“I think they’re just like anyone else. They just haven’t any money…They could get it…They could ruin their lives and get money. Mack has qualities of genius. They’re all very clever if they want something. They just know the nature of things too well to be caught in that wanting.” (142) Doc, the owner of a specimen supply house in Cannery Row, knows the nature of the boys quite well. Though they are not rich, he kno

ws that they have what they need to survive.

“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, sharpness, 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.” (143) Doc makes this statement to point out why the boys are “failures.” For example, the time when they attempted to throw him a party, and it turns into a big mess, Doc knew that they still had good intentions at heart. He knew that despite the hard outer layers, the boys were good boys, and that they were only trying to do something nice for him.

These trai

Some topics in this essay:
Mack President, Mack Boys, Row Eddie, Cannery Row, mack boys, Lee Chong, “true philosophers”, cannery row, boys boys,