Travels With Charley Day 8

Steinbeck has made it to New York State by the end of my reading today.  However, instead of writing in detail about the land he passed, he wrote about people and historical figures.  He also commented on the aggression of states through the use of their street signs.  The thing I liked most was how he described the differences in a city between morning, afternoon, and night.  You get a completely different view of a city depending on when you go out and with whom.  He comments on how he was in Prauge with a man that travels for a living at the same.  The two were in the same city at the same time, but on the plane ride home they described two very different cities.  Neither of them was lying, they just had different experiences with different people.

Travels With Charley Day 7

Steinbeck continues his journey through Maine and runs into an interesting group of people.  He meets some Canadian Canucks in northern Maine during the harvesting season.  Steinbeck concludes that americans are too lazy or too proud to bend down to the earth and gather what we need to survive.  He says that one day we will run out of people humble enough to do these tasks and then what will we do for food and whatnot?  I completely agree with this statement.  I don't know anyone who wants to become a farmer or harvester.  Everyone wants to do tedious mental work and nothing physical.  Steinbeck begins to head west.

Travels With Charley Day 6

Steinbeck continues his journey through Maine after his stay at Deer Isle.  He leaves Deer Isle and is reminded how large and how far north America goes up into Canada in Maine.  He is now traveling during the hunting season and is constantly reminded how dangerous it is.  Charley, who looks like a doe or buck, is outfitted with red tissue on his tail to keep from being shot at, to no avail.  Steinbeck is exaggerating quite a bit when talking about hunting because I went hunting with my grandpa once and everyone was very careful.  No one shot at anything they couldn't kill and they weren't sure was a deer.

Travels With Charley Day 5

Steinbeck and Charley continue their voyage north toward Maine.  On the way they encounter a woman with a troublesome Pomeranian who bites Steinbeck.  Steinbeck has also constructed a genius way to clean his clothes that requires little to no effort.  He stops for a night at a motel-type place and begins talking with the waitress.  the waitress is pessimistic to say the least.  Steinbeck says that a sad soul will kill weeks before any gem could.  Despite getting lost several times and a less than stellar encounter with a Maine state trooper, Steinbeck makes it to Deer Isle where he meets George.

Travels With Chaley Day 4

As I continue to read Steinbeck I notice that he is very in tune with his surroundings.  He is conscious of what is happening around him and how things happen around him.  He compensates for how the native people live their lives and on their schedule.  He wakes up early in the mornings now just so he can go to diners to get breakfast with a bunch of men who barely acknowledge him.  I feel like in American society today we have little to no regard for how other people live.  It has become socially acceptable to be late.  Punctuality used to mean something.  What happened?