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John SteinbeckA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Steinbeck discusses the social impact of the migration of thousands of ex-farmers from places like Oklahoma to California. It causes nervousness on the part of the “great owners” (156). This is because the shared plight of the migrants leads to greater labor unity and, through shared struggle, a collective vision for society’s future. This is what Steinbeck calls the movement “from ‘I’ to ‘we’” (158). It is a sense that the land and the tractors can be held by people in common, not owned by companies or individuals. Yet the private owners, he argues, cannot understand this. These owners keep the workers permanently locked into the individualistic perspective of the “I.”
This chapter describes a typical café on the side of Highway 66, “Al and Susy’s Place” (159). Al is the cook, and a woman named Mae takes customer orders. On the road by the café a wealthy couple approach. The woman is artificial. She carries around “a thousand accoutrements” (161), including “pills, powders, jellies, to make their sexual intercourse safe, odorless, and unproductive” (161). Meanwhile, her husband is weary and worried, although he pretends that his life is happy and fulfilling. They stop to buy a bottled soda.
By John Steinbeck
Cannery Row
Cannery Row
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East of Eden
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Flight
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In Dubious Battle
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Of Mice and Men
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Sweet Thursday
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The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
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The Chrysanthemums
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The Harvest Gypsies
The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath
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The Log From The Sea of Cortez
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The Long Valley
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The Moon Is Down
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The Pearl
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The Red Pony
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The Wayward Bus
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The Winter Of Our Discontent
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To a God Unknown
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Tortilla Flat
Tortilla Flat
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Travels With Charley
Travels With Charley
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