Well everyone, this is the last blog post and the last class this quarter. I want to keep the prompt quite general but relatively personal, so there are only two general themes/questions:
1) Throughout Travels with Charley, Steinbeck is continually commenting on change and how America is changing since he knew it. Among other things, he laments the loss of localness, community, language, passion/enthusiasm, and discussion about things that really matter (strong opinions, as he puts it once). Do you agree with him? Has this continued? Have things changed even more or swung back towards his view at all?
2) We've now covered a wide array of Steinbeck's writing. Spend a little time thinking and writing about what you think makes Steinbeck unique or worthwhile as an author and what his works mean or contribute to your life.
-Bill
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I really enjoyed Travels with Charlie, and I took note of it for two distinct reasons. The more obvious of the two was Steinbeck's relationship with Charlie. Culturally, we have a lot of preconception about a man-dog relationship. But I felt like the Charlie/John bond was quite dynamic in Steinbeck's eyes. At times it was very master/man's best friend (how John uses him to attract the Canucks at the campsite, or Charlie's trip the vet). But at some points the equitable companionship really shines between Charlie and John (the game that the two play in getting up each morning). Some of the funniest points in the book for me where these times when John overpersonifies Charlie and gives him much more human credit that is true in the eyes of anyone other than Steinbeck.
ReplyDeleteThe other part I enjoyed was the premise behind the trip. Road trips and family vacations based on driving are far fewer than they were even in Steinbeck's time. I found it a little ennobling to find the heart of America in the Deer Isle of Maine or the redwoods of Oregon. To quote Disney/Pixar's "Cars:"
-Back then, cars came across the country in a whole different way...the roads didn't cut through the land like that interstate. It moved with the land, it rose, it fell. Cars didn't drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time.-
Steinbeck's books carry a lot of conversation lauding the things that can't be commercialized like friendship and the environment. It's welcoming that in real life Steinbeck adhered to his own mantra.
Honestly, I resisted this memoir before I opened the first page. But it didn't take many pages before I was wrapped up in Steinbeck's world. I curled up on the couch last night as I began the novel and was completely transported. I went to fetch a glass of water and was shocked to discover that it was past midnight. What I have found, throughout everything we've read, is a deep engagement and thought that jumps and spins and offers a glimpse into Steinbeck's personal philosophies and worldview. Steinbeck has poured his heart out in ink and I can't help but feel like I've met him through his novels.
ReplyDeleteAs far as change and development are concerned, I tend to align with Steinbeck's views. His sentiments really jumped off the page during the section on Seattle: "The torn white lumber from concrete forms was piled beside gray walls. I wonder why progress looks so much like destruction" (138). I don't think I could say it any better. On our trip to Salinas today we discussed whether or not we felt Steinbeck would feel like the place had changed much, and I feel like this story has answered the question -- yes, he would find it much changed. During his visit back in Salinas he talks about the problem with visiting a home long after it has changed, and despite the fact that he enjoys seeing his old friends and family, he gives the feeling that seeing a hometown change is not enjoyable; "You can't go home again because home has ceased to exist except in the mothballs of memory" (156). Steinbeck has a truly amazing ability to reflect discuss his beliefs in such a way that I continually find my self agreeing with.
Thanks Bill & Clay!!
I also tend to agree with Steinbeck's changing America viewpoint, however i use caution in thinking that it is negative. I feel every older person can look back and see that they feel that America has changed as it has become more global. However, this always spawns new passions, new communities and new discussions on what really matters. Despite the ever changing America, these are relatively constant in their state of being, just not in their relation relative to an individual, as this changes over time.
ReplyDeleteI tend to think Steinbeck is unique in his ability to affectively weave in commentary about anything he feels that is important or worth talking about into his novels. Unlike other authors, I'm struck by how much we are able to talk about society, or science, or people, instead of characters in his books as symbols for these issues. I tend to like Steinbeck's direct style.
I agree with Daniel in that I think Steinbeck's consistent noting of change in America is ambivalent. Here's an instance of Steinbeck's honesty and modesty intellectual modesty--two of his unique and endearing characteristics. When he's having his conversation with the garage mechanic after enjoying one of the greatest meals he's ever had in their comfortable mobile home, he probes the man about living without roots. Steinbeck then devotes a large section to the man's thoughts, which run counter to his own. He does have roots it seems, but they are ones that can travel with the geographic ebbs and flows of business or employment or even seasons. This, he contends, beats the romanticized poverty of past generations.
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking about Steinbeck as a whole, I value this book because it's his enduring curiosity page after page. But I also found it boring. Steinbeck's honesty and modesty, I think, require his creativity for a good read. Cannery Row was an amazing creation in this sense. The premise for Travels with Charley didn't lend itself to creativity.
I agree with Daniel and Jeremy's assessment of Steinbeck's feelings about change. Steinbeck's ironic tone and turn of phrase continuously resonated with me, because I feel that he may be bitter, or nostalgic, or disgusted, but his feelings are always tempered with a wisdom that realizes his own hypocrisy. For instance, his discussion of the newcomers to his home in Salinas illustrates how to a certain extent all change is relative. He writes, "I have never resisted change, even when it has been called progress, and yet I felt resentment at the strangers swamping what I thought of as my country." Yet he later points out that he is as much a stranger to the lands as anyone is. I think Steinbeck feels the universal hurt that we all feel upon seeing things we know and love change, but he sees beyond the gut instinct to the truth of the matter. Some change is good, some change is bad, but most is purely neutral. When he discusses the industrialization of Seattle, I think he is spot on and his criticism of "progress" is completely founded and enlightened. Meanwhile he sees the growth of mobile homes as what it is, a change that can not rightly be condemned without much hypocrisy but still an unsettling shift from longheld beliefs of roots and property.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, I understand Steinbecks ideas of change to be less of a theory about how things change but rather an knowledge of why we think they should stay the same. The world is constantly changing, but we build our own conceptions and our own little areas of constancy. When these areas are inevitably encroached upon by the realities of life, we are infuriated, depressed or nostalgic. I feel that Steinbeck acknowledges that humans are constantly establishing little unmoving frames of reference that are incompatible with the real world, yet takes no shame in mourning the destruction of those frames of reference.
I enjoyed Travels with Charley, and like Garner, my favorite parts were Steinbeck's interactions with Charley. Steinbeck is a bit of a wandering soul in the book, but he is rooted in his relationship with Charley, which I found endearing and sweet. I like how he attributed so many human qualities to his dog because it made Charley a significant character instead of just an accessory to Steinbeck's travels.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked Bill Bryson's travel books, and while his books tend to be more irreverent and less intelectual than Steinbeck, Travels with Charley is a similar concept as one man's search for truth and authenticity in a foreign place. I really enjoyed reading an account of the country through the point of view of a writer like Steinbeck, who I think it is easy to trust in this situation. I hadn't read too much of Steinbeck before this quarter, but I am really glad that I did. Especially as a Californian and someone who is insterested in history, I thought Steinbeck's books gave a unique and compelling version of that history.