In the book, Steinbeck details some pretty inhuman behavior among the folks who were against civil rights. Also, there were a lot of racial tensions and conflicts going on in the South as the Civil Rights Movement heated up. The Cold War was in full swing, which meant everyone (and Steinbeck especially) was kind of worried about the potential for nuclear war (and wondering why mankind would create a weapon to eliminate itself in the first place). You see, when Steinbeck took his trip, it was a tense time in America. By the end, we wind up wondering if Charley actually does have more humanity than some of the people Steinbeck encounters. But there's a lot more at stake than giggles when Steinbeck blurs the line between Charley's doglike and humanlike qualities (check out our "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" section for more). Okay, yes, the presence of a dog is often played for laughs Steinbeck's deadpan discussions of Charley's human-like qualities are often totally hilarious. You might think it's a bit weird or silly that a dog would play such a big (i.e., titular) role in this very important author's very important exploration of these great United States, but believe us-his presence actually is pretty key. To ensure his creature comforts on the journey, Steinbeck commissioned a tripped-out truck named "Rocinante" (a hat tip to Don Quixote, another man who was also arguably on a crazy mission), and took along his French poodle, Charley, for companionship. The result was the 1962 Travels with Charley: In Search of America. So, he decided to hit the road to check out what had been going on and what people were like these (er, those) days across the U.S. In 1960, Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck decided that it would be kind of hard to live up to his "Great American Author" title if he was totally out of touch with "today's" America (today for him, not today for us).
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