Summary – Response of Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Doc is one person who is lived and respected by everybody in the society. One would expect him to be a very happy man because his relations with the community may be at its best. But this does not reflect in his personal life because deep down inside of him is a very sad and lonely man. Perhaps this can be equated to Steinbeck himself after having moved from his home to New York never to return home. He may have been lonely after moving from home to a new place where he knew no one. Steinbeck’s moving away from home caused him many feelings such as loneliness, loss in life and also loss of home. He turned out very sad and lonely and these feelings are echoed by Doc because in as much as he is expected to be a happy man he is lonelier and very sad (Lisca 176).
Doc is also the proprietor of the Western Biological Pool which is a specimen laboratory and supply house. Doc does the same job that Steinbeck’s real friend in the real world Ed Rickets does because he is a certified marine biologist. As a biologist, his job in real life ought to have been in this field. That may have been the reason he chose to incorporate that aspect of his personal life. As it is, he uses Doc to illustrate his own life experiences not only to add gist to the novel, but also uses information that he knows in improving the novel(Lisca 450). He uses his past knowledge in biology courtesy of knowing his friend to add realism to the novel, and that ends up making the novel have a touch of real life situations as they may have been in his personal life. Doc, in this novel helps bring out a real professional side of life, something that helps in portraying his professional values. The liveliness created by the mere presence of the laboratory gives the storyline a touch of reality because; at least the reader acknowledges the presence of a marine biologist in his life.
In real life, Steinbeck had a close friend called Ed Ricketts. He casts Ricketts as Doc in the novel. Rickets is said to be the real life Doc of the novel, something that also illustrates the fact that he uses real life situations, stories and personalities from his life and incorporates them in the novel (Lisca 87). In as much as his representation of Do may have encompassed other themes different from the fact that they were real life friends, his usage is prove that his real life encounters form a big part of his fictional writing. Doc may have been a fictional character, but he comes through as a real life character in the life of Steinbeck. Ricketts came in with attributes that brought in real life situations to the novel, and it was easier for those who knew Steinbeck that his representation of Ricketts is Doc in the novel.
One of the major themes in the novel is loneliness and it is well presented by Doc. Steinbeck says that “In spite of his friendliness and his friends Doc was a lonely and set- apart man” (Steinbeck 132). Of course he had several people around him but it is surprising that he ended up feeling lonely. It is said that Ricketts helped Steinbeck understand the place of man in the universe. Perhaps, Steinbeck presented Doc as lonely because he wanted to bring out this life lesson that Ricketts taught him. The nature of loneliness takes many facets and is brought out in the novel, as a mystical thing that is beyond understanding. That somebody can have people who go out of their way to make him happy is not a recipe for companionship or friendship. It comes out out clear through the novel is that friends can spark creative inspirations in writers.
Works Cited
Lisca, Peter. The Art of John Steinbeck: An Analysis and Interpretation of Its Development. Madison: University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1955. Print
Steinbeck, John. Cannery Row. (Centennial Edition). New York: Penguin Group US, 2002. Print
