He had, for a few days, forgotten that wherever he traveled, he must take his own familiar self along, and that that self would loom up between him and new skies, however rosy. It was a good self. He liked it, for he had worked with it. Perhaps it could learn things. But would it learn any more here, where it was chilled by the unfamiliarity, than in his quiet library, in solitary walks, in honestly auditing his life, back in Zenith?
In Sinclair Lewis's "Dodsworth," the protagonist reflects on the idea that despite traveling to new places, his true self travels with him. This self, which he knows well and appreciates, inevitably impacts his experiences, casting a shadow over the potential joy of discovering new environments. He acknowledges the self he has shaped and nurtured, suggesting that it can adapt and learn, yet he questions whether this familiar self can truly grow...
