Response to Cannery Row

Mark Twain is considered to be one of the best authors of all time, and his novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" rightfully owns a place in the list of classics that will be enjoyed by many throughout time.  No one expects "Huck Finn," a tale about an adventurous boy's journey down the Mississippi River, to end up as an allegory of the post-civil war South, but that is exactly what happens.  John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" is a novel akin to that of "Huck Finn"; at first, both novels seem like simple recollections of everyday events, but more detailed reading reveals philosophies, ideals, and criticisms of society straight from the author. Through characters with mental disease, stigmas against poor characters, and change after tragedy, Steinbeck is able to enunciate his own ideals and philosophies of how society should be.

Many of the characters in “Cannery Row” could potentially have mental illnesses, but Steinbeck specifically uses Hazel to advocate for those in society who are afflicted with mental handicaps.  Hazel lives with Mack and the boys in the Palace Flophouse, and shows some signs of mental illness throughout the novel, particularly when he is around Doc.  While out collecting starfish, Steinbeck notes that Hazel keeps asking Doc the same question repeatedly so that he can hear Doc speak.  However, Hazel does not pay attention to what it is that Doc is saying, but rather just how the words sound: “Hazel loved to hear conversation but he didn’t listen to words—just to the tone of conversation” (32).  This idea of only listening to how the words sound is also found at the end of the novel when Doc is reading from a book at the second party.  The fact that Hazel can hear the words but cannot put them together in his mind is a sign of mental disease.  Hazel also has issues with communication, another indicator of a mental handicap.  Doc grows tired of Hazel’s constant questions, so Doc asks him a question of his own.  This, however, distresses Hazel because, “he never forgot anything but he never bothered to arrange his memories” (34).  Many times, people who have mental handicaps will remember details of everything.  Hazel never likes being asked questions because his thoughts are plentiful, but unorganized.  Both of these examples are classic signs of mental illness, and create a sense of sympathy for Hazel.  I loved how Steinbeck allowed me to peer into the mind of a mentally handicapped man; I personally know a boy who is mentally handicapped, and he is often judged for it.  He is like a brother to me, so it is painful that people feel the need to treat him differently.  Steinbeck’s words encourage more understanding and patience to those who suffer from mental diseases.  This encouragement is not commonly found in classic literature, and so I was ecstatic to find it.

While society may view poor people as bums, Steinbeck turns the tables and shows that homeless and unfortunate people are the purest of heart, and their personalities are to be emulated.  Mack and the boys have no money, no families, and no true ambitions in life.  However, “[Mack and the boys] are the Virtues, the Graces, the Beauties of the hurried mangled craziness of Monterey and the cosmic Monterey where men in fear and hunger destroy their stomachs in the fight to secure certain food, where men hungering of love destroy everything loveable about them” (15).  In a society where people sell their souls to gain riches and fame, Mack and the boys are content with where they are and try to make the best of it.  They do not get caught up in the materialism of the world, and Steinbeck ironically creates them as the protagonists in celebration of their pure hearts.  Coincidentally, though the boys are humble and do not look for admiration and acknowledgement, Steinbeck still gives it to them through Doc.  Later in the novel, Doc notes, “all of our so-called successful men are sick men, with bad stomachs, and bad souls, but Mack and the boys are healthy and curiously clean” (142).  Doc then elaborates about how Mack and the boys are the purest of heart, and that these “bums” are ironically better people than those who are successful in worldly ventures.  I found it very interesting how Steinbeck’s own personal commentary of the virtue of poor people shines through Mack and the boys, the downtrodden and judged people of society.

Steinbeck’s final commentary on society comes through the repeated theme of change after suicide.  First, a man named Horace Abbeville had two wives and six children, and thus was judged by society.  After racking up a huge debt at Lee Chong’s grocery store, Abbeville is forced to sell his warehouse to Chong to pay back his debt.  Chong treats Abbeville like another business venture rather than a human being, and continues to judge him and his children.  After selling his warehouse, Abbeville goes home and shoots himself.  Only through this tragedy does Chong see the error in his ways and “no Abbeville child, no matter who its mother was, knew the lack of a stick of spearmint afterward” (9).  The tragedy is that it, in fact, took a tragedy to teach Chong how to treat another like a human and not to judge for his or her shortcomings.  Similarly, the old bouncer at The Bear Flag Restaurant illustrates the same story.  The bouncer before Alfred, William, was not accepted by Mack and the boys.  Unable to deal with this rejection, William goes to talk to the Greek cook at Dora’s.  The Greek cook, however, does not understand William’s heartache, and so William’s, “hand rose and the ice pick snapped into his heart” (21).  After William’s suicide, Mack and the boys treat the new bouncer with respect and acceptance.  Only after both of these tragedies are people treated correctly—which I believe is a very good warning from Steinbeck to treat others with dignity and kindness in the first place.  After dealing with the tragedies of suicide in my own life this past year, this part of the novel was hard to read, but it is a topic that I am glad Steinbeck had the courage to tackle.

          Steinbeck declares his ideals of how society should function through characters with mental disease, stigmas against poor characters, and change after tragedy.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading what Steinbeck had to say about each of these aspects of life because his morals lined up with my own.  To hear another voice speak out about these issues was very refreshing.  Steinbeck’s writing style is, in my opinion, very clever—he takes normal storytelling and turns it into a life lesson akin to Aesop and Mark Twain.  For me, this balance of pointless, yet fun storytelling and poignant messages allowed "Cannery Row" to be perhaps the best summer reading book that I have been assigned in quite a while.