Cannery Row characters

Appears from the start

The informal leader of a group of jobless men living by improvisation around Cannery Row. Mack is observant, persuasive, and usually able to turn a need into a scheme, though his generous intentions can produce damage he never meant to cause.

Appears from the start

The Chinese-American grocer whose shop supplies nearly every ordinary need on Cannery Row. Lee is cautious about credit and alert to advantage, yet he repeatedly accommodates neighbors whose resources and habits make strict business rules impractical.

Appears from the start

A former owner of the fish-meal storehouse that becomes Mack's home. Unable to settle his debt to Lee Chong in cash, Horace transfers the building to the grocer before ending his own life, leaving behind a wife, children, and a grim piece of local history.

First appears in chapter 2

A married man who lives with his wife in an abandoned boiler after an industrial site closes. He is content with the unusual shelter and gradually treats it as a conventional home, even as his wife's wish for curtains exposes the limits of its round walls.

First appears in chapter 2

Mr. Malloy's wife and fellow resident of the abandoned boiler. Once the couple begins thinking of the shelter as a proper home, she wants domestic improvements that cannot easily be reconciled with its shape or their circumstances.

Also known as Dora

First appears in chapter 3

The proprietor of the Bear Flag Restaurant, Cannery Row's brothel. Dora is a capable businesswoman who protects her employees, contributes generously when the town is in need, and maintains a working accommodation with officials who publicly disapprove of her trade.

First appears in chapter 5

A marine biologist who runs the Western Biological Laboratory, collecting and preparing specimens for schools and research customers. Learned, solitary, and widely trusted, Doc offers food, music, and practical kindness to people whom more respectable Monterey residents often overlook.

First appears in chapter 5

One of Mack's companions at the Palace Flophouse. Hazel is physically capable, loyal, and inclined to fill silence with questions; despite having a woman's name, he accepts his place among the group without much concern for how others might classify him.

First appears in chapter 7

A troubled boy who attaches himself to Doc and seeks work and attention at the laboratory. Frankie struggles to follow instructions and fit into ordinary expectations, while Doc responds to him with more patience than most adults do.

First appears in chapter 8

A local painter who insists he is French and repeatedly changes the design and even the medium of the boat he is constructing. Henri's unfinished vessel and shifting artistic theories make him one of the Row's enduring examples of activity without conventional completion.

First appears in chapter 9

A member of Mack's household who once trained for restaurant work and regularly acquires leftovers from the kitchen where he tends bar. Eddie pours remnants from customers' glasses into a communal jug, making him an important provider for Palace Flophouse gatherings.

First appears in chapter 9

One of the men living with Mack in the Palace Flophouse. Hughie joins the group's collecting trips, celebrations, and efforts to organize a gesture worthy of Doc.

First appears in chapter 13

A skilled mechanic and member of Mack's wider circle. Gay is recruited when the group needs an unreliable old truck put into service, and his uneasy home life makes the expedition especially attractive to him.