Diction

Diction

• Opening paragraph before chapter 1.
• Second paragraph of chapter 6
• Fifth paragraph of chapter 11
• Fourth paragraph of chapter 18

Steinbeck’s diction does two things, focuses on small details meant to involve the reader by making him feel as though he is really there, and personify objects through his diction to make them feel as though they too are part of the town. The opening paragraph of the novel contains words that Steinbeck specifically chose to relay the feeling of a town worn and dilapidated by hardship. Words such as “splintered wood”, “chipped pavement”, “weedy lots” “corrugated iron” and “junk heaps” illustrate this community to the reader. The community is shaped by poverty, not only is it evident in the slow economy, but physically visible at every turn in Cannery Row. Reading his diction transports you to the neglected seafaring town.

Lee Chong’s truck passed through many citizens of Monterey, and through that metaphorically became one of the citizens itself. Over the years it had gained as much character as many of the townspeople, and it is because of this that Steinbeck treats it as a person in his writing style. He describes it as “sullen and senile”(63)., a personification due to the elderly persona that this broken-down automobile radiates.

Every part of the town, whether it be human machine, adds to the individuality of Cannery Row. Such personality is even given to an octopus that is described as, “the creeping murderer”(31). “Evil”, “ferociously”, “savagely” and the “murdering” of the crab by the octopus are human descriptions given to the octopus to include it as a character.