Predicable and Unsatisfying Chapters

Chapters 7-11 I thought were kind of predictable and unsatisfying. Usually after reading a section of chapters I am able to come to new conclusions about Sal and Dean and their journey. This time I think the things i noticed were not as key to their character, but more just observations of the advancement of plot in general. I feel like I have gained a good sense of who Dean and Sal are as characters so now as the reader, I just sit back and watch as they continue their journeys. Altho it seems as if the journey is just being dragged out way to long at this point. One thing that I did think was interesting tho was the fact that Sal refers to Dean more as his brother. When they are running away from the mother who gets annoyed by Dean, Sal says "He won't do it again. I'll watch him; he's my brother and listens to me."(220) It is also interesting here because Sal seems to now seem himself as slightly superior to Dean and suggesting that he now takes charge of what Dean does. Also the complicated relationship between Dean, Marylou, Camille and the new girl that Dean meets in New York is kind of interesting to look at. As soon as he sees Ines, He decides that he wants to marry her, while Camille has a second baby and Ines has her first baby, all through this Dean has no money. So his life becomes a bit more complicated, and because of this, they (predictably) do not make it to Italy as Sal wanted. I also noticed a large emphasis on Jazz music. When Dean and Sal are looking for a good time as they drive the Cadillac through Illinois they always follow a small Jazz band around from club to club. They observe as a young 16 year old musician follows them and hopes to play along with them, but the Jazz band wont let. I think they like the presumably spontaneous lifestyle that the people in the Jazz group live. It is also interesting that Dean takes advantage of the person's Cadillac and does not treat it as carefully as he should. He speeds on the highway and drives dangerously with it. He feels that once he has this car and is on the open road that he has the ultimate freedom.