After reading The Pearl and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, two books that were very enjoyable, I chose to read Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. Being set in Monterey, California, and the land that surrounds it, allowed me to vividly imagine what life was like on Cannery Row in the 1930s when Lee Chong’s grocery store was still running and when Mack and the boys lived in the Palace Flophouse across the way. The Great Depression was a very tough time in the United States, and this book seems to show just how tough it was to survive while shining a light on the subject at the same time. Steinbeck shows the separation of class with the way he portrays the character Doc’s relationship with Mack and the boys and also Lee Chong’s own personal relationship …show more content…
And through the back door comes the smell of kelp and barnacles when the tide is out and the smell of salt and spray when the tide is in. (26-27) The descriptiveness within this quote makes it seem as if you are really standing in Doc’s laboratory smelling the combination of all these different smells while you are reading it. Steinbeck’s realistic writing style mixed with his beautiful imagery absolutely creates a picture in your mind of what these characters were experiencing in Cannery Row. Because of this writing style, it definitely makes it easier to stay engaged while reading this book and makes it very fun to read. During the Great Depression it was very hard to make money, if you were a businessman you would do whatever it took to make profit, even if it negatively affected others financially. As a business owner, Lee Chong saw an advantage to make a lot of money off of Mack and the boys: Lee had a stranglehold on the consumers. He was pretty sure that the Thrift