Flashback to Steinbeck Part 2

Steinbeck’s Real/Imagined Trip to America’s Heartland

I wanted to post my thoughts about my initial reaction to the book and my response to the fact that Steinbeck really didn’t take the trip to America’s heartland, as he said he did, separately because it didn’t really change my opinion of the book, but it did answer a few questions I had about the text.

As mentioned, my opinion of Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley didn’t change when I learned that Steinbeck padded the truth in the book because I believe that regardless of whether his trip was real or imagined that his attitude about the world around him would have remained the same—which is what I focused on when I read this book.   

Steinbeck’s belief that the world as he knew it had changed for the worse, I believe, is for some people, part of the natural process of getting older and having lived long enough to remember the “good ole’ days”, which was usually when they were thinner, stronger, richer, or simply had a fuller head of hair.  I know that at this point in my life (and I am definitely not Steinbeck’s age), my friends and I do it all of the time.   And—I will apologize ahead of the time—I will be constantly doing it, as I relate these books to the experiences I have gone through throughout my life, on this blog (oh, I remember when…)

However, some people might call Steinbeck a big Fake, who has compromised the author/reader relationship by lying about what he actually did. While I can completely understand that attitude, I won’t take him to task about his big fat lies because, truthfully, as long as I enjoyed what I am reading, I could care less whether it is fiction or non-fiction (to a certain point). 

The knowledge that Steinbeck wrote the book in the comfort of his hotel, did explain for me the way he glazed over certain aspects of the trip.  For example, when he visited his son’s school to say good-bye, I found it weird that he did not actually mention his son’s reaction to his appearance or anything else, all Steinbeck mentioned was that the student’s were in awe of Rocinante.  How does Steinbeck explain this? He says “I prefer to draw a curtain over my visit…” (27)  Huh? Yeah, well, now I know why.  Also, I have to mention his trip home. What was that??? One moment Steinbeck is supposedly taking a leisurely trip around America, the next he’s basically racing home because he misses his wife. Again, huh? I thought it was kind of weird that he spent 250 or so pages talking about his experiences as he drove West and a few pages on his return trip.  I, definitely, got the distinct feeling that something wasn’t right, which was confirmed when I learned that he probably didn’t even make it to half the places he said he went. Still, the book was cool with me.