How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
During the previous winter I had become rather seriously ill with one of those carefully named difficulties which are the whispers of approaching age. When I came out of it I received the usual lecture about slowing up, losing weight, limiting the cholesterol intake. It happens to many men, and I think doctors have memorized the litany. It had happened to so many of my friends. The lecture ends, "Slow down. You're not as young as you once were." And I had seen so many begin to pack their lives in cotton wool, smother their impulses, hood their passions, and gradually retire from their manhood into a kind of spiritual and physical semi-invalidism. In this they are encouraged by wives and relatives, and it's such a sweet trap. (2.1.1)
Although it's not like Steinbeck comes off as John Wayne or anything, he does kind of give us a sense early on that his manhood is pretty important to him. You'll notice throughout the book that he talks about ways in which American culture (in terms of religion, psychology, and—as here—health) has gone "soft," and he's totally against that whole trend. This is the first moment he really clues us into that theme.
Quote #2
Who doesn't like to be a center for concern? A kind of second childhood falls on so many men. They trade their violence for the promise of a small increase of life span. In effect, the head of the house becomes the youngest child. (2.1.2)
Although we're sure older women don't enjoy being treated like babies either, Steinbeck makes it a masculinity issue—and he is not down with going gently (and unmanly-ly) into that good night.
Quote #3
I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment. I did not want to surrender fierceness for a small gain in yardage. My wife married a man; I saw no reason why she should inherit a baby. (2.1.2)
Just in case we weren't absolutely clear on where Steinbeck stands on this whole issue, he says outright here that he has no intention of giving up being "a man" for a tiny bump in lifespan. His motto seems to be "Live fast, die manly."