I am tempted to say I am "back to square one" in terms of my thoughts on this book, but I do feel that I cannot deny the focus on Sal's environment and temporary encounters, nor do I think anyone can. However, I must revisit my dismissal of Dean as a "main character" figure. Dean is an interesting character, this is difficult to deny. He is first described to us as this fascinating individual that Sal admired greatly. Sal admires him in such a way that I got the feeling he was more of a supporting character than a main character. I still believe Sal to be a supporting character, now I'm just trying to see what exactly he is supporting. Obviously the main character figure does not need to be one thing/person, but one has to be more emphasized than the other, or at least this is what I expect.
Chapter five began with an interaction between Sal and an attractive young woman that I found interesting; Sal is not only comfortable with random interactions with strangers, but seems to love trying to be close to someone he has never met. Granted, this instance may be more sexually driven than emotionally driven, but regardless I feel that he has a certain love for people, more so for strangers. So this chapter continued to be more about the journey of Sal, but the second Dean comes into the picture we're on the adventures of Dean Moriarty, with Sal as the narrator, supporting character, and spirited best friend. Maybe Sal has an awesome backstory, maybe his writings are about his adventures in unexplored jungle, maybe he's actually the creator of the universe just trying out the human experience, but so far we have no reason to believe he is any more normal than what has been shown to us. Dean has been characterized more than Sal has, and Sal has been the narrator this whole time; Dean has been given a dark past, exciting motivations, and has shown himself to have an interesting personality. Sal has been given... well he's a hitchhiker, and that is an interesting story on its own.
I do not think Sal is the main focus of this story, and I am struggling to decide if Dean is as important as I had originally hypothesized or if its all about the journey. I know I may very well be alone on this analysis, but I suppose that's half the fun. I don't need Sal to murder someone, I just need him to be interesting, maybe then I'll see him as more than just a lens for the story.
I agree that we do not really know anything particularly significant about Sal as a character besides his seemingly conventional outlook on women, as displayed in his interaction with the Mexican waitress in the beginning of chapter five. I agree that this interaction portrays more of an exposed sexual desire Sal has rather than a unique personality trait he encompasses. So far, I think Sal is a mainstream character that seeks a transformation through Dean. Although we might see him as a “lens” for the story, I think that in a way, this unbiased and common perspective allows for a mundane style that we are able to relate to. I like how he does not tell the story through a dramatic point of view, but rather incorporates subtle commentaries on societal aspects such as gender and the uniformity of the nation. In last week’s reading, he made a commentary on American youth and how they are all in the “same vast backyard” (pg.11) and this week he commented on the floors of the bus stations and how they are the same all over the country. These comments show the uniformity that exists even though there are distinct environments that define different parts of the nation. In relation to your thoughts on Dean, I think that he will end up being a significant character in Sal’s life because I think he is almost like a role model to him and will provide the resources and opportunities Sal needs in order to become the person he seeks to be in the West.
ReplyDelete- Meagan Adler