Semester 2 Honors Novel#1

While taking place during the Great Depression, Steinbeck expresses the different political and social issues of the time with his characters of Cannery Row.  While the stock market fell and the people began to struggle, there was not much anyone could do at the time. In those moments of time, the people tried to create happiness among themselves and help make it easier for everyone to get through those times.

As a result of the Great Depression, it left many people in situations where money was tight and the class level among them dropped as well. Steinbeck expresses a story about the people of the lower class. He writes about Cannery Row many times throughout the book and it is emphasized that it isn’t the wealthiest or even the greatest place to live. It’s a run down town, but there are the different aspects of the town that makes it the place that it is.

One of the social issues that Steinbeck reflects in his writing is that World War II didn’t really do anything to effect the people that live in Cannery Row. After World War II, it affected most of the nation and pulled them out of the Great Depression. But from the sounds of it, Cannery Row didn’t change all that much after the war.  There was instance when Doc went to go and collect octopus for his experiments and he found a girl who was dead in the river. My opinion on what that had symbolized was that the Great Depression wasn’t over for them. The war had helped others find a way out from the depression, but when Steinbeck wrote about the girl in the river, it seemed as if he was writing about sadness and that it wasn’t quite over for them.

As for the characters in this book, they consciously try to make Doc happy and do something kind for him. And I think that they do that to try and get over the fact that life hasn’t been all its cracked up to be for them at that moment in time. Mack and his group of friends plan a birthday party for Doc. This is after they had they’re own party that Doc did not know about. Another way that they found happiness was through drinking. Doc really enjoyed drinking alcohol and that was sort of an “escape” for him.

The political and social issues of the time period weren’t expressed in depth throughout this book. It seemed as if Steinbeck was just writing a story about how the people of Cannery Row are coping with the struggles in their lives.