Charley's "delicate exploring nose" reads messages that are "perhaps as important in endless time as these pen scratches I put down on perishable paper." Steinbeck finds refinement and sensitivity where others might see only sniffing and peeing.
He can't read or drive a car, but "in his own field of endeavour, he has no peer". Charley wants to be judged according to doggy rather than human standards of achievement. He doesn't like to be subjected to baby speak because "he feels that he is a first-rate dog and has no wish to be a second-rate human". Charley is a dog who chooses diplomacy over aggression and is prone to vanity when groomed. The dog helps break the ice with strangers: "Charley is my ambassador," writes Steinbeck.īorn Charles le Chien in Bercy, on the outskirts of Paris, he speaks a little poodle-English but prefers French, "otherwise he has to translate, and that slows him down". Intelligent and well-mannered, Charley is more than just a travelling companion he is integral to the project. In a letter to his agent, the author was magnanimous towards the mutt: "The poor little fellow may have been acting critically," he explained.īeing a writer of empathy and humanity, not to mention a wee overdose of imagination, Steinbeck gives a detailed account of Charley's foibles, preferences and prejudices. One of them, an Irish setter called Toby, chewed up half of the only manuscript of Of Mice And Men. He cogitates about burgers, trailer parks and truck drivers, and muses at length about dogs. He drinks a toast with migrant workers in Maine, shares a pew with the faithful in Vermont, enthuses over cheese in Wisconsin and despairs at the ugly racism at the school gates of New Orleans.
Avoiding most of the tourist sights, Steinbeck sought out the mundane, funny, depressing and beautiful corners of what he describes as "this monster land".
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