Why does Sal/Jack decide to head West? What is it about Dean/Neal that draws him to the road? Consider, too, the quote below as you shape your response:
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' (5-6)
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Sal decide to head West because he is a student and a writer and he needs an adventure, also something new to write on. For example when he says "I could hear a new call and see a new horizon". Here he is seperating from his innocence and Dean also shows Sal a different life that he has never seen. The thing that draws Dean to the road is the new adventure because he is a person that lives loose and free and always looking for the next new thing.
Sal decide to head West because he is a student and a writer and he needs an adventure, also something new to write on. For example when he says "I could hear a new call and see a new horizon". Here he is seperating from his innocence and Dean also shows Sal a different life that he has never seen. The thing that draws Dean to the road is the new adventure because he is a person that lives loose and free and always looking for the next new thing.
Sal is a student and writer that decides to head West in search of adventure, so he could expand his creative mind. Dean draws Sal to the road because of his crazy lifestyle. Sal wants to be apart of Deans lifestyle to enumerate more adventure into his.Thats why Sal said "The only people for him are the mad ones."
The dream of Sal heading west is one of escape. Escaping his mundane life style of being a student and writer in search of new and different experiences, heading west will allow him to experience this. A new world opens up for him as he travels, seeing the waste lands of the desert astonish him, he has never seen anything like this before. He meets people with various and differing backgrounds that have their own stories to tell. He is surrounded by free spirited people, unlike his college life on the east coast where he has dull life with the same routine. He also has a romantic vision of the west where from historical movies he sees people in search of the new beginning, people escaping to the west in search of freedom. The mad people he meets are just people he finds enjoying the most out of life and rather than fitting in to society and assuming their place they enjoy being different and having other people see them as different. Sal head West in search of a new aspect of life and in search of new and different people to hear their stories while he is on the road.
Sal decides to head west to escape the pattern of his “cobwebby…past life” (35). He was stuck in a spider’s web trying to find his way out, yet he was married and unable to fulfill his dream of heading out West. His longing for adventure is carried out when Dean arrives. Sal knows that with Dean by his side, he will be able to change the course of his life. Dean is not the typical person who Sal is used to being around and that intrigues Sal to where he is willing to follow Dean to the West. Dean also gives Sal a purpose and excuse to head west seeing that they will both be able to experience western life together. Sal also realizes that Dean is an experienced traveler and can therefore help him to stay occupied while on the road and once reaching their destinations. Sal’s search for an ultimate transformation allows him to place his trust in Dean and follow him into what he does not know could possibly be the best experience of his life.
Sal wants to experience a new way of life which is the lifestyle of Deans. Dean is wild and not afraid to do anything, while Sal on the other hand is very sheltered and just goes with the flow. Sal wants to see a new world to advance his writings and i believe he really just wants to be on his own and try living a lifestyle with no rules. He feels the west represents his freedom.
Sal decides to head West because he wants to explore and feels that there is freedom out west. Once he got on the truck and started his adventure there was no looking back. For example he says " It was like riding a railroad train, just as steady and just as straight." He is basiclly say how smooth the trip is. He wanted to go west so that he could basicly get a new life. Dean was the one who really gave him all of the advice and is like a mentor to Sal.
sal decides to move west because thats were he feels the freedom is. He also wants to learn how to write better and continue working on his wirting. Dean on the other hand is using sal for a place ot live,food, and a friend to bum off of. Sal realizes this but doesnt care. Sal is more of a laid back type of guy which is the opposite of dean who is outgoing and a con-man.
Sal decides to head west because he is looking for an opportunity to experience new people and see a different way of life. He wants to go on an adventure and learn new things and tell his story. He leaves his childhood and is approaching his adulthood.
