Part 4: Chapter 1 - 3 Summary and Analysis

Steinbeck visits Texas not because he wants to see the sights but because he has half his family and several friends in his wife's home state. He comments on how Texas is not so much a place as a state of mind that has crossed the state boarders and entered into the nation's consciousness on one level or another. Although his wife has lost her accent in New York, it comes back immediately when she talks with another Texan. Some of her vocal habits come through at odd times as well.

The Texans that Steinbeck know are, underneath the bluster and brag, actually very sensitive people, and thus the bluster and brag when out of their home environment. He and his wife have often hosted friends and family from Texas. They go to Broadway shows, fine restaurants...