The Theme of the American Dream in Cannery Row, by John...

Located in central Monterey Rey, California, the real city of Cannery Row is home to thousands of current residents, but is really home to a small, concentrated sense of nostalgia for the characters of John Steinebeck’s American Classic. Cannery Row, written in 1945 by Steinbeck, faintly touches on the idea of the American dream, on what it has to offer to a crookedly, quaint town in the middle of central California. The characters in Cannery Row are initially perceived as inappropriate, childish, slavish, ignorant, and a general mistake of humanity, with disgusting morals and a true burden to the world. As the story starts to unfold upon it self, and not only does this compelling plot line seem to start to come into place, the audience†¦show more content†¦It is this part in Cannery Row that represents the metaphorical transformation from children to men, even though Mack and the Boys are physically men with child-like mental astuteness. Steinbeck mundanely hints at the fact that children have the ability to easily grasp human kindness, which explained through Cannery Row, is the ultimate American Dream. Regarding the gangs motives’, readers gain a greater scope of the explanation of the American dream. In more specific terms, or an obvious reason why the American Dream symbolization is overlooked, can be correlated to the initial writings of Cannery Row. Right from the gecko of the book, the preface is marked like the inside walls of Hannibal Lector’s rotting San Francisco jail cell, from the constant use of juxtaposition. This literacy metaphor floods through the first pages of the book stacking the building blocks of the town, characters, general vibes, and what the overall everything constitutes to each other in the town. Everything is compared in drastic terms, unraveling a sense of unease, anguish, remorse, and a general discomfort; the divide amongst Cannery Row’s citizens how ever is equally not dismissed. â€Å"Wh ore, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,† are compared to â€Å"Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,† and if that were not enough, Steinbeck delves into the financial divide between superintendentsShow MoreRelatedWhen Creating His Short Stories/Novels, John Steinbeck1665 Words   |  7 PagesWhen creating his short stories/novels, John Steinbeck focused on what it meant to be human. He included life experiences and really fed off of that in many of his writings. Steinbeck was able to experience many struggles in the 1900s such as the great depression and both world wars, all events of which were first hand experiences. Being born in the early 1900’s, Steinbeck revolved around themes relevant to the world and his era. 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