Some of the notable parallels between this week’s Steinbeck readings (Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday) and the final hour of Ken Burns’ Country Music Documentary are as follows: the role that love and unity play in bringing out the best in people and helping them realize their full potential, and the cathartic nature of coming together in the face of tragedy. In addressing the first point, there is a comparison to be drawn between Doc and Suzy’s relationship, and that of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. Concerning the latter pair, it was said that Felice “made [Boudleaux] finish, and kept him excited” throughout his career (Burns 1:01:30). In fact, their son goes as far as to say that without each other, neither likely would have attained such success. Much in the same respect, it is implied at the end of Sweet Thursday that Suzy will marry the once-chronically lonely Doc, and accompany him on his final scientific endeavor before he presents his paper to a group of esteemed academics. Thus, only with her presence and aided by her care can Doc finally accomplish what he had been stalling for the vast majority of the novel. This union is one a long time in the making by this point, with Doc even declaring that he is “not whole without her” in one instance (Steinbeck 235 — NOTE: my page numbers might be very off because I am using a strangely-formatted online version). Their eventual union confirms what the townsfolk had been suggesting across the story’s entirety — that the solution to Doc’s “gnawing” discontent was a lack of love.
When this theme is extended more broadly, it is also clear across both the novel and documentary that community is key to coping with tragedy. In Nashville, for instance, it was said that when “one person got cut, everyone bled” (Burns 1:39:20). This also seemed consistently true in both Steinbeck readings. Per example, it becomes a town-wide concern when Doc is struggling and depressed, with almost every character trying to help him out in one way or another. Perhaps the main notion to be gleaned is that problem solving requires collective empathy, and that not everything can be solved by solitary means. This could represent an even grander message of conflict within the American Dream — that even though we are a society that prides itself on rugged individualism, which often (in its idealized form) hinges on a wish to be entirely self-made, even the strongest among us depend on others in some capacity. Doc’s journey is meant to symbolize precisely such a realization.
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