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Steinbeck/Wolff essay

            Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck and This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff are comparable in many ways. Both Steinbeck and Wolff use details and sentence structure in such a way to connect with their audience, while still allowing their readers to think for themselves. The quote "I feel that there are too many realities." (Steinbeck, p. 60) represents the way both authors use their own experiences to develop who they are and how they view others around them. In the search for identity, reality often changes as perception is recreated.
             In This Boy's Life, Jack changes personalities like one would change clothes. "I believed that in some sense not factually verifiable I was a straight- A student. In the same way, I believed I was an Eagle Scout." He trades on his true self in favor of a boy who is everything he wants to be, no matter how false his new identity really is. In this example, Jack forged letters from his teachers so that could be accepted to elite private schools, and takes his recreation of himself to a new level. As he continued to write lies about who he is and his accomplishments, they seem absolutely true to him. Jack eventually concludes that these letters are not lies, but are actually more truthful than any letter his teachers could have honestly produced. The author, Wolff, makes the untruths seem real enough to believe by using strong details. He would first describe the event itself, then the reaction of himself as a teenager, and finally ending each scenerio with his thoughts as an adult to give three alternate realities. This was parallel to his own realities, thus connecting the audience to the memoir vicariously. .
             In Travels with Charley, Steinbeck starts the book with a very indecisive view of his own country. He realizes that the only way to become familiar with America again is to experience her. "I had neglected my own country too long. Civilization had made great strides in my absence.


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