Talbot, Steinbeck shows a world of lonely, wounded individuals. Whether it is pretending to be someone they are not, as in the case of Henri the painter, or being forced to the brink of insanity like Mrs.
Ironically, Steinbeck contrasts the superficial cheeriness of those inhabiting Cannery Row with the dark reality of their situation.
The underlying motivations of every character in Cannery Row are somehow directed by their desire to love, or be loved. From Doc, the backbone of Cannery Row, to Mack and the boys, who are described as “the Virtues, the Graces, the Beauties of the hurried mangled craziness of Monterey,” (14) Steinbeck reveals the one thing that each individual needs: acceptance. Set in a fictionalized version of Cannery Row in Monterey, California, Steinbeck uses his cast of homeless people, drunks and prostitutes to express profound truths about humanity. John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row (1945) opens with the following declaration: “Cannery Row in Monterey California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream” (1).
0 kommentar(er)
