Instead of looking at all the residents and assuming they are crazy or peculiar as Hazel implied, Doc took a different approach and essentially united all the groups by viewing them in a different light. Doc’s perspective could be viewed as educated and wise because out of all the residents of his town, he seems to be the one that is most trusted with difficult tasks. This is an accurate depiction of how the distinct groups can be compared.

Such a thing had never occurred to Hazel” (33). Nuts about the same amount we are, only in a different way’. When Hazel, a member of Mack’s gang, is aiding Doc by collecting starfish from the tidepools, he begins to talk about Henri’s obsession with constructing a boat that never seems to be finished. When pondering the fact that all these different congregations live in the same small town, one may presume that the groups would clash and that the different perspectives and lifestyles of the various groups would be scrutinized by one another. Cannery Row’s “inhabitants are…’ whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,’ by which he meant Everybody” (1). As aforementioned, the residents of Cannery Row are all very different when juxtaposed to one another.

To start, one of the themes found in Cannery Row is the function of a community.

John Steinbeck conveys various themes in the novel Cannery Row including the function of community, dependability, and internal conflicts amongst individuals. This style of writing allows the reader to understand that Cannery Row and the events taking place there are not meant to be the main focus of the novel, but rather the inhabitants of Cannery Row and their interactions with each other is what Steinbeck wants to place importance upon. With its diverse conglomeration of characters and captivating events, the book is based on the setting and lifestyle of the contrasting characters rather than the plot of the novel. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is a beautifully-written novel that evokes profound thoughts in the mind of the reader.

Cannery book