The focus on wealth has caused humans not to focus on improving themselves. John Steinbeck in Cannery Row focuses on how aspirations can corrupt people by the way that the individual will stop at nothing to achieve a goal. This can lead to the harming of others in the process of reaching the aspirations. Both texts explain certain motivations, but more specifically the ambitions caused by a materialistic society and the negative effects of those ambitions. In Cannery Row by John Steinbeck and Walden by Henry David Thoreau, ambitions can be used to improve the community but when it is used in a materialistic society the individual can lose their values by exchanging morals for riches and desires. This idea is expressed through the use of figurative language, roles of the individual in society and self-reflection of …show more content…
One of the plans that Mack and the boys come up with is to through a party for Doc. To get the money necessary for the party they go and capture frogs. They return to Monterey and attempt to convince Lee Chong that by taking the frogs he in a sense would be making a profit by selling the frogs to Doc. Unfortunately the “the poison of greed was already creeping into the innocent and laudable merchandising agreement” (Steinbeck 108). A metaphor in the quote compares greed to poison in the portion of the quote “the poison of greed”. This quote shows how Lee Chong’s intentions start to become for his own benefit and out of greed rather than for the goal of the party. Lee Chong actually starts to over price his merchandise even though he knows he will be able to get it is dollars’ worth through the frogs. Lee Chong’s natural desire to make a profit had the power to overcome the relationship between himself and the boys. At first Lee Chong keep his prices the same but has the buying progress, he noticed that he can capitals on the situation. The quote reveals that greed is a poison that slowly