Soon after, Peter’s stereotypes and sheltered ideals were proven wrong, as he mentioned “In West Virginia I expected to find hillbillies rocking their lives away on the front porches of leaning shacks, so I was taken off guard to see White Sulphur Springs.This town was a classic in-the-middle-of-nowhere place, but there sat a multimillion-dollar resort with all the class of any grand hotel in Paris or New York.” (Jenkins 49) Peter, upon meeting, thought Mary Elizabeth would be inhospitable and be rude towards him. He was proven wrong as she offered to let him stay for as long as he needed. “I believe in God. And I think he sent you here ta test aw faith. So, from now on, if you want to, you can stay with us” (Mary Elizabeth 121) Barbara and Peter needed to see a sign to stay together, yet Peter was wary and wasn’t sure if he would even see a sign. Yet they do see a sign that shows they can remain together. Peters incorrect ideas about the rest of the United States came from his high class living standard growing up as a child. Once he goes out and experiences these areas in person, he learns he was wrong about what he originally and his journey became a learning experience for him.
At first people often thought Peter was being completely absurd when he would state that he is walking across america. Later on, …show more content…
At the time this book was written, America was currently involved in the Cold war and the Vietnam war, which Peter disagrees with strongly. “And Communism? Whatever that was, it couldn't be worse than the capitalist pig warmongers who ran this country” (Jenkins 14) As Peter goes on his journey, he sees America’s true beauty of its land and the diversity of the people who live there. This book can be used as a sort of comparison point of then and now. Currently, America has its arms full with problems ranging from large debt and the pollution and other environmental decay going on and a slew of other problems. Peter’s solution to dealing with these stresses is to head out and connect with nature yet, as time goes on, that will be less and less likely. This book helps compare then and now and raises the questions of how will The United States be in the future, and how much larger the differences between the time period in the book and