Class Consciousness in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row

Abstract

John Steinbeck's Cannery Row is a brilliant representation of how people strive to maintain the integrity of both the individual and society. In the wake of the lingering effects of economic depression, the consciousness of belonging to a class saves people from countless number of evils and hardships. To show how class consciousness safeguards the victims of economic depression, the researcher adopts economic determinism as a variant of naturalism. Like the determining impact of naturalism, economic determinism does have a hold in the priorities and choices of characters.