Free Essay on John Steinbecks Cannery Row :: Cannery Row Essays

Cannery Row               Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is a post World War I piece written with a mixture of humor and dingyness about the lives of the residents of Cannery Row, a street in Monterey California. The story opens in a messy grocery store engage by a Chinese man named downwind Chong. The one dwell store is described like so while not a model of neatness, was a miracle of supply... clothes, food, both fresh and canned, liquor, tobacco, fishing equipment, machinery, boats, cordage, caps, pork chops, slippers, and a silk kimono and last but certainly not least whiskey, could all be purchased. All of the whiskeys had names like Old Tennessee and were at least cardinal months old. Our casts of characters have nicknamed the cheapest whiskey Old lawn tennis Shoe. Lee Chong is a good man who has the respect of the town. He manages to be respected by the entire town, while most of the town was in his financial debt.   Debt would purloin for many people who shopped at Lees, because he would invest consumers until further trust would be ridiculous.             From this beginning comes a cast of characters immense and detailed, do the book and the street come alive. Turning to the next page was not a chore but a leap into another persons woes and prospers. We live up to men like Horace Abbeville whos summarized tale is one that begins with debt, which Horace pays take out with a train he owned that housed  fishmeal. After Lee Chong agreed to this arrangement, Mr. Abbeville sauntered up the long trails to this shack and shot him self in the head, leaving his wife and children sad and confused. Lee had not pressured Horace for payment he had only suspended Horaces credit. Lee felt badly about Horaces suicide and always watched out for Horaces family.            Lees new ownership of Horaces shac k leads us to the introduction of Mack and the boys. Mack twists Lees branch to allow them to stay in the fishmeal shack now called the Palace flophouse and Grill. Mack and the boys are men who very well could go off and do something with themselves. Instead, Mack and the boys would sit around drinking Old Tennis Shoe, getting into trouble whenever possible.