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    Cannery Row Study Guide

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    Chae
    Cannery Row is a 1945 novel by John Steinbeck set in 1930s Monterey, California. It depicts the lives of denizens who populate the run-down area known as Cannery Row. Steinbeck drew from his time spent with his friend Ed Ricketts at Ricketts' biological laboratory on Cannery Row. While some critics disliked its sentimental portrayal of hobos and prostitutes, others praised Steinbeck's focus on the lives of working-class Americans and subtle challenges to conformity. The book revived interest in Cannery Row and its history as a former sardine cannery hub.

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    Cannery Row Study Guide

    Uploaded by

    Chae
    133 views1 page
    Cannery Row is a 1945 novel by John Steinbeck set in 1930s Monterey, California. It depicts the lives of denizens who populate the run-down area known as Cannery Row. Steinbeck drew from his time spent with his friend Ed Ricketts at Ricketts' biological laboratory on Cannery Row. While some critics disliked its sentimental portrayal of hobos and prostitutes, others praised Steinbeck's focus on the lives of working-class Americans and subtle challenges to conformity. The book revived interest in Cannery Row and its history as a former sardine cannery hub.

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    Cannery Row is a 1945 novel by John Steinbeck set in 1930s Monterey, California. It depicts the lives of denizens who populate the run-down area known as Cannery Row. Steinbeck drew from his time spent with his friend Ed Ricketts at Ricketts' biological laboratory on Cannery Row. While some critics disliked its sentimental portrayal of hobos and prostitutes, others praised Steinbeck's focus on the lives of working-class Americans and subtle challenges to conformity. The book revived interest in Cannery Row and its history as a former sardine cannery hub.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    133 views1 page

    Cannery Row Study Guide

    Uploaded by

    Chae
    Cannery Row is a 1945 novel by John Steinbeck set in 1930s Monterey, California. It depicts the lives of denizens who populate the run-down area known as Cannery Row. Steinbeck drew from his time spent with his friend Ed Ricketts at Ricketts' biological laboratory on Cannery Row. While some critics disliked its sentimental portrayal of hobos and prostitutes, others praised Steinbeck's focus on the lives of working-class Americans and subtle challenges to conformity. The book revived interest in Cannery Row and its history as a former sardine cannery hub.

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    Cannery Row Study Guide

    Cannery Row (1945) is one of John Steinbeck's most beloved novels. Its mixture of tones
    and themes, memorable characters, and ability to capture and convey the essence of a place in
    time has made it a favorite of both readers and critics alike.
    Steinbeck has said that he wrote the Cannery Row  at the behest of an American soldier who
    expressed a desire to forget the horrors of World War II. Steinbeck was a war correspondent
    during the conflict, and thus knew exactly what sort of novel would appeal to someone who was
    tired of facing death and destruction. While Cannery Row  was published in 1945, it is set in
    the 1930s and does not actually address the war. Steinbeck once described it as a "funny little
    book" and "pretty nice."
    Cannery Row  is Steinbeck's 9th novel. He wrote it while living in his family's cottage in
    Pacific Grove. During this time, he wandered around the real Cannery Row in Monterey,
    spending time at his friend Ed Ricketts' biological laboratory.
    Monterey's first cannery was built next to Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey Harbor, but the
    resulting stench and detritus necessitated its move to a rocky, coastal strip that led from
    Monterey to Pacific Grove and China Point (now called Ocean Avenue). The area, nicknamed
    Cannery Row, was busy and profitable until the over-harvesting of sardines led to the shuttering
    and abandonment of many of the canneries. Steinbeck's book, though, revived interest in
    Cannery Row the 1950s and 1960s, and the city of Monterey started to reimagine the area as a
    tourist attraction. They officially named it Cannery Row in 1958.

    Many critics have probed the deeper meaning of Cannery Row, finding allusions to the
    Arthurian legends beloved by Steinbeck, Steinbeck and Ricketts's interest in the non-teleological
    philosophy (which is based on the idea of "is"), and a possible response to Thomas Wolfe's You
    Can't Go Home Again.
    Cannery Row  did receive some unfavorable reviews at the time of its release from critics
    who complained about Steinbeck's sentimentality and deemed the favorable depiction of hobos
    and prostitutes to be inappropriate. Some Monterey area residents were also unhappy with
    Steinbeck's depiction of the town. However, a other critics lauded Steinbeck for his realist style
    and his focus on the lives of working-class Americans. They approved of the way he subtly
    challenged American conformity, consumerism, and selfishness. Modern critics in particular are
    quick to celebrate the well-formed ethical and moral statements that Steinbeck conveys
    in Cannery Row.
    Steinbeck wrote a sequel to Cannery Row entitled Sweet Thursday,  in which Doc finds
    love with a young woman named Suzy.
    A film version of Cannery Row, largely lampooned, came out in 1982, and a stage version
    debuted in 1995.

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