Cannery Row: The Realistic Utopia Essay

Cannery Row: The Realistic Utopian Society

Cannery Row was writen by famous author, John Steinbeck. It was one of his later books and is often noted for having a much lighter tone than his other famous works, ex. Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath. In Cannery Row Steinbeck takes one a more whimsical, and even more philosophical tone with the story. In Cannery Row, through the plot and style of writing, Steinbeck trys to show the world his ideals of a so called realistic utopia by expressing his beliefs of mankind and their inner workings, expressing the darker sides of the town to question this utopia, and describing bits and pieces of the town seemingly irreverent to the plot to keep the image of the town unartificial.

Steinbecks analysis of this realistic utopian society is very subtle. He is constantly making different conundrums in the human character then seeing if a particular personality will work well with society. For example: The whore woman, Dora, with a heart of gold. Now and days when the word whore comes to mind, we do not instantly think of her personality or personal values. We only can think of the acts she preforms on a regular basis. Steinbeck is saying What if that wasnt so? What if, in a perfect society. whores, and everyone at that matter, were respected. Dora is described as ....madam and girl for fifty years, has through the exercise of special gifts of tact and honesty, charity and a certain realism, made herself respected by the intelligent, the learned, and the kind. (9 ) showing that she is in fact a human being with strong values, rather then just your common whore. Another example of this personality conundrum is Mr. Cho, the Grocer. Mr. Cho is one of the wealthiest men in cannery row. A very tough and extraordinary businessman who is owed money by everyone but nevertheless shows extreme generosity and compassion when it comes to loans. Steinbeck writes Not that Lee Chong was avaricious. He wasnt, but if one wanted to spend money, he was available. Over the course of the years everyoneowed him money. He never pressed his clients, but when the bill became too large, Lee cut off credit. (3) This is a less shocking example then Dora but you have to understand the context of this story as well to get the full effect. The novel is set right after WWII and right at the ending of the great depression. It was almost completely unheard of a man who continuously lent money out, thus the extraordinarily of Mr.Cho. Steinbeck is again asking us to question what we know of humankind and their workings, and showing us how this utopian society just might be plausible.

In all utopian societies there is a dark side however, Steinbeck does not forget this either. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck pens in subtle, and not so sublet instances of violence and barbarity. For example, at the very begging of the book, a man, Horace Abbeville, commits suicide. And throughout the plot as well, several other men commit suicide as well. The hidden violence in the story reminds us of the imperfection of human beings, and their inherit nature. But it also suggests that evil must be balanced with good in order to create a greater good. Steinbeck pens about the town Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches, by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole, he might have said, Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men, and he would have meant the same thing. (1), making us question this utopia and put it into more realistic terms, thus Steinbeck's realistic utopia. During these sections of the novel, the feeling of the time seems to seep through the lines. As i said before the novel is set at the end of the Depression, and as seen in Cannery row, the war did little to end the depression there. Steinbeck shows us how people are still extremely poor, and still in an extremely bleak situation. This creates am interesting effect. Jumping back and forth from the reality of the situation and the utopia of the town. Another example of the darkness within this society is when Frankie is sent off to an institution. Frankie is a mentally handicapped boy whom the doc has taken in. Frankie loves the Doc so much that he tries to steal an onyx clock form the jewelers for the docs birthday. He gets caught and when asked why he did such a thing, Frankie responds simply I love you (). He has done nothing wrong, he was not successful in this crime and it was his first offence, but the officers think he is a madman and so send him off to an institution for his love. This is a cruel example as it brings into question the manners and conduct of one in love, it is one of the many ways Steinbeck gets the reader to question this reality.

One thing Steinbeck is known for in his writing is his tendency to go off on random tangents that seem irrelevant to the main plot line. He is known for his moments of intense detail and extremely philosophical moments. The best example of this is in chapter two when he rambles on and on about human nature. Steinbeck uses this tangent style also in order to keep the feel of the city more random and spontaneous. But, despite this i believe he also does this to allow himself, the author, some direct time in the spotlight. Steinbeck is able to gather up all the different stories in the town, much like the Doc gathering all the different animals and depositing them in one place. By connecting the characters ideas it is bring the reader closer to the town. It also allows Steinbeck to keep up with his utopian analysis more subtly; the random tangents allow him to experiment with the charters and introduce new personalities at whim, so he can see the outcomes of different situations and develop his realistic utopian theory further. In the introduction it is stated that Steinbeck lets the story's crawl in by themselves."( ) Also by doing this, Steinbeck can allow the book to end on a happy note which further supports this utopia theory. It is because of these tangents that Cannery Row is able to end on a optimistic note even with all the obvious sorry and misfortune of the time.

In Cannery Row, through the plot and style of writing, Steinbeck trys to show the world his ideals of a so called realistic utopia by expressing his beliefs of mankind and their inner workings. For example Dora, the whore with the heart of gold. He expresses the darker sides of the town to question this utopia. And he describes bits and pieces of the town seemingly irreverent to the plot to keep the image of the town unartificial and also to express and develop his ideas on this realistic utopia.