Charley By John Steinbeck Analysis

The Mind of Steinbeck and the Eyes of Charley A dog is a man’s best friend. Man and dog have been known to complete each other. A man tells his dog all of his deepest thoughts and feeling with the knowledge that he will not be judged. He brings human-like characteristics to his dog and then treats him as an equal. However, the human-like characteristics are man’s thoughts and feelings that he has projected onto his dog. In Travels with Charley, Steinbeck often expresses his own thoughts and feeling through Charley, his dog. In the first section of the book Steinbeck uses Charley to reflect his feelings. At this section of the book Steinbeck has met a woman that Charley had nipped. To calm her down Steinbeck offers the women a bottle of brandy,
In the second section of the book Steinbeck is explaining how Charley is a mess and how he had “…promised [himself] to keep him combed and clipped and beautiful, and [he] hadn’t done it” (Steinbeck 104). At this point in the book Steinbeck hadn’t taken a break in a while to clean himself-up. By stating that Charley is dirty he is also saying that he feels dirty. Steinbeck feels just as ragged and messy as Charley. Steinbeck’s character is too proud to admit that he is starting to become dirty, so he gets across his idea by reflecting his condition onto Charley. He states that he hasn’t had time to clean Charley up, which means that he hasn’t had much time to clean up himself. Another part where Steinbeck reflects his opinions on Charley is the section where Steinbeck has met the young man who tells Steinbeck that the land he is on is private property. However, the young man lets him stay for the night after Steinbeck offers him a cup of coffee. Steinbeck states that Charley let the man touch him, which is an odd thing for Charley to let a stranger touch him. Steinbeck alludes that because Charley lets the strange man pet him, he likes him. Steinbeck is reflecting his own feelings of liking the man onto Charley. A reader can tell that Steinbeck likes the man by the length of the conversation between them and how much information about the
Steinbeck learns that Americans today are self-centered and never happy with what they have. Steinbeck states how egotistical Americans are stating, “The crowd… rushed home to see themselves on television…” (259). Steinbeck also realizes that Americans are never happy with what they have. For example, a common theme that appeared when Steinbeck would talk to others is that they wished to travel like Steinbeck was. They wanted to see the world. An example of this is when Steinbeck is packing up Rocinante and he notices that people are coming to look upon what is happening. “They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from Here”(Steinbeck 10). The journey Steinbeck takes started before he left and ended before he got home. However, in that time he was able to learn so much about Americans. He learns everything from the best qualities to the worst qualities that make Steinbeck ashamed of