Rhetorical Strategies

Rhetorical Strategies

• “That Doc is a fine fellow. We ought to do something for him” (13) foreshadowing
• “A chair appeared and a cot and another chair”(12). Symbolism
• “Eddie watched his stove like a mother hen”(123). simile
• “The cat let it get nearly to the cover of the blackberry vines and then she reached delicately out and white thorns had sprouted from her paw”(154). irony, symbolism

Cannery Row, a story of a small town that derives its character from its residents contains rhetorical strategies that illustrate the personalities of the denizens and symbols which allude to greater themes or even other residents.

Steinbeck foreshadows Mack and the boys attempt to repay Doc’s generosity, forgiveness, and kindness by throwing him a party, through the notion that it has entered the group’s mind that Doc deserves to be appreciated.  This also shows the compassion that these misfits nevertheless have. Eddie, trying to bake a cake in appreciation Doc’s various assistance over the years, never lets his attention waiver. Eddie cares nothing of the outside world and protects the cake as a hen would protect its chicks. The gopher towards the close of the novel seems familiar because it is a symbol of Mack and his gang. The gopher works diligently trying to find a mate and live comfortably, just as Mack and the boys do. Various tunnels and chambers are created to make a more lavish burrow for the gopher, and parallel to the gopher, Mack and the boys steal furniture to embellish their meager surroundings, “A chair appeared and a cot and another chair”(12). The gophers failure is represented with his battle, similarly Mack and the boys fail by ruining Doc’s first party. Both events cause both parties to rethink their actions.