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'
Sal Paradise is drawn to the road ultimately because he is determined to live a lifestyle equivalent to the unprompted and spontaneous way of life depicted by Dean Moriarty. Sal idolizes Dean and has a wholehearted desire to follow in his erratic ways. He has come to the apparent realization that Dean is not a genuine companion but rather is using Sal’s friendship in a selfish manor only for his benefit. Sal makes himself impervious to this simply because he has a complete understanding of the way Dean is and he doesn’t care or want to change him, he merely wants to obtain the carefree and reckless qualities that Dean possesses. “He was conning me and I knew it (for room and board and ‘how to write,’ etc.), and he knew I knew (this had been the basis of our relationship), but I didn’t care and we got along fine- on pestering, no catering; we tiptoed around each other like heartbreaking new friends. I began to learn from him as much as he probably learned from me” (p.4). Sal decides to venture out west in an act of rebellion against his own conventional lifestyle. For Sal, the road trip out West symbolizes a sense of freedom and independence. It is an infinite abyss open to a mass of possibilities and new experiences. “Somewhere along the line I knew there’d be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me” (p.8). Sal fervently believes that by taking this road trip he will become more like Dean Moriarty and will return with a newfound knowledge attained from all the experiences he plans to endeavor along the way.
Sal wants to experience life the way Dean does; full of life and energy and excitement. To Sal, the West represents a new opportunity; it is the ultimate symbol of freedom and the unknown. Dean is drawn to the road because that way he does not have to stay in one place for very long. That means no commitment; to a job which he cannot hold and his wife to whom he is divorcing. Dean escapes life’s responsibilities by taking to the open road; without a plan, whereas Sal’s aspirations are merely to experience the world through a perspective more open and accepting. “I told them that I was thinking they were very amazing maniacs and that I had spent the whole night listening to them…” (50). Dean becomes a role model to Sal because of this new and different way of living.
Sal decides to head West because he feels that his excitement is unfulfilled back in the east. He needs new adventures in his life and the west is the only place which can provide that for him. His journey shows the long road and the obstacles he must overcome. The west embodies freedom for Sal and he feels unable to experience life to its fullest in the east. Dean represents freedom to Sal as well. He is a much different character and his "mad" personality intrigues Sal to go see him in the west. The promises of girls and parties and a fun time also draw Sal to the west. Sal needs something new. The reason the only people for him are the ones that are "mad to live," is that they are the only ones who are excited about life; they are unlike everyone else. They do and say unexcpected things and this is what Sal respects more than anything. Dean is one of these people and that is why Sal is drawn to the road.
The quest for finding the unknown is what drives Jack to head West. Having been raised in a relatively secure family unit and having gone to boarding school as well as college makes Jack feel detached from the real world. The reason that Jack is initially attracted to going on this journey is because of his college friend Dean. Dean is very free spirited and as a result intruiges Jack. Jack states, "the only people for me are the mad ones." This tells us that Jack insists on being around people that are different from himself in order to study them and then write about them.
Sal decides to head west because he is trying to find a new way of life and new experiences to incorporate into the life he has now. He sets out to seek different beliefs and other ways of living. He is looking for experiences that won't only help him see the world in a different light but, will also give him a better knowledge of how to live his own life. Dean already seems very worldly and that is what Sal is envious of. Sal feels that Dean's spontaneity will give him the experiences he is looking for.
“What is the meaning of this voyage to New York? What kind of sordid (disgusting, dirty, distasteful) business are you on now? I mean , man, whither (to what place, to what end, point, action, or the like? to what?) goest thou? Whither goes though, America, in thy shiny car in the night?” (119).
“Whither goest thou” metaphorically speaking, is asking Sal what he is doing and where he is going with his life. Carlo Marx realizes the whimsical ways of Dean and that instead of wandering around looking for the “right” path, Sal should find his own path to follow. When Carlo Marx mentions the “shiny car in the night” he is referring to the car as a symbol of Sal and his journey to the West, but even more, it is a symbol for America. The night is representative of darkness and the unknown and uncertain possibilities of the future. Sal is blind to what lies ahead. The “shiny car in the night” represents Sal’s glorified journey to the West and his idea that the West holds an ultimate freedom and glamour. It represents this idea of riding blindly through life to try to experience life in the moment; the way Dean does. “I was never scared when Dean drove, he could handle a car under any circumstances. The radio had been fixed and now he had wild bop to urge us along the night. I didn’t know where all this was leading; I didn’t care” (124). First of all, this reemphasizes the symbols of the car and night. The uncertainty of just going through life without a plan; or looking for that “special” road instead of letting it find you. Sal is so insistent on experiencing life the way that Dean is living his; he follows Dean without question. Sal does not know where his own life is taking him because he is so focused on Dean’s.
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