How does steinbeck portray truth and lies in cannery row?

I think  that Nearly every character is hiding some kind of secret, yet they are still portrayed as essentially good people. Does this mean that Steinbeck is advocating mistruths, or that he realizes people are imperfect and it is therefore better to judge motive than action but i'm not sure.

what words? are you talking about to complet what sentence

answer; thin-slice judgments;