Cannery Row John Steinbeck

Cannery Row is a novel by American author John Steinbeck, published in 1945. It is set during the Great Depression in Monterey, California, on a street lined with sardine canneries that is known as Cannery Row. The story revolves around the people living there: Lee Chong, the local grocer; Doc, a marine biologist; and Mack, the leader of a group of derelict people. The Monterey location Steinbeck was writing about, on Ocean View Avenue, had been informally called "Cannery Row" since World War I. The street was formally renamed "Cannery Row" in 1958 in honor of Steinbeck. A film version was released in 1982 and a stage version was produced in 1995.

Steinbeck was born in the farming town of Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902. He graduated from Salinas High School and enrolled at Stanford University in 1919. He married his first wife, Carol Henning, in 1930. During the 1930s, Steinbeck wrote several of his most popular novels including, Tortilla Flat (1935), In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Steinbeck and his wife lived in his family's three-room summer cottage in Pacific Grove, California frequently from 1930-1936. He also lived at the cottage at various times in the 1940s.[1] Steinbeck wrote Cannery Row in 1944, when he was living in New York.[2] The book was published in 1945.[3]

In a 1953 essay describing the inspiration for his best selling book, Cannery Row, Steinbeck explained that "it was kind of a nostalgic thing for a group of soldiers who said to me: Write something funny that isn’t about the war. Write something for us to read - we’re sick of war.’”[4]

When business was booming in the sardine-canning district of Monterey, California during World War I, and several new canneries were built forming a continuous row, the name "Cannery Row" was born. After the success of Steinbeck's novel in 1945, "Cannery Row" gained wide recognition.[5] In 1958, Ocean Avenue was renamed "Cannery Row" in honor of Steinbeck.[2]

The story centers around a local marine biologist, Doc, and his relationship with Mack and friends, a group of unemployed men, and other residents in the sardine-canning district of Monterey, California. [6] Mack and his buddies are looking to do something nice for their friend Doc, who has been good to them without asking for reward. Mack hits on the idea that they should throw a thank-you party, and the entire community quickly becomes involved. Unfortunately, the party rages out of control, and Doc's lab and home are ruined—and so is Doc's mood. In an effort to return to Doc's good graces, Mack and the boys decide to throw another party—but make it work this time.[6] According to writer, Eka Kurniawan, "the novel invites us to see the world from a humble, and at times very narrow, perspective. From the engine of a dilapidated Ford Model T to the cash register of a grocery store owned by a Chinese immigrant, even to a brothel.".[7]

Main characters

Doc is a marine biologist who runs a biological specimen business, Western Biological Laboratories, who collects, prepares and markets specimens of fish and mammals for research and dissection. He pays bounties for certain creatures he needs, like cats and frogs. In addition to keeping live creatures on the premises, Doc prepares the specimens in his laboratory that also serves as his living quarters. Doc was based on Steinbeck's friend Ed Ricketts, a marine biologist and entrepreneur.[8][9]

Lee Chong, an immigrant from China, owns and personally operates the grocery store across from Doc's lab, "Lee Chong's Heavenly Grocery". His store supplies all the needs of the denizens of Cannery Row. Lee Chong was inspired by Won Yee, an immigrant from China who operated the Wing Chong Company Grocery. Won pioneered the drying and preparation of squid, which was exported to China. Won died in 1934.[10]

Dora Flood is the owner and proprietor of the Bear Flag Restaurant, the most prominent and busiest bordello in Monterey. She is a whore with a heart of gold who greatly benefits the community with her public and private charity. Dora Flood is based on Flora Woods Adams, a bordello owner who also figures in Steinbeck's earlier novel Tortilla Flat and in East of Eden.[11]

Mack is a seemingly homeless person who is the de facto leader of a group of other homeless men that congregate in Cannery Row. Mack negotiates with Lee Chong for the occupancy of a storage shack where he and the boys can live, which is fixed up and dubbed "The Palace Flophouse". His character was based on Cannery Row denizen Harold Otis "Gabe" Bicknell.[12] A photo of Bricknell was used on the cover of the 1994 paperback edition of the novel.[13]

Hazel, a simple minded but good hearted-young man who was given a female name by a mother too tired from child-bearing to realize her error at first or subsequently to care, is the most prominent of Mack's boys.[14]

Henri is a painter and visual artist who creates works of art out of different materials, such as feathers and nutshells. He is building a boat on blocks that he will never put out to sea. He romances a succession of women in the boat, who finally leave him due to its cramped quarters and lack of a bathroom.[15]

Steinbeck later wrote a sequel to Cannery Row, called Sweet Thursday, published in 1954,[6] in which several new characters are introduced, the canneries have closed, and Doc finds love, with the help of his friends.[16]

At the time of its publication, many critics dismissed the work as "mere whimsy and easy caricature, the sort of slim pickings that reviewers love to hate because it allows them to mine their febrile talents for hilarious ridicule and clever zingers." The New York Times Book Review and several East Coast reviewers savaged Steinbeck's new novel. On the West Coast, reviewer for the Los Angeles Times, Benjamin Howden, acknowledged that “Cannery Row” wasn’t Steinbeck’s best effort. “But the parts that are good are so uproariously funny that the little volume bids fair to outsell everything he has done since ‘Grapes,’”.[17] In a reassessment of the best-selling novel in 1977, Jackson J. Benson, Professor of American Literature at San Diego State University, declared, "On one hand the book has become a favorite among many Steinbeck readers and has turned Ed Ricketts into legend and Cannery Row itself into a mecca for tourists. The novel still baffles the critics, [18]

Film

A film version was released in 1982, starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger. The screenplay was written by David S. Ward and based on Sweet Thursday and Cannery Row.[19]

Stage

In 1994, the Western Stage in Salinas, California, commissioned J.R. Hall to do a stage adaptation of the novel to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its publication. A year later, it was produced as part of the National Steinbeck Festival.[20][21] Subsequently, it was revived by the Western Stage in 2005,[22] and the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2007.[20]

1. ^ Shillinglaw, Susan. "John Steinbeck, American Writer". San Jose University Center for Steinbeck Studies. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
2. ^ a b Hemp, Michael Kenneth (1986). Cannery Row. The History Company. p. 16,99. ISBN 978-0941425056.
3. ^ Matthiessen, F. o (December 31, 1944). "SOME PHILOSOPHERS IN THE SUN; John Steinbeck's Novel "Cannery Row" Is a Tale of Lovable Bums in Monterey CANNERY ROW. By John Steinbeck. 208 pp. New York: The Viking Press. $2. Cannery Row'". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
4. ^ "Cannery Row may be sentimental but its far from shallow". The Guardian. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
5. ^ Walton, John (1997). "Chapter 8: Cannery Row: Class, Community and the Social Construction of History". In Hall, John R. (ed.). Reworking Class. Cornell University Press. p. 245.
6. ^ a b c "John Steinbeck". Cannery Row. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
7. ^ Kurniawan, Eka. "How Steinbeck's Cannery Row spoke to me – even in small-town Indonesia". The Guardian. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
8. ^ "Ed Ricketts and the 'Dream' of Cannery Row: The Legacy of Steinbeck's 'Doc' Endures in Monterey". npr.org. National Public Radio. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
9. ^ Schultz, Jeffrey D.; Li, Luchen (2005). Critical Companion to John Steinbeck: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. Facts on File, Inc. p. 41. ISBN 9781438108506.
10. ^ "Wing Chong Building". SAH Archipedia. Society of Architectural Historians. November 6, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
11. ^ "The Cannery Row Madam". carmelresidents.org. Carmel Residents Association. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
12. ^ "Harold Otis 'Gabe' Bicknell". SJSU King Library Digital Collection. San Jose State University. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
13. ^ "Harold Otis "Gabe" Bicknell". San Jose State University. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
14. ^ "Cannery Row by John Steinbeck". LitCharts. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
15. ^ "Henri: Character analysis". LitCharts. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
16. ^ "Sweet Thursday". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
17. ^ Livernois, Joe. "Panning Cannery". Voices of Monterey Bay. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
18. ^ Benson, Jackson J. (1977). "John Steinbeck's Cannery Row: A Reconsideration". Western American Literature. 12 (1): 11–40. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
19. ^ "Cannery Row". Variety. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
20. ^ a b Rawson, Christopher (July 25, 2007). "Stage Review: 'Cannery Row' is unwieldy fun". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
21. ^ "Act One Theatre School - Who We Are". www.actonetheatreschool.com. J.R. Hall.
22. ^ Masters, Ryan (August 11, 2005). "Western Stage does its best to bring Cannery Row off the page". Monterey County Weekly. Retrieved December 1, 2019.

• Gladstein, Mimi R. "Cannery Row: A Male World and the Female Reader." Steinbeck Quarterly 25.03-04 (Summer/Fall 1992): 87–97.
• Morsberger, Robert E. "Cannery Row Revisited." Steinbeck Quarterly 16.03-04 (Summer/Fall 1983): 89–95.