Analysis Of John Steinback's Travels With Charley In Search Of America

American identity is the way a person experiences the American culture. However, that is not always the case. American identity is often confused with how someone physically appears or where they came from. Examples of this confusion can be seen in Dwight Okita’s poem, “In Response to the Executive Order 9066” and Sandra Cisnero’s short story, “Mericans.”

Peter Marin’s article “Toward something American: The Immigrant Soul” explains the subtle but noticeable difference between American life and American culture. American culture is defined as primarily western, but is influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian and Latin American cultures. (Wiki) Marvin explains that American culture is not much more than a mixture of past cultures. American life is slightly different. Marvin writes American although influenced by past cultures struggles to find home. Marvin states “home” is for us, as it is for all immigrants, sometimes to be regained, created, discovered, or mourned”. There are qualities and aspects that make up culture which can be defined as American or Western. In this essay we will explore the distinction between life and culture and if culture can be easily be distinguished between American or Western.

What does it mean to be an American? This question has often been purposed throughout American Literature. This answer depends on one singular important factor, time. Timing is everything, it determines what is happening in the present, what has occurred in the past, and it gives us a glimpse of the possibilities yet to come. Benjamin Franklin and John Winthrop, both knew a very different America, because of this they both have a very different sense American identity and a sense of community that was present in America during those time periods. Winthrop lived in early America when the country was just starting to take shape with the first colonies being

In many works of American literature, protagonists attempt to forge an authentic identity for him in spite of social expectations and circumstances. Some of the struggles that happen in the novel “The Things They Carried” was that the author was describing the lives and deaths of his company. The men include Kiowa, Mitchell Sanders, Dave Jensen, Lt. Jimmy Cross, Lee Strunk, Rat Kiley, Curt Lemon, Henry Dobbins, Azar, and Eddie Diamond. Rat Kiley is a very good friend to Tim, and he writes about how they've learned to tell war stories. One of the ways in which he explains it was in this line "How do you generalize?

Question: How does the subject presented in Bob Kaufman and Amiri Barak’s poetry polarize a shift in American Culture and thus redefine what it means to be an American.

Steinbeck initiates this criticism by effectively using touching diction to paradoxical devices as to assert “American’s way of life”

In the story's "A Quilt of a Country," "The Immigrant Contribution," and "American History" all explore on American Identity in some ways. An American identity to me is being what you want to be and being however you want to be. These stories although different, all show what a American identity means. The idea of American identity has changed over time. One of my own experiences with this was the Boston bombing on April 15, 2013.The Boston bombing changed my identity and how I think today.

It is facile to understand the mindset behind Steinbeck’s by reviewing his personal background. Steinbeck came from a middle-class family of German and Irish descent (John Steinbeck). Undoubtedly, Steinbeck and other authors during this time experienced the ethnic

Steinbeck consistently shows the reader that a migrant’s life is not easy. While the higher-class individuals struggle to maintain there class, the lower class individuals struggle to get food and jobs. This is why being a migrant at this time period is difficult. The Joad family had a low status, which is the cause of most of their hardships. Pa Joad, the father of the

Every great writer had their own influences, John Steinbeck was no exception. Steinbeck’s influences cam from family, friends, and his environment to write detailed descriptions to involve or influence the reader. Whenever someone reads one of John Steinbeck’s works they are in immersed in the scene he is describing, he makes you feel as if you are right there experiencing everything there first hand.

Many people in America are unsure where they belong or where they should be. Some people choose to explore the world by traveling while the others choose to rot in their boring lives. Life in America is hard, there are high expectations from people and the judgment is in every corner one turns to. The three novels, Into the Wild, Travels with Charley, and On the Road are three unique novels about separate individuals who choose to travel in order to seek what they are looking for. McCandless, from Into the Wild, is a young man who travels to Alaska to seek for the freedom he wanted and to escape from the reality he was living. John, from Travels with Charley, is a married citizen who decides to go on a journey to witness what the American people have become. John comes across New Orleans, a place in where judgment is an ordinary act of the people. New Orleans is part of the racist south, as for John; he had no negative feeling towards different races. Sal Paradise, from On the Road, is a middle aged man who chooses to travel to find who he is and to find ideas for his book. Sal also comes across New Orleans while visiting an old friend. Alaska is a beautiful place to explore due to its nature and wilderness, making it a peaceful place to escape to, while New Orleans is revolved with judgment and discrimination.

The quintessential struggle for identity inundated the American people after the Revolutionary War; the country was faced with the struggle of not only establishing a new government but also with the feat of defining America as a new country. Many literary works and writings were crucial in facilitating the infant nation’s journey in separating from the English culture in order to create this unique American identity. This process of creating an American identity was not realized with either ease or haste, and the concept of American identity altered and grew concurrently with the nation. Literary figures portray different understandings of American identity, each perspective echoing the national reality at of the epoch or expressing a visionary idea of American identity. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving, both from around the early nineteenth century, demonstrate the diversity that exists in the concept of the American identity, though this identity is based in a similar truth. Neither Hawthorne nor Irving are wholly able to separate the concept of American identity from the country’s history and past, as although America is a new county, its origin lies in its Puritan and English heritage; however, in his story “Rip Van Winkle” Irving only focuses on the muddled reality of a shaky and underdeveloped American identity whereas in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne portrays an unique American identity that has begun to grow from the past while still being inseparable from

The American voice is what Americans have to say that helps contribute to worldly matters. It is unique because it changes everyday with new events happening and people adding more to the American voice. John Steinbeck was a big contributor to the American voice in the 30’s and 40’s during the Great Depression era. He grew up in a hardworking family, his mother a schoolteacher and his father moved from job to job trying to keep food on the table. He worked as a war correspondent during World War II and also worked as a caretaker for the elderly. His background helped shape who he was, and ultimately helped his work because he could relate to people.

Steinbeck has familiarity, experience, respect and sympathy for the hard working rural class. He knows their struggle because he has, for a time, lived and experienced it. He differed in that he did have an opportunity for education and for a time did attend college.

While there is no guarantee to complete happiness there are some moments where america gives its citizens the opportunity to find happiness allowing them to express their personal identity. America gives the people an opportunity to express and celebrate their uniqueness. These celebrations helps feeds the personal identity this feeds in the idea of celebrating the people's uniqueness and how they belong in society. This can be seen in the first few lines of Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing”, “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong”,this quote states that the people express their own uniqueness. The reason it's important to the identity of a person is because a person needs to show that they are inherently different this shows how uniqueness is important and also shows that Americans are different from people of other nations. Another aspect of the personal identity is to travel and see different parts of america. Emison, in his essay the “American Scholar”, states that, “ The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature. Every day, the sun; and, after sunset, night and her stars.” This shows the influence of nature to the human mind and the ability to have a difference to find a place in society. To