Embalmment

My picture about embalmment is of a wooden box with the words, “HYDROL EMBALMING FLUID” clearly stamped on it and a shipping label. Considering the box was shipped, the top has a warning saying that the box contains glass and to handle with care. The chemicals, such as Rectifiant, Supremol, Bleachol, Sterilol, and Degage’s improved massage oil, which were shipped inside the box from Philadelphia, are displayed on top of the wooden casing. These chemicals are used to preserve the body, as well as cleanse and sanitize. The process uses chemicals to make the body appear life-like. Barely in the picture, on the far right are some tools, presumably about to be used for embalmment or previously used. They would remove most of the innards, and stuff the body. In Chapter 12 of Cannery Row, the text is all about embalmment of a “famous” writer. The Frenchman did the usual removal of organs, like the Egyptians. He preserved the body with most likely the chemicals seen in the picture. For readers though, the process is not exactly discussed about. The scientific part of the actual body embalmment is left to the imagination and the only part readers actually imagine is the dog dragging the intestines and the boy with the liver. What’s strange is how the actual process, using chemicals and the scientific tools, is left behind. Similar to the wooden box, the only thing seen is the concept of the process; the box contains embalmment materials, but no embalmment is actually occurring. The only important part to the novel is the idea of whose body was being embalmed and whose body parts are being dragged around in the mouth of a dog. If no one knew whose body it was, no one would have cared about what was going on. They were concerned about the prestige of the town. Chapter twelve about embalmment in Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is important because it shows that Cannery Row is a destitute town that hopes for a chance of honor and significance.