What Is Steinbeck's Characterisation Of Lee Chong

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Steinbeck’s characterisation of Lee Chong “as evil balanced and held suspended by good” demonstrates the idea that people are more complex then they appear and that human motivation as well as action cannot be defined as either good or evil, but a combination of both. This is introduced in the prologue where Steinbeck describes the inhabitants of Cannery Row as “whores, pimps, gamblers and sons of bitches…. looked through another peephole he might if said saints and angels and martyrs and holy men” (5) . This duality is developed in Steinbeck’s characterisation of Lee Chong. He is, we read “a hard man with a can of bean – a soft man with the bones of is grandfathers” (13). Showing that Lee is a combination of a businessman and a kind individual.