Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as is--both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Creating characters based on his memories of real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack, and the boys in a world where only the fittest survive.
This earthy book portrays the lives of benign bums and social outcasts who, unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, discover rewards unknown in a more traditional society.