Steinbeck's Cannery Row Multiple Choice Quiz | John Steinbeck

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What was the name of the 'great roofed room' that was home to Mack and 'the boys'?

Answer: The Palace Flophouse and Grill

Mack managed to finangle the building, originally a storage place for fish meal, from grocer Lee Chong after it was given to him to repay the grocery debts of owner Horace Abbeville. Horace shot himself in the shed immediately after the transaction with Lee Chong.

2. What was the name of the proprietor, 'a great big woman with flaming orange hair', of the local whorehouse?

Answer: Dora Flood

The character Dora Flood, a 'madam and call girl for fifty years', was based on the legendary madam Flora Woods. In Cannery Row, Dora ran The Bear Flag restaurant, in honour of California. In real life, Flora, who had been 'run and been run out of' houses of prostitution since the early 1900s, named her establishment The Lone Star Cafe for her husband, a Texas native.

3. What was the nickname of the whiskey - 'Guaranteed four months old, very cheap' on sale at Lee Chong's that was a favourite among Cannery Row locals?

Answer: Old Tennis Shoes

The actual name of the whiskey was 'Old Tennessee', which kind of rhymes with 'Old Tennis Shoes'. I shudder to think of the taste, but as usual, Steinbeck still manages to make the mundane (even, in this case I fear, the rancid) somehow appealing. I wouldn't say no to a drop of Old Tennis Shoes with the boys!

4. Doc was based on one of John Steinbeck's real-life good friends, a marine biologist. What was his name?

Answer: Edward Ricketts

John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts were best friends from 1930 (when John moved to Pacific Grove, CA) until Ricketts' death in 1948 when his car was hit by a train. Steinbeck, who was deeply fascinated by science, wrote of his friend in 'The Log of The Sea of Cortez': 'His mind had no horizons.

He was interested in everything.' Steinbeck also immortalised Ricketts in Casy ('Grapes of Wrath'), Lee (the philosophical Chinaman in 'East of Eden') and another Doc ('In Dubious Battle').

5. What does Steinbeck say a man once called the inhabitants of Cannery Row?

Answer: Whores, Pimps, Gamblers and Sons of Bitches

They most certainly were all these things, according to Steinbeck, but he added that, had the man 'looked through another peephole, he might have said 'Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men', and he would have meant the same thing.'

6. What bizarre drink concoction could Doc not get out of his head until he finally forced himself to try it?

Answer: Beer milkshake

Doc, a lover of the suds, was told by a friend one day: 'You love beer so much, I'll bet some day you'll go in and order a beer milkshake.' The idea nauseated Doc, but he couldn't get it out of his head. When he finally tried it, he reckoned it 'just tasted like stale milk and beer'. Mmmm mmmmm.

7. What is the name of one of Mack's 'boys' whose mother was so tired and confused by the rigours of childbirth (he was her eighth in as many years) that she gave him a girl's name?

Answer: Hazel

8. What is it that Mack and The Boys go hunting for so they can raise enough money to throw a party for Doc?

Answer: Frogs

The frogs were to be sold for research.

9. What was the name of Mack's pup?

Answer: Darling

The dog was given to Mack by 'The Captain', a lonely ex-serviceman who caught Mack and the boys camping on his property. Mack fixed up Darling's mother, who had a tick on her, and the grateful Captain got everyone - most especially himself - absolutely hammered.

10. Mr. and Mrs. Sam Malloy lived where?

Answer: In a boiler

The pair were so content living in the boiler, which had been discarded by the Hediondo Cannery, until Mrs Malloy decided she wanted curtains for their snug little home. 'For Christ's sake what are we going to do with curtains?', Mr Malloy explodes. 'We got no windows!' Mrs Malloy sobs uncontrollably, saying that men never understand how women feel. Guess you don't need to live in a boiler to figure that one out...

11. In what year was 'Cannery Row' first published?

Answer: 1945

It was published at the end of World War II. Steinbeck said he'd written 'Cannery Row' for a group of soldiers who had said to him (he was a war correspondent at the time) 'Write something funny that isn't about the war - we're sick of the war'.

12. Who gave tea parties for the neighbourhood cats?

Answer: Mary Talbot

Mary Talbot, though she and husband Tom were poor, loved giving parties. She could always find an excuse, whether it be for the neighbourhood cats, celebrating the anniversary of the Bloomer League or Christmas Eve. Once she even cut out a picture of a baked ham and served it up on a platter.

13. What was Henri the painter building?

Answer: A boat

Henri would never finish his boat, because he was terrified of the ocean. He loved boats, though.

14. What does Holman's Department Store use to promote itself that drives Richard Frost crazy?

Answer: A flag-pole skater

Richard Frost, a high strung young man who makes only this brief appearance in 'Cannery Row', becomes haunted by the pole skater (who stays up there 24 hours a day) and cannot rest until this question is answered: 'How do you go to the toilet?' The skater calls down: 'I use a can'.

15. In which state is 'Cannery Row' set?

Answer: California

'Cannery Row' was set in his beloved native California, like so many of his other works, including 'Tortilla Flat', 'East of Eden', some of 'The Grapes of Wrath', 'In Dubious Battle', 'Of Mice and Men' and the sequel to 'Cannery Row', 'Sweet Thursday'.

Source: Author yurkletam

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Steinbeck's Cannery Row Trivia Quiz

This quiz deals with one of John Steinbeck's great 'little books', the bittersweet 'Cannery Row'. How much do you know about Mack and The Boys?

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