It was said that my new york license plates would arouse
interest and perhaps questions, since they were the only
outward identifying marks i had. and so they did - perhaps
twenty or thirty times in the whole trip. but such contacts
followed an invariable pattem, somewhat as follows:
local man: "new york, huh? "
me: "yep
local man "i was there in nineteen thirty-eight - or was it
thirty-nine? alice, was it thirty-eight or thirty-nine we went
to new york? "
alice: "it was thirty-six, i remember because it was the year
alfred died
local man: "anyway, i hated it. wouldn't live there if you
paid me.
what is the purpose of this conversation in travels with
charley?
to show that most people in the united states hate new
york
to show that most people in the united states visit new
york
to show that most people do not treat the author
differently because he is from new york
to show that being from new york disrupts the author's
relationships with the people he meets