For your next blog assignment, I'd like you to "dig" through the text, especially this past weekend's reading assignment, and find a passage that you'd like to respond to, mull over, think about, uncover, discover, interpret, and write about! You might consider one of the passages we discussed in class--e.g. Carlo Marx's curious question to Sal Paradise: "What is the meaning of this trip to New York? What kind of sordid business are you on now? I mean, man, whither goest thou? Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car at night? (119)--or you can find one on your own. This is your journey, this is your experience. I want to hear from you. I want to read your words.
Your response to the passage that you choose (one paragraph in length) is due Wednesday, September 26, by the start of class.
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"What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies." page 156
This quote represents Sal's transition from cautiousness to a slight unruliness. As Sal moves on from destination to destination he doesn't forget about the past as he still sees "their specks dispersing." This respect for the past is essential to Sal's journey as he knows he always has a place to go when things go wrong. This may be why he seems to split up his jounrey in into four sections.
“ ’Pennsylvania!’ he scoffed. ‘I wish I knew what that charge was… They’ll out and shoot you if you complain, too.’ There was nothing to do but get happy with ourselves again and forget about it.” –pg. 137
Throughout the novel, Dean and the gang try to manufacture happiness. Notice in the quote that Kerouac writes, “get happy” instead of “be happy.” This shows that Sal and Dean perceive happiness to have a very fragile existence; indulging one moment and fleeting the next. It is almost like they treat happiness with the same emotion as the drugs which they consume: they “get happy” instead of walking with life’s truest forms of happiness. It is evident that many of the characters have a great need for true fulfillment and joy.
In Jack Kerouac’s novel on the Road many facets of American life are examined and scrutinized through the eyes of a lost group or a lost generation of Americans. The group in which the narrator Sal Paradise likes to travel with is a group that likes to counter the current culture of America. The quote I examined is one that counters the belief of having pride in the US military and believing that it is right and just. “Great displays of war might lined along Pennsylvania avenue as we rolled by in our battered boat. There were B-29’s, Pt boats, artillery, all kinds of war material that looked murderous in the snowy grass… Dean slowed down to look at it. He kept shaking his head in awe ‘What are these people up to?’”[135-136]. In this quote Jack Kerouac describes the military hardware as murderous. Military machines that won the second world war a war that is looked upon by historians as being a just war for America to fight. And in a time in which the military was held in the highest regard he is calling it murderous. In a time (the 50’s) where pride in the military was at its highest Dean Sal’s co traveler can only shake his head in disgust. This quote shows the rebellious nature of Jack Kerouac in that he is so counter culture that he doesn’t see the military might of ww2 as just and right.
"Bull was curious to know the reason for this trip. He peered at us and snuffed down his nost, thfump, like a sound in a dry tank. "Now, Dean, I want you to sit quiet a minute and tell me what you're doing crossing the country like this." Dead could only blush and say, "Ah well, you know how it is." "Sal, what are you going to the coast for?" "Only for a few days. I'm coming back to school." (129)
The gang of Dean, Sal, Marylou, and Ed have showed up at Bull's house. Bull had invited only Sal, however Ed's wife was waiting for Ed at Bull's house. Bull is overwhelmed by the amount of "crazy" people who have come to his home, but he graciously welcomes all of them to stay. When he asks Dean what exactly his trip is accomplishing, Dean had no answer. He avoids answering the question because he has no real reason. He is a spontaneous person and his answer to Bull's question shows this. Sal, however immidiately responds by saying he is only along for the ride and will be back to school soon. This short scene relates back to the fact that Dean is unstable and has no idea where his life is going, and Sal's stable life. Sal still appreciates and loves Dean's way of life and is starting to become more of an spontaneous person.
"In New York I had been attending school and romancing around with a girl called Lucille, a beautiful Italian honey-haired darling that i actually wanted to marry." (116)
This quote shows that as much as Sal wants to live the crazy lifestyle like Dean he really is not like dean at all. Dean jumps around from different girls he even has multiple at the same time while Sal shows with this quote that he has a compassionate side for woman and at some point in the near future he wants to settle down and marry a woman, while i really don't see dean ever settling down and being with one girl.
"I want to marry a girl," I told them, "so I can rest my soul with her till we both get old. This cant go on all the time-all this franticness and jumping around. We've got to go someplace, find something." (pg. 117)
This quote represents Sal saying that he doesnt want to end up like Dean jumping from girl to girl and wants to settle down. He is also saying that he also needs to find somewhere to be stationary not moving from place to place not knowing where you are going to end up the next day
“I want to marry a girl,” I told them, “so I can rest my soul with her till we both get old. This can’t go on all the time-all this franticness and jumping around. We’ve got to go someplace, find something."
Sal Paradise comes to the realization that he ultimately does not want to live a lifestyle comparable or equivalent to that of Dean Moriarty’s. Dean absolutely does not want to settle down within the binds of marriage and Sal is well aware of this, he however wants the stability that matrimony will provide. It is in this particular instance in the novel that Sal becomes self-reliant; he is able to make his own conscious individual decisions based on what he truly believes whereas before his mindset was to be a complete replica of Dean in all of his spontaneity and impulsiveness. When Sal says “This can’t go on all the time- all this franticness and jumping around. We’ve got to go someplace, find something” (117), he crosses a new threshold, and he in fact has gained a new knowledge along this chaotic journey. The new knowledge may not in fact be the newfound knowledge that was initially being sought after by Sal, however he has reached a new altitude of self-realization and awareness within himself. He understands now that he is fully capable of making decisions based on his own personal values rather than entirely depending on Dean to give him direction in his life. After Sal gains self-confidence and voices his opinions of marriage and stability in life, Dean says “I’ve been digging you for years about the home and marriage and all those wonderful things about your soul” (117). This is ironic because it would be expectant from Dean to be entirely opposed to any idea of stability or consistency in life. It is almost as if the quote presents a reverse theme for the novel, one in which Dean admires the lifestyle of Sal. The quote depicts a sense of admiration and respect to Sal from Dean’s character, one which was never before seen because the roles have always been the same throughout the book in that Sal idolizes Dean and not the contrary.
"Dean had never seen his mother's face. Every new girl, every new wife, every new child was an addition to his bleak impoverishment" (132).
Dean is indecisive about girls because he has never been with his mother before. He is constantly trading between girls who will fulfill his absence of a "motherly instinct". Marylou caters to his every need and is always by his side whereas Camille is someone with whom he fools around. He wants whichever one that can best represent what he never had, yet has a hard time doing this because each of them feels like the perfect fit. Every girl that he has met does not complete him, but only adds on to who he is as a person. Deans lack of a motherly figure in his life leads him be lost and confused to the point where he can not make up his mind about what he wants out of his relationships.
"Now this is the first time we;v been alone and in a position to talk for years"Said Dean. And he talked all night"
I chose this passage because i think that it is important to have good friends and in this quote Dean and Sal finally have a time alone to talk.Some times i think if they didn't have each other as friends they would be kind of lost. It is good that they were able to get time to talk to each other.
"Then he came back with a middle-aged woman;next minute he was talking to a couple of young ushers in the street. The next minute he was shaking my hand without recognizing me and saying,"Happy New Year, m'boy." He wasnt drunk on liquor, just drunk on what he liked-crowds of people milling. Everybody knew him." page 54.
This quote represents the develpoment of Sal's view of life and shows that continuing this road adventure will have a positive turnout in his life. In this quote,Denver Doll is living his life capturing hapiness, engaging and taking in all the life around him. He is living his life to the best of his ability's and living each day like its his last. Notice how he says, "Happy New Year" to Sal. This may signify that Sal is beginning a new, happier life as he continues his adventure on the Road.
"I want to marry a girl, I told them, so i cna rest my soul with her till we both get old. This cant go one all the time- all this franticness and jumping around. We've got to go someplace, find something (117)."
This qoute above shows how different Sal and Dean really are. Although Sal trys to act like Dean and wants to follow his life style he can't. The qoute shows how hes passionate about one girl and how he thinks its wrong to jumpo around form girl to girl, like Dean.
It is clear that Sals life stlye and morality's are much more important to him self then they are to Dean. A prime example of when Sal does not jump around form girl to girl would be on page 117, "I've been digging you for years about the home and marriage and all those fine wonderful things about your soul." This is a perfect example that shows how Sal cares about a companion liek he does his education and writing unlike the rebel Dean who is the complete opposite.
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