Sal has spent much of On the Road glamorizing his experiences and those around him such as Carlo Marx and Dean Moriarty. Sal’s ignorance shines through as they amuse themselves by stealing from young people who actually have jobs. One of Sal’s friends Tim Grey even says, “Isn’t this great? Using the opera stars bathroom and towels and shaving lotion and razors”(53). Sal is repulsed by the mere idea of having to get a job, and would rather than leaching off those around him. Ironically he believes himself to be part of the Denver community, referring to some of the other’s around him as tourists, as if he is not included in this group.
Sal is still amazed by Dean Moriarty whose abundance of moral value decreases continually. Sal has picked up many of Dean's characteristics, but some things still remain true to Sal. He still remains what is best described as the role of the observer. He pretends to sleep while he eavesdrops on Carlo and Dean’s midnight conversation. Sal forms very few opinions on many of his friends, and he does not want to take part of the conversation, he’d rather just listen. But for the first time cracks start to appear in Sal’s illusion of glamour in his surroundings. He’s not entirely impressed by Central City where he repeatedly refers backs the scene as “the baritone rises out of the dungeon” crying out “What gloom!”(52). This scene and line “what gloom?” is referred back to again when he is at the party in the cabin as they sing again “ah me, what gloom!” (54). I think this is why Sal decides to move onto San Francisco. He doesn’t really want this illusion to dissipate, so he leaves.
Gioia was spot on in her analysis of Sal this week. He indeed is starting to separate from the perfect voyage life that he envisioned as he is starting to see the imperfections that are present in Dean and his surroundings. He is for the first time starting to see that the world that he envisioned in which all the people were as free as horses galloping in grass fields is unfortunately a facade. However, he has yet to realize that in order to become complete, the only thing that needs to comprise of ‘western’ ideals is himself. If he is to be self governed without any barriers only he has to become completely self actualized. He however is in the process of this as he is realizing the potential uselessness of Dean.
ReplyDeleteDespite the improvements that he is making on himself, Sal continues to possess a deep level of fear. He decides not to go to San Francisco because he is frightful that the world is in fact a working, gloomy place. The observer is afraid to discern any more flaws on this earth as I do not think he will be able to handle this shock. What comes with small expectations comes small disappointment and what comes with big expectations comes big disappointment. Both Gioia and I realize that this could potentially be tragic to the core of what makes Sal Sal.