After reading chapters five through seven, I was dissatisfied with the continuous discriminatory commentary made on the roles of American females at the time. Throughout these chapters, Sal underscores the general conception that women are the inferior sex that can be taken advantage of for men’s own pleasures. Sal describes a “Mexican and beautiful” (pg.29) waitress, a “beautiful Colorado gal” (pg.32), and a “beautiful blonde called Babe” (pg.37); these superficial remarks emphasize the use of women as objects of physical attraction. Not only are all these women described by their physical appearance, but they also all play subordinate roles in the society, most as waitresses. This further implicates that their role is to wait on the dominant men. Not only are they slaves in the restaurant, but they are also slaves in the bedroom; they have a constant dependence on men which is exemplified when Camille, one of Dean’s objects of pleasure, asks Dean, “