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.
Travels With Charley came at the end of Steinbeck’s career; it was his second-to-last book published before his death in 1968. Therefore, the context for Travels With Charley differs from that of his earlier works. Steinbeck prided himself on being a strong, masculine individual, able to overcome any obstacle he faced in his “long and unprotected life” (187). Unlike many of his literary contemporaries, who grew up with privileged backgrounds, he didn’t find financial success until well into adulthood and worked in many physically rigorous, working-class jobs before making a living as a writer. His life experience is evident in works like The Grapes of Wrath, in which the Joad family perseveres despite endless hardships, and in his other novels like Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden. The enormous underlying strength guiding most working-class American people permeates Steinbeck’s earlier works, and many characters reflect his vision of his young self. In Travels With Charley, however, his assessment of the average American takes a different turn. He depicts many characters as weak and hopeless, even though they live in conditions much better than most of Steinbeck’s fictional characters.
By John Steinbeck
Cannery Row
Cannery Row
John Steinbeck
East of Eden
East of Eden
John Steinbeck
Flight
Flight
John Steinbeck
In Dubious Battle
In Dubious Battle
John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Sweet Thursday
Sweet Thursday
John Steinbeck
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
John Steinbeck
The Chrysanthemums
The Chrysanthemums
John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
The Harvest Gypsies
The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
The Log From The Sea of Cortez
The Log From The Sea of Cortez
John Steinbeck
The Long Valley
The Long Valley
John Steinbeck
The Moon Is Down
The Moon Is Down
John Steinbeck
The Pearl
The Pearl
John Steinbeck
The Red Pony
The Red Pony
John Steinbeck
The Wayward Bus
The Wayward Bus
John Steinbeck
The Winter Of Our Discontent
The Winter Of Our Discontent
John Steinbeck
To a God Unknown
To a God Unknown
John Steinbeck
Tortilla Flat
Tortilla Flat
John Steinbeck
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection