Monday, January 18, 2010
There were a few things that stood out to me in these sections of reading. For example in the reading Sal's narration has changed. He is now beginning to become more contemplative. The way I interpreted his change of description in landscape is because as his frame of mind changes the way he describes the landscapes change as well. For example, the scene in which Sal asks what the Mississippi is he is beginning to think of it in more of a physical sense. While driving through the South the landscape parallels Sal's frame of mind, mysterious, dark and threatening. At this point I feel that the road is the only place for Sal and Dean. It is now the only place where they can belong. Dean is a misfit in a sense of his actions and a Sal is a misfit in terms of his thoughts. The road that they have been traveling on is not a reality, and there is a sense of disbelief. The other thing that stood out to me was when Sal wishes that he was black. He feels like the culture in which he has been brought up in which plays into his race, is completely delusional and he does not agree with everything he has been raised off of. This puts Sal in a very bad place. He is having a very bad identity crisis and he begins to feel as though the way he was raised was a complete lie.
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I agree, when Sal started to feel jealous of the others in Denver, it reveals, in full, his identity crisis. He finally realizes that he is not happy the way he is, and he doesn't know what he has to become in order to end up being happy. I think the most important part of the reading, however, is seeing Dean's character unravel. At first, he was just a high-octane, live for the moment guy. But he actually has a troubled past and is emotionally unstable. I think the 'new' Dean we were introduced to also aids Sal's identity crisis. Dean was always the great model for happiness that Sal could look up to. Then Sal realizes that if Dean can't be happy, there's no way he can be happy when he's just living a toned down version of Dean's life.
ReplyDeleteSorry it's so late... I don't usually put things off this much.
ReplyDeleteI definitely pick up a feel of sarcasm at the beginning of Chapter 11 where Sal is talking about Dean. He is really angry that Dean just left Marylou and him at the side of the road to go find Camille. He begins to take Dean at face value and really recognize him for what he truly is. "That was the way Dean found me when he finally decided I was worth saving" (175). I also feel that Sal has completely lost interest in Marylou, as he's angry at her for abandoning him as well. "'That whore ran off"' (Same page).
I also want to point out another thing as I read. Sal is starting to defend Dean alot. He defends his decisions versus Gelota's criticisms and while he is in the car with him and the other hitch-hikers. I thought that this was an interesting pattern and I wonder if anyone can explain it?
ReplyDeleteI think the relationship between Sal and Dean is one of the more interesting parts of the story because the characters themselves are beginning to annoy me. At this point, I think that Sal is almost convincing himself that Dean is this amazing person and worth risking all his money and hopes on. I also think that he places a lot of his blame on Dean, for not finding what he truly is looking for. On page 206, Sal says, "With frantic Dean I was rushing through the world without a chance to see it." It is not Dean's fault that Sal is willing to do anything for him. We also continue to see Dean having certain motivations here and there which can lead to a conclusion of what he is really looking for, while Sal shows no change.
ReplyDeleteI was excited to see how this book compared and contrasted with Into the Wild, but now it bothers be to compare the two because I completely favor Into the Wild at this point. I feel that Into the Wild showed a core idea and striving goal for oneself, that was thoroughly delved into. Even though Chris finds he couldn't survive at the end, Sal experiences this again and again, though it has not killed him yet. The continuous defeat, but more so abandoning or giving up, is tiresome for the reader.