From what I have read in Chapters 8-11 I have to say that I am getting a little bit tired of hearing Sal talk about his journey. It is not that it isnt interesting, but I thought it to be a bit repetitive. Not only does he seem to keep traveling from New York to San Francisco and then back to New York again, but he also encounters very similar situations. When he is traveling to Washington DC he picks up a hitchhiker who is a young boy that promises them money from an aunt that he plans on meeting up with, in chapter 8 a similar type of hitchhiker is picked up by Dean and Sal but this time he actually comes through with the money. It just seems like Sal is never satisfied and I feel like he is just traveling in circles, trying and hoping to gain a different experience each time. As someone mentioned on an earlier post, it will be interesting to see how Kerouac ends this book. Will Sal ever gain what he is looking for? Will he ever be satisfied? He even says "what I accomplished by coming to Frisco I dont know"(178). He seems way to unsure of what he wants. Its rather frustrating to me. It seems like Sal and Dean find that the road is the only place where they belong. They are both outcasts, searching for something or running away from something. I really think that they are both running away from their families. Sal goes on to have this vision of a proprietess which he thinks is his mother from 18th century England. He also contemplates more about an alternate life that he may have been living. So he seems to want to constantly re invent his life and be able to live other lives, which is what he thinks he accomplishes by re doing his journeys. This vision he sees also shows the mother's disapprovement of Sal, so he seems mainly afraid of not being accepted by his parents. The proprietess even calls him a "lost boy" and then tells him to depart. I also found that Sal is starting to notice (at least with Marylou) feelings of women more. He notices as her and Dean become less close together and says 'Marylou was watching Dean as she had watched him clear across the country and back, out of the corner or her eye-with a sullen, sad air, as though she wanted to cut off his head and hide it in her closet, an envious rueful love of him so amazingly himself, all raging and sniffy crazy-wayed, a smile of tender dotage but also sinister envy that frightened me about her."(163) I thought it was very strange how Sal described Marylou's feelings towards Dean. She is beginning to sense that he is a very selfish person and that he is with her "just for kicks" which Dean says in chapter 4, "Ah it's all right, its just kicks. We only live once. We're having a good time."(125). Also Dean's selfishness is seen when he leaves Marylou and Sal to find a hotel in "Frisco" and then does not even bother to check up on them. Sal makes note of this and then decides it is time for them to part, and he does not care that they will not be able to travel together.
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Chapters 1-3 Part 3: Dean's Reality Check
ReplyDeleteAgain sorry about the length...had a lot to say...again.
It seems like Dean's selfishness really catches up to him in the end of chapter 3, when Galatea starts telling him in front of a group of people about all the selfish things that he has done. She explicitly tells him "You have absolutely no regard for anybody buy yourself and your damned kicks. All you think about is what's hanging between your legs and how much money or fun you can get out of people and then you just throw them aside."(194), there was a typo in that sentence that was in the book. lol
Anyways, she is really right about this and Dean's life is slowly falling apart. His life got really hectic and difficult after he stopped travelling with Sal and other people. Once he was left alone with Camille and Marylou, things around the house become increasingly difficult. It seems as if there is a bit of a role reversal going on at this point of the book. While Galatea is busy picking on Dean, he just sits there and smiles, but Sal steps in and defends his close friend. It seems that Dean is becoming more dependent on Sal than Sal is dependent on him. Sal also continues to search for what he wants and realizes that he wishes he were some other ethnicity than just being "white". He glorifies the lives of other ethnic groups of people such as Japanese, Mexican Denver citizens and blacks. As he observes the people around his neighborhood he takes a liking to the way they viewed life. He says "I wished i were a Denver Mexican or even a poor overworked Jap, anything but what i was so drearily, a 'white' "(180). So he isnt searching to re invent his life, but he wants to become a different person all together. Because of this his tone in these chapters seem more negative than the previous chapters. He also mentions that he is going to travel to New York (again.....) and then hopefully move on to going to parts of Europe with Dean. When will Dean and Sal ever find a place where they are satisfied? I also noticed that Kerouac uses a great deal of cataloguing during these chapters. just listing people and places but no real specific details. Perhaps Sal is becoming too overwhelmed with the amount of experiences and they are all so similar that he is no longer able to recollect specific detail.
Chapters 4-6: Focusing On Dean's character
ReplyDeleteDean seems to be connecting more with Sal. They seem to be more equal with each other, in that Sal is no longer looking up towards Dean anymore. Sal does not show any signs of wanting to be like him as much as he did in part 1 and 2 of this book. He still even has to stick up for Dean when people call him crazy and selfish. The appearence of the road as a connection between the two characters also becomes more apparent. This is because on the road is when they share stories with each other about their childhood. It is also interesting because in chapter 6 Dean shows vulnerability. When Sal flips out on Dean for suggesting that he (sal) is much older him ,Dean breaks down and cries and even leaves the restaurant. Sal did not expect Dean to show such emotions and finds it to be a bit disturbing. Dean says "I was crying' said Dean.
'Ah hell, you never cry.'
'You say that? Why do you think i don't cry?'
'You don't die enough to cry'(214) Sal is shocked to see Dean showing any amount of emotion to him. Im guessing this is probably caused by the role reversal between him and Sal. Because people around Dean are now being more open and telling him upfront that he is being selfish and he needs Sal to defend him, it makes him more vulnerable and less confident in himself. Because Dean seems to be doubting himself a bit more Sal feels the need to tell him "I believe in you. Im infinitely sorry for the foolish grievance i held against you yeterday afternoon"(219).
Commenting on Emma's opinions on Chapters 1-3, I took great notice to the change in unhappiness Sal faces in Chapter 1. In the past, we see Sal move from place to place in search of something, yet we don't know what. He always seems to leave unhappy and unsatisfied, which leads him to return to these places over and over again in hopes of finding that something. In chapter 1, we are exposed to a new idea, that it might not be the place that can provide this great satisfaction because Sal can never be happy with himself. He has always wanted to be some place else, but now on top of that, he wants to be someone else. This new insight to Sal could explain why he has this obsession with Dean. It is someone who he truly wishes he could be because he finds ways to reason Dean's flaws are not that bad. However, Sal's need for change in location still exists. In fact, it elevates to the point in which the USA does not satisfy him anymore and he looks to travel even further. There is no one for him in Italy, so who will be there for him when he screws up? No aunt, friend or girl will be able to get him out of trouble this time. I am not even that sure he will make it there in the first place.
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