They are all created to identify and conceptualize objects. He begins naming these random things displaying that they all are unified by the fact that they are words. The thing that they represent is absorbed by a word and every person can impose their own variant definition of the word, while in nature the thing stays constant in all eyes. In this quote Steinbeck is sharing with the reader the idea that words are most basically just words. (Steinbeck, 5) His use of big ideas like the “Word” shows us his biblical influence and fascination. Then the Thing becomes the Word and back to Thing again, but warped and woven into a fantastic pattern”. It begins with, “The word is a symbol and a delight which sucks up men and scenes, trees, plants, factories, and Pekinese. This paragraph is full of profound language and imagery. One of these allegories is the entire second paragraph. I would recommend this book to anyone who hopes to gain insight from its complex characters and impactful allegories. It is a plot of plots, a story of stories, and a lesson of lessons.
In this book, Steinbeck is capable of maintaining complexity and simplicity at the same time. Cannery Row is full of meaningful, poetic, and outright confusing anecdotes like this one. “What can it profit a man to gain the whole world and to come to his property with a gastric ulcer, a blown prostate, and bifocals?” (Steinbeck, 5).
0 kommentar(er)
