Travels With Charley: In Search Of America By John Steinbeck

In the novel “Travels with Charley; In Search of America” John Steinbeck attempts to discover the American character. Steinbeck did not succeed because Americans are not all the same or made of the same characteristics. Within every place he travelled to he found new people, each different from the last. Steinbeck travels through America to places such as Maine, Oregon, and the south where he discovers varying characteristics each human being holds. At the beginning of their trip, Steinbeck notices the great amount of migrant workers in Maine. The workers have a great work ethic and Steinbeck can tell they work very hard. However, he realizes that all laborious jobs in America are simply handed off to migrants because no Americans want those jobs. Steinbeck states, “It occurs to me that, just as the Carthaginians hired mercenaries to do their fighting for them, we Americans bring in mercenaries to do our hard and humble work.” (Steinbeck, 64) He believes that American society is losing its values that build character in a person.

He had begun to lose hope in American people until he found a small service station in a shut-up town. Upon finding it he discovers they do not sell the right tires that he needs, but the evil looking man who is working there is determined to help him. After about three phone calls with no luck, the man contacts his brother-in-law to go pick up two tires each at different places and bring them to the service station. Roughly four hours later the tires arrived and Steinbeck could be on his way. He realized through this process how determined and willing to help the service man was. The man was a great character and Steinbeck believed there should be more Americans like