“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.” Now it is also a tourist attraction and home to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
--Brent W.
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Before the Monterey Bay Aquarium was when John Stienbeck was refering to was when the waters of this are were being over fished by large sardine fishing companies. Before it was overfished it was one of the best locations for fish becasue of the cooler and nutrient rich water. But due to overfishing of the ocean it now is home of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see that people cared about the over fishing and destruction of the ocean so much that John Stienbeck wrote a poem as powerful as this. They turned Monterey Bay into a marine sancuary now and now it is visited and respected by those interensted in culinary tourism.
Steinbeck writes, "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, "whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches," by which he meant Everybody."
ReplyDeleteThis quote is an extremely solid visual that sets the tone for the ambiance, or lack there of, of Cannery Row, which is now a landmark destination for Monterey's visitors. In the past, this area was overfished and polluted with less than desirable conditions. In current day, it's the exact opposite. Clearly this writing played a very powerful role in making people aware of the conditions during this time period. Steinbeck is a well-respected author and he used his words to manipulate the thoughts of his readers, forcing appreciation towards the beautified Monterey Bay and feeling sad about the previous state of the given area.
The above comment was written by Julia Grossman***
ReplyDelete"Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck, is a poem about the once popular sardine fishing area now turned aquarium due to the over fishing. The describes the booming hustle of the sardine canning facility when the boats came in. Being a big business in the town, everyone would jump in to help cook and pack the catch. Once all the fish had been packed, due to the bay being over fished, all the commotion in the down stopped as well.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is powerful in the sense that it describes how busy this area was canning fish until it was over fished. You get the impression that the cannery was almost a monster, a very hungry one, that ate tons of fish until there was nothing left to devour. The poem ends with what happens when the work was all done, which I feel refers to no more fish being left, and everyone goes back to their lives. Some of the workers, had no lives to go back to and were angry at the fact that their were no more fish. This is an important poem that shows the consequence of overfishing. It shows how some people take resources for granted and neglect to think about what would happen if they were all gone. This is an important lesson for all to learn and to take into consideration before all natural resources are destroyed.
Evan M.
To me, this poem is about a community that once was. To be a community there must be a spoken, yet seemingly unspoken, bond between the members of it. The town was held together as a community due to the fishing industry and cannery which was thriving at the time. Just as Steinbeck says, "Wops, Chinamen, Polacks, women and children pour out of the town to clean and cut and pack and cook and can the fish." These people are not connected by their heritage, but by their will to survive by the means which have been provided for them. Once the fish ran out, like Evan said in the previous comment, "You get the impression that the cannery was almost a monster, a very hungry one, that ate tons of fish until there was nothing left to devour." Not only did the factory consume all the fish, in a way, it ultimately consumed the town's central nervous system which was its people. It is important that we utilize our natural resources for survival, profit, and growth, but we need be weary that the Earth's bounty may one day run out, and we should be mindful of this.
ReplyDeleteTyler B.