40 pages • 1 hour read
John SteinbeckA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Steinbeck wrote Travels With Charley at a transitional period in his life; his career as an author was winding down, and he felt the rapid advance of old age. He embarks on the trip as an attempt to delay this inevitability and to reconnect with his country as a whole after years of skipping over the American interior in favor of living in coastal areas and traveling abroad. During his travels, he finds that his country’s landscape and culture have changed even more than he expected: The huge technological and industrial advancements of the post-World War II era turned formerly small towns into bustling cities, and the growing interstate highway system bypasses the rural landscapes he loves. In every place he visits, he finds that people are always in a rush, driving quickly, moving away from their hometowns in search of better opportunities, and eating bland convenience foods. He worries about these changes, yearning for a time when life moved at a slower pace and people made time to enjoy their surroundings and build communities. He eventually decides that the changes are inevitable, though, and by the time he arrives in his unrecognizable hometown, he has accepted that the America he longs for is already well in the past.
Plus, gain access to 8,600+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
By John Steinbeck
Action & Adventure
View Collection
Aging
View Collection
American Literature
View Collection
Animals in Literature
View Collection
Beauty
View Collection
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Books that Feature the Theme of...
View Collection
Civil Rights & Jim Crow
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Fear
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
Memoir
View Collection
Memory
View Collection
Nobel Laureates in Literature
View Collection
The Future
View Collection
The Past
View Collection