The Definition of Success Cannery Row Essay Example

The Definition of Success: Cannery Row Paper They The first man we meet In this book Is Lee Chon. He Is the owner and operator of the local grocery store. Chon is a stubborn man that cherishes the value of a dollar and a hard days work. He is also the type of man that will not discount an item if his life depended on it, but he will still lend a helping hand every now and then. Over the course of the years everyone in Cannery Row owed him money, writes Steinbeck. He loans money to all of these people because in such a small town, he knows they would rather pay him back for all they owe rather than travel up the hill a few miles. Lee Chon Just so happens to measure his achievements on money alone. Somewhere along the line he finds a way to risk his own profit to help a friend In need with groceries or money. A man that constantly gets money and food from Lee Chon Is Mack. He and they boys, Hazel, Eddie, Huge. And Jones start to rent a building from Chon despite the fact that both parties are aware that Mack and the boys have no source of income. They manage to find a way to pay the five dollars a month through favors, short-term jobs, and sometimes theft. We will write a custom essay sample on The Definition of Success: Cannery Row specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Definition of Success: Cannery Row specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Definition of Success: Cannery Row specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer They are the type of people that can get a person to do anything Just by twisting words and convincing them that its the right thing to do. This is how Mack and the boys get around. They were homeless, but they found homes. They didnt have any money, but managed to find food. This lifestyle is Just what they wanted and needed. In their minds no commitments means no worries. Most of the time these men went without Jobs, but they are forced to find work occasionally to pay off loans. Eddie works bartering at a place called, La Ida when the regular bartender Is sick. When this rare occurrence happens, he will bring a Jug in to work and fill it with all the booze he can. The boys would enjoy it for the next Tee clays Ana commemorate tenet assessments Nils was want ten Doss level Tort. Sure, it was illegal, and it wasnt much to be proud of, but it made them happy. As long as they were alive and well, then that was good enough. If life brought them good fortune, they were very grateful. They didnt feel like they deserved any more. The one man Mack and the boys thought deserved more than anyone else was Doc. Doc is their everything. Not Just to the boys, to the whole town. He fixed what needed vicinage food to the hungry, and helped with peoples health in any way that we could. Throughout Cannery Row, Mack is trying to find out how to pay back Doc for all he has done. The whole town admires Doc, so they support Mack in his efforts. Doc is quite fond of knowledge and discovery. James Hart describes him as the sympathetic, wise, lonely owner of the Western Biological Laboratory. His work consists of collecting specimens for study and experiments in his lab. He is a marine biologist. He likes to study life and nature quite in-depth. He doesnt really have a family, so he doesnt mind supporting his friends and neighbors from time to time. He is also a very lonely man. Howard Elevate also describes Docs relationships by eying, He regards people and the specimens he collects from the tide pool with the same cool, warm eye. He would rather watch Mack and the boys from his laboratory window, rather than spend time and drink whiskey with them. He watches over them and cares for them, but he doesnt love them. Mack and the boys will do random labor or tasks for Doc in order to make a little money and it made Doc glad to see that they could put their talents to good use. Doc has always known the boys true potential, but no one else had could ever really understand. Another important person in Cannery Row is Dora. Dora is the owner of the Bear Flag Restaurant, a brothel. In Howard Leavens book entitled The Novels of John Steinbeck he makes a great observation of Dora: Dora operates a whorehouse, an illegal, necessary business, uniquely logical in its social mathematics, for Dora must contribute heavily to worthy community projects and charities and must preserve an abnormally solid front of obedience to the law as the price of an uncertain social and police toleration. Everyone in town knows of her and respects her. She always helps when citizens in Cannery Row are going through a rough period by making them food or giving money n order to be pardoned by government officials for running her house. When the great flu epidemic came through the town, everyone working at the house was out taking care of those who were in bad condition. Dora, madam and girl for fifty years, has through the exercise of special gifts of tact and honesty, charity and a certain realism, made herself respected by the intelligent, the learned, and the kind, writes Steinbeck. Dora is not a successful woman according to most peoples standards because of how she makes her money. Regardless of what people may think, she makes a decent living and has enough consideration to support others. Although she Is a very generous lacy, seen does a lot AT It T this, but most people already know. Or ten attention. seen wall never malt to If we were to compare all of these lives to catheter how is it that we can determine whose is the most successful? First we must figure out how we define success. According to Mares A. Nelson, Success is the accomplishment of goals and objectives necessary to achieve a particular task, realize a particular dream or satisfy a particular need or want, for a particular period of time. In other words, we decide how successful we are in life. What we want our life to become is our vision and whether or not we complete that vision tells us how successful we truly are. Each individual person also reaches this goal in a different way or pattern than everyone else in the world. In terms of success, we all have our own ideas. To one person success may be earning a college diploma. To another, success could be making multi-million dollar movies each year. In Cannery Row, success has a variety of definitions as well. When looking at the grocer, Lee Chon, a person would see him as someone who hoards his money for pleasure or Greer. Gongs apparent goals and objectives are to make a decent and fair living. He does a good Job in keeping on track of this plan, except for the times when Mack enters the store. The only transaction that made Lee Chon loose a great deal of money was with Mack. Mack has Just returned from the valley where he was catching some frogs for Doc. Doc had assured Mack that he would pay him five cents for each frog caught, but Doc was out of town for the day. Mack confronted Chon with his problem and Chon eventually agreed to buy the frogs from Mack for a cheaper price thinking he could easily flip them the next day when Doc came back. He was trying to make a quick profit. His need for money got to is head. This whole plan backfired when the frogs escaped and ran away one night. Chon was out of luck. He was fairly successful, but not enough to brag about. Dora, the owner of the Bear Flag Restaurant has been semi-successful over the years in Cannery Row. She makes a solid amount of money. The only problem is that she has to give back most of it to the town or to charities. She doesnt really appear to have any goals or objectives in life other than to make a statement. She also loves popularity. She has, however, satisfied general needs of food, clothing, and shelter, which is why she is doing okay. She has also lived out her objectives or popularity and wealth. Doc has money, unlike most of Cannery Rows inhabitants. Thats not what he is interested in. His objective in life is to discover something unknown, to identify an object or creature that no one knew existed, or even to cure a disease. He will probably not be happy or feel fulfilled until this day comes. He is also longing for a companion. He needs a woman in his life for support and love. He usually has where at his house on a regular basis, but deep inside he desires more. Doc has not been able to complete any of his goals, but he is on the right path. MacK appears to De ten most stressful person In cannery Row. He Is a very individual and eccentric person. He scrapes for money to live. He doesnt have any prized possessions or valuable things. Its not that Mack is unable to make money and be wealthy, he Just doesnt try to because he doesnt want much money. When talking about Mack and the boys, their behavior with money is explained when Doc says, They could ruin their lives and get money. Mack has qualities of a genius. Theyre all very clever if they want something. They Just know the nature of things too well to be caught in that wanting. Mack is successful because he could have what all the rich people have, but he knows it will change the way he thinks. He is a very kind and considerate person that looks up to Doc as a father. He can accomplish anything he sets his mind to with ease. He can become friends with a stranger in five minutes if he gets the chance and he has. Its these qualities that make him so amazingly different and special. An interesting point made in Steinbeck Cannery Row is that, The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, harness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second. This is very true in our society, but those who have the qualities of failure are successful in a different sense. They have fulfillment. They are those who know that the best things in life really are free. They are the men like Mack in our world. We all have our own ideas and versions of successful lives. The people of Cannery Row are all relatively successful as well. The one person that stands out among the group is Mack, the wise homeless man.