Characters
Doc
(Marine Biologist)
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Doc is a man of mystery. Nothing about Doc is revealed - we don't know his real name, why he's called Doc, or where he was before Cannery Row. We is revealed is the fact that Doc owns Western Biological Laboratories, a business that provides marine/aquatic life to universities and anyone else who wants it.
Doc's interest in the variety of life in the tide pools reveals that he is an open-minded, curious guy - which may explain why he's so kind to the variety of life in Cannery Row.
Everyone in Cannery Row admires Doc: "That Doc is really a fine fellow. We ought to do something for him" (Steinbeck 13). He's popular with the ladies - and, according to Jones, he's got "three four dames" who visit the lab (Steinbeck 43).
Despite all of his friends, Doc is still a lonely guy: "In spite of his friendliness and his friends Doc was a lonely and set-apart man" (Steinbeck 100).
Although Doc isn't a real doctor, everyone goes to him for medical advice.
Mack and the Boys
(Group of men with no motivation or ambition; they are content with life as it is)
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Mack is the leader of a group of bums who live at the Palace Flophouse and Grill. We don't know much about him besides the fact that he had a wife, but things didn't work out. He spends his time enjoying life: drinking "punch" or whiskey over at the Palace and looking for ways to make money without hard work. Mack always wants something and will try to get it sneakily and manipulatively. Like when he convinces Lee Chong that the boys will be doing him a favor by living in his vacant building. Or when, on their frog-catching job, Mack gets the angry captain to offer him and the boys whiskey and frogs up at his place. This exchange goes so well that the captain "felt it was an honor to have them burn his house clear down, if they wanted" (Steinbeck 94) Mack isn't just a con artist, however. He's also an artist of life. Mack is truly happy without money. Doc says that "in a time when people tear themselves to pieces with ambition and nervousness and covetousness, they are relaxed" ( Steinbeck 141-142).
Hazel got his name when his mother though she'd given birth to a girl - she never bothered to change it. Hazel went to reform school and grammar school but "didn't learn anything from either place" (Steinbeck 32). He enjoys going out with Doc to collect animals and make a little money.
Eddie sometimes works as a fill-in bartender at La Ida where he pours unfinished drinks into a jug to make "punch".
Jones criticizes Eddie's "punch": "Eddie, I don't mean to complain none. I was just thinkin'. S'pose you had two or three jugs back at the bar. S'pose you put all the whiskey in one and all the wine in another and all the beer in another --" (Steinbeck 78).
Hughie is a mystery
Gay was introduced by Hazel who explained to Doc that Gay's wife used to beat Gay in his sleep which explained why Gay didn't mind spending time in Salina's Jail. Gay a really talented mechanic who gets Lee Chong's Model T working.
Dora Flood
(Local madam; proprietor of the Bear Flag Restaurant, a brothel)
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As the local madam of the Bear Flag Restaurant, Dora runs a serious business. She gives away lots of money and pays twice as much for things than other people would because her business is illegal. She keeps the police off by donating $50 to their pension when everyone else donates $1.
We learn that Dora actually has a heart of gold - sending her girls to help during an influenza epidemic.
Dora is kind and caring with a touch of steel: "Dora, who was soft as a mouse's belly, could be hard as carborundum" (Steinbeck 98).
Lee Chong
(​Chinese grocer of the Row)
Lee Chong owns a grocery store in Cannery Row where he employs lots of family members. Everyone in town is indebted to him.
Lee Chong, like everyone else, is a mystery.
Lee Chong is "an Asiastic planet held to its orbit by the pull of Lao Tze and held away from Lao Tze by centrifugality of abacus and cash register" (Steinbeck 14). Which means he's caught between the Chinese spirtuality of philosophical tradition - and the cold capitalism of America.
Lee Chong extends huge amounts of credit and "trusts his customers until further trust becomes ridiculous" (Steinbeck 6).
Frankie
(A mentally handicapped boy who is neglected by his mother and taken in by Doc)
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Frankie is a mentally handicapped boy taken in by Doc. He was mistreated at home likely because of his inability to do anything right: the floor is still dirty after he sweeps and he spills beer when he tries to carry a tray with beers to Doc's guests. He steals a gift he wants to give to Doc and ends up in jail
Henri
(Local artist and a friend of Doc's)
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Henri seems to be a French painter, though he isn't actually named Henri, he isn't French, and he isn't much of a painter. However, he is good at building boats, even though he's afraid of water.
When his girlfriend Alice left him, Henri "moured formally for a while but actually felt a sense of relief. He could stretch out in his little cabin. He could eat what he wanted. He was glad to be free of the endless female biologic functions for a while" (Steinbeck 136).