"If you drop a rose in the Hudson River...think of all the places it journeys by as it goes to sea forever"

In reading chapters one and two of One the Road, I  instantaneously felt a strong connection to the narrator;  I was already able to relate to and sympathize with him and I think that as the novel progresses he will allow us to feel the spontaneity and adventure that he will inevitably experience on his trip.  I particularly liked the metaphorical comparison to the rose on the Hudson River; as Kerouac describes, “If you drop a rose in the Hudson River at its mysterious source in the Adirondacks, think of all the places it journeys by as it goes to sea forever” (pg. 9).  I think we are able to compare that rose on the Hudson River to the narrator on his road trip, for he is an unconstrained traveller who has an uncertain future ahead.  I think the narrator himself initially tries to be like the rose, taking one continuous path in the idea that “it would be wonderful to follow one great red line across America” (pg. 10).   I think the narrator expresses the excitement of being young and unrestricted as he starts his journey on the road, knowing the potential consequences of the trouble he could get into with Dean.  In my opinion, the author takes a common American experience and expresses the thrill of trying to conquer a vast nation by car.  I am excited to ride along with the narrator as he experiences the ups and downs of life on the road and as he interacts with the many people from his hitchhiking adventures.      

   

The Interconnectedness of People and Nature

             In modern day society, one’s worries include success, money, exterior appearances, and other superficial wants. However, in Jack Kerouac’s, On the Road, the narrator Sal chooses to fret over his dreams of the West. Unlike Eastern values which include analytical, static, and critical ideas, the West to Sal symbolizes wild exuberance. Sal's friend, Dean, is the personification of his dream of the West. Through Dean, Sal will be able to accomplish his dreams.
              The narrator’s perspective on life is slowly dwindling away in the industrial era. He appreciates the excitements that life offers and wants to take advantage of them while he can. Today, when one thinks of America, they dream about New York City and its skyscrapers; however, there was a time in which America was the epitome of freedom where people rode horses and became one with nature. It is essential that people of America never lose this idea because the relationship between people and nature is symbiotic. If people continue to separate themselves from nature and believe it to be a visitor of earth, they will assume that they no longer need to depend on the natural world. If this were to take place, the consequences could be detrimental to the world as people cannot exist without nature and nature cannot exist without civilization. Sal realizes this and wants to isolate himself from “the negative, nightmare position of putting down society” through political and pychoanalystical  means. Instead, he wants to assimilate into Dean’s life who explores his passions and hobbies without a single worry.

              Dean illustrates the answer to the Sal’s conflict in that he separates himself from public greed and judgment. For society to continue on and the natural order to continue to exist, people need to transform their outlooks on life and become more like Dean in order to save a rotting mother nature.

Felipe's First Impressions

                  I have always found the hitchhiker's story to be an interesting one, or at the very least entertaining. For this reason I think I am going to enjoy On The Road, but as of right now I am a bit disappointed. I want to care about the main character- to be fascinated and inspired by him, but regardless of how I picture the narrator standing in various weather conditions waiting for a ride I seem to only care about the situation he is in and never the narrator himself. I attribute this in part to the fact that the narrator is barely characterized thus far, not even being given a name, and at a certain point the narrator actually says "I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me", telling us that he is a follower- he is the supporting character who follows the main character around. This gives me the impression that he is less interesting than those around him, and may continue to be. I do think that him being a writer might make for some interesting commentary or interaction or hopefully characterization later on in the work, but right now I am far more interested in Dean. Dean is clearly meant to be the interesting character, in fact I am tempted to say that Dean is meant to be seen as the main character, and the narrator is just the lens we see him through. If that is the case, this book would be a pretty fun read; it would be interesting to read a book in which the reader sees the main character through a boring supporting character.  

                  So over the course of writing this response to what I have read, my thinking has evolved, I am now less disappointed in the work for having an uninteresting main character with an interesting story, and I am now more hopeful that the main character is actually Dean and this is Dean's story told through a mundane supporting role's eyes. If that is indeed the case, then I am greatly looking forward to what is yet to come; if that is not the case, I am looking forward to how the author makes the narrator more interesting. Either way I think I am going to enjoy On The Road, but I do hope it is the former.

Commentary on the Narrator

In his novel, On the Road, Jack Kerouac provides us a narration on the woes of being young and naïve. The narrator tells us the story of his younger self, but he places a distance between himself and his past. The narrator is reliable and truthful and through him we understand that he is not promoting the actions or ideas that he made when he was younger. Although he believed himself to be mature, the narrator points out that he cared too much about the opinion and actions of others. As shown at the end of part two, he was a sad character that tried so hard to be part of the group, but always seemed to be behind and left out. It is for these reasons that the narrator was so fascinated by Dean, a free spirited and energized boy from the West, who represented all that the narrator wanted to be. Unlike the narrator, Dean without any struggle falls into place wherever he is, the true traveler.

The characters are all looking for the experience that the narrator at the point when he is “sharing” this story now has. But the drive for life and new experience that we see in the narrator as he travels West is no longer evident in the narrator as he “shares” his story. I believe that it will be because he finds the experiences that he was so desperately seeking that he will lose himself, along with his drive for life. He romanticizes the past and looks back on it as a time of innocence and hope. And although I understand that the message of this book is not to follow in the steps of the narrator, as I continue to read, more and more do I want to.

Thoughts on the Main Characters and of Events to Come in the Novel

After reading the first two chapters of On the Road, I am extremely content to have been assigned the novel. Throughout the reading, I felt captivated by the narrator’s thoughts and by his relationships with other characters such as Dean Moriarty and Carlo Marx. In my opinion, Dean’s character is an interesting one in that he is considered a crazy conman, yet he is admired by people around New York City. I found it compelling that the narrator, a writer, would be so interested in being Dean’s friend when Dean would just scramble big words together in a sentence to sound like an intellectual. On the other hand, Carlo Marx’s character is enthralling because he is eager to spend time with Dean Moriarty when, in reality, Carlo is much more educated. Moreover, I believe the reason for such an interest in Dean Moriarty by other characters is due to his vast travel experience along with his overall strange attitude that is difficult to ignore. 

The second chapter begins with the narrator’s departure from New York as he heads west by ways of hitchhiking and only fifty dollars to spend. Additionally, after getting stuck in the rain and finding a ride to later take a bus back to New York, the narrator states that he does not care how much money he has to spend anymore, as long as he reaches Chicago the following day. I believe that the trip across the country will serve the narrator well not only in his writing, but also in relieving stress from his circumstances in New York. Overall, the first two chapters exceeded my expectations and I am excited for the next reading.