Comparing Between Travels with Charley: In Search of America and Blue Highways - Book Report/Review Example

I. Introduction The books of John Steinbeck entitled Travels with Charley: In Search of America and William Least Heat Moon’s Blue Highways involves travel across America. Both authors were move to see what America is all about although their circumstances when they travelled may be different. On Steinbeck’s book, the author was moved to travel and discover America and to know it more since he makes a living writing out of it. Heat Moon’s travel on the other hand involved a three month long journey of 13,000 miles drive of America’s blue highways (hence the title) rediscovering America’s suburbs and backdoors. II. First supporting paragraph Both authors used vans during their travels across America. Steinbeck used the camper Rocinante with his dog Charley (hence the title) while Heat Moon used a Cherokee van. Their motivation for the trip was different because Steinbeck was attempting to see America one last time before he die while Heat Moon is trying to escape the pain of a failed marriage either by forgetting it or healing it. The two novels may be a travelogue or a narrative about America and its places but the authors focused on different aspect of America. Steinbeck was specific with what he liked and disliked about America while Heat Moon spoke of their significance. William Least heat Moon differed in perspective during this travel because he focused more on the American road culture as he travels for the blue highways that composed of small state and country roads on his map. He was not as emphatic as Steinbeck whether he liked or disliked them but rather retold how they are significant. It is more of a narrative than judgmental as Steinbeck’s Travel with Charley. Heat Moon’s book is more of a compendium of his encounters of the 13,000 mile journey of America’s backroads or blue highways rather than what is likable or not. III. Second Supporting paragraph Of the two books, Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley: In Search of America is more definitive on what he likes and dislike about America. Of all the criticism and ridicule Steinbeck hurled on his discovery about America, he was emphatic about how much he is in love with Montana. He loved Montana because it was still unaffected by the industrialized America where people are still kind and the way of living still laid-back. Although vague, Steinbeck also professed interest knowing the people of America through the popular mass media of a radio program and again referenced it to Montana, the place of which he is in love with. Quoting him, "the best of learning came on the morning radio, which I learned to love. Every town of a few thousand people has its station, and it takes the place of the old local newspaper….. If Teen-Age Angel is on top the list in Maine, it is top of the list in Montana”(28). William Least Heat Moon on the other hand spoke of significance of his encounters rather than weighing them whether he liked or disliked them. He was also particularly insightful of America’s history that involves work during his travel unlike Steinbeck who spoke of his disgust of America’s cultural degradation that came with industrialization. In particular, the following passage encapsulated Heat Moon’s perspective how he disliked America’s transformation that involves nature of work “When America outgrows engineering, we’ll begin to have something” (10). The idea was concluded by this thought “So what’s your line? Don’t have one, how’s that work? It doesn’t and it isn’t. He grunted and went back to his coffee “ (7). This line is a parody of William Least Heat Moon dislike with what is happening at America during his travel. IV. Third Supporting Paragraph Steinbeck’s dislike about America can be compared to a modern American’s dislike about America. First, he was emphatic about his dislike if not his disgust about the government. For him, government does not really care about people unless you hold certain degree of power because government by default does not really care. For Steinbeck, for an American’s opinion to matter, it has to be documented and certified which is ridiculous. Steinbeck’s discovery of the pervasiveness of technology also made him dislike the trend. For Steinbeck’s narrative, technology wasted American society because everything became “packaged” as a result of industrialization. He also lamented America’s loss of cultural taste and replaced it with the bland sense of cleaniliness and thus, became ignorant of his or her own culture that they can no longer discern what is culture or not. Quoting Steinbeck "I didn’t see a single state that hadn’t a good word to say for itself. It seemed a little indelicate. It might be better to let visitors find out for themselves. But maybe we wouldn’t if it weren’t drawn to our attention (34). There were also aspects in Steinbeck’s narrative where he liked and disliked at the same time. It was the time again when he visited Maine where he was appalled by the locals who do not like tourist and has the penchant for giving directions. But when he arrived at the place where he was supposed to stay, he partook on the most delicious lobster that he had ever tasted. This passage may be figurative and even reveals the gist of the narrative that despite of being lost as being misdirected during the travel, he would still have the most delicious experience at the end of it all. Heat Moon is quite vague on what he really liked and disliked America because the focus of his narrative was more on its significance. But reading between the lines, Heat Moon shared Steinbeck’s nostalgia for the old America that was rich in culture quoting “I heard the past snuffling about somewhere close” (7). V. Conclusion Both authors may have started with different motivation and circumstances when they embarked on their respective travels but nevertheless their travels revealed nostalgia how America transformed itself and how it got lost to modernism. Such that these attempt to rediscover the old America and perhaps an attempted to rekindle its history of which Heat Moon fondly narrated, may be best represented by Steinbeck’s conclusion at the end of his novel that he is back in his town where he lived and he’s lost. Read More