The Infamous Gopher of Cannery Row

Chapter 31 of "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck is comprised of a parable of a gopher. But why? There are numerous interpretations, but this is my take on, "why the gopher parable?"

Though this gopher could adequately represent several of the characters Steinbeck has created in this novel, I see it more as his final explanation of his intentions for this book. It is reminiscent of his silk worm analogy of wanting the stories to crawl onto the pages. To let the thing be unchanged through the word.

Steinbeck uses the analogy of the gopher waiting. His place is perfect, he is waiting for his mate, for the stories to crawl onto the pages and create themselves. However, when the gopher goes looking for his mate, things go wrong.

Likewise, Steinbeck had no choice but to go looking for the stories, to create them and manipulate them. He had to change his location as the gopher did eventually, realizing the stories would not creep onto the pages from his position, as unsuccessfully as the gopher would find a mate in his perfect home. The spot was perfect, but the stories never came. The word is no longer the true thing, but the move was essential to progress, and to not just remain in the perfect spot, stagnant.