April 5 Summary and Analysis

In the morning, the Western Flyer sails into the port at Guaymas. This is a large city that is bustling with news of the war, politics, and other topics the expedition party has been living entirely away from for some time. Rather than welcoming it, the group finds that this is more of an intrusion into the life they have been leading, blissfully free of such distractions. They begin to feel the end of the expedition weighing on them. Only Tex and Tony are at all anxious to return; the rest of them wish to stay, but the charter is of a fixed length so there is no choice. Steinbeck feels that they have received many great gifts in the Sea of Cortez, most notably a way of seeing life, time, and beauty that is different from anything they have previously...