Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Personal Response

Personal Response

I enjoyed this novel because it was different then others I have read, it did not revolve around the plot, rather the plot (or lack thereof) helped define the characters, which ultimately the story was about. The weak plot line was not a flaw in my opinion, instead I recognized that Steinbeck used this lack of constraint to mold his characters and tell their story. Mack and the gang’s quest for frogs was irrelevant, it was what happened during that journey to get the frogs that was critical. However, I did feel that although the plot was not of importance, more interesting events could have occurred that would have delved deeper into the souls of John Steinbeck’s already philosophic characters. After reading the book it seemed that so many questions remain unanswered, so many stories left untold. Cannery Row and its residents seemed to have so much personality that remained untapped by Steinbeck. The people of Cannery Row together created the mood and feel of the lower class neighborhood of degenerates and low-lives. I enjoyed these realism of these characters, for everything about them seemed genuine and real. Their internal and external struggles as well as the internal and external events that affected their lives were detailed and therefore held my interest. Cannery Row was not merely a small city, it was a microcosm of America at large. This microcosm documents the trials and hardships that these people, as well as Americans, go through: poverty, loneliness, violence, etcetera. Cannery Row reminds us that the purposefully forgotten parts of our society, the, “whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,”(1). , have to live somewhere, and the place where they reside is filled with good people who attempt to do good thing. This believable realism is why it is a classic and is so beloved by readers such as myself.


2 comments:

  1. I agree with your assessment of this novel. I also liked how there was no real plot in the story and I believed that is what made it original. I also agree that Cannery Row was intended to be a microcosm of the world that was going on around this city. I believe Steinbeck accurately demonstrated the hardships that Americans living in the Great Depression had to do with. I also agree that so many stories were left untold. For instance I believed Steinbeck would go into more detail on the accounts of Gay and instead only brought him back at the very end of the story for the party. It seemed there could have been a chapter or more of what he experienced. Overall I generally liked this novel as well.

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  2. I agree that there was no definitive plot in the novel, and the lack of plot was not a flaw but instead helped define the characters. I also liked how you recognized Cannery Row was a microcosm of America and represented the trials that were faced by many during the Great Depression. Like you, I also enjoyed the description of the characters struggles as it made them more realistic and increased the connection with the reader. Overall, I thought you did a good job analyzing Cannery Row and enjoyed reading your blog!

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