lightly on the tips of its arms, as ferociously as a charging cat. It leaps savagely on the crab, there is a puff of black fluid, and the struggling mass is obscured in the sepia cloud while the octopus murders the crab.” Short Sentences. “And it isn’t a calf’s liver, it’s too red. It isn’t a sheep’s liver- Now his mind was alert.”

12. D.I.D.L.Syntax.S • Steinbeck uses both long descriptive sentences and short choppy sentences to describe the setting and the characters. The long sentence structure helps put us in the mood and eases our understanding and visual images of the text. When he is using short sentences, it sets up a mysterious tone in the book as if he wants us to guess what will happen next. He uses “dashes” when he writes in a choppy sentence. It is noticeable that when he does uses dashes, it seems as if a whole chunk of information is skipped. Sometimes when he uses dashes, its as if he is giving an explanation of what he said. • Steinbeck uses long sentences for descriptions. His descriptions are very vivid. In some cases, he exaggerates the actions and does a lot of comparison. You can tell that description is very important to him because he uses a lot of them and it engages the reader.

13. D.I.D.L.S.Shifts “Only one brave and beautiful boy of ten named Andy from Salinas ever crossed the old Chinaman. Andy was visiting in Monterey and he saw the old man and knew he must shout at him if only to keep his self respect, but even Andy, brave as he was, felt the little cloud of fear. Andy watched him go by evening after evening while his duty and his terror wrestled. And then one evening Andy braced himself and marched behind the old man singing in a shrill falsetto, “Ching-Chong Chinaman sitting on a rail- Long came a white man and chopped off his tail. The old man stopped and turned. Andy stopped. The deep brown eyes looked at Andy and the thin corded lips moved. What happened then Andy was never able to explain or to forget. For the eyes spread until there was no Chinaman. And then it was one eye—one huge brown eye as big as a church door. Andy looked through the shiny transparent brown door and threw it he saw a lonely countryside, flat for miles but ending against a row of fantastic mountains shaped like mountains, cows’ and dogs’ heads and tents and mushrooms. There was low corse ground on the plane and here and there a little mound. And a small animal like a woodchuck sat on each mound. And the loneliness—the desolate cold aloneness of the landscape made Andy whimper because there wasn’t anybody in the world and he was left. Andy shut his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see it anymore, and when he opened them, he was in cannery row, and the old china man was flap flapping between Western Biological and Hediondo Cannery. Andy was the only boy who ever did that and he never did it again.”

14. D.I.D.L.S.Shifts • This represents shifts because Steinbeck goes from discussing the kind of feeling a man brought upon the whole town, and then it goes into an illusion, and event that might as well be a dream. • Steinbeck uses these random stories to convey the mood of story.

15. CONCLUSION • Steinbeck has a specific style that usually revolves around details and imagery. The uses of his descriptions sets the mood through out the novel. He often uses run on sentences to express the mood, using “and” continuously. • Steinbeck’s use of language reflects his personal experiences when growing up in Salinas Valley California. • Instead of using dialogue, Steinbeck often goes about describing a characters thoughts and feelings.