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Imagery And Symbolism In Hemingway's Cannery Row

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Andy’s experience is one of unusual circumstances. Living up to his title of a “brave and beautiful boy”, this leading character chooses to tease the one man in town that all fear: the Chinaman. Through the author’s utilization of point of view, the reader can perceive the uniqueness of the Chinaman two very distinct ways: either through the view of the townspeople or Andy, himself. However, it is through Andy, and the author’s detailed depiction of this specific incident, that we as readers can look deep into the eyes of the Chinaman. This strange visual symbolism provided in this passage of Cannery Row is what guides us into the lonely, isolated soul that is the Chinaman’s life. From the first sentence of this passage, the author establishes …show more content…

The simile of “eye as big as a church door” allows the reader to understand just how astonishing and eye opening the response of the Chinaman was to Andy. Though the foreign man is nonverbal, Andy is able to perceive that the Chinaman’s “big eyes” serve as a window into his soul, a soul filled by “desolate cold aloneness.” It is this visually descriptive language of the barren landscape that creates a feeling of aloneness not only in the Chinaman but similarly in Andy who moans at the idea that he is “left” by himself. Through this terrifying experience, Andy is able to understand why all the townspeople are so afraid of the Chinaman: he resembles their worst fear—loneliness and eventual death. In accordance with his kind, Andy refuses to accept the truth the Chinaman holds within his soul and “shut[s] his eyes” in hopes that he “wouldn’t have to see it anymore.” This imagery presented by the author in the final paragraph proves to be so powerful that the former “brave and beautiful” Andy will “never do it [approach the Chinaman]

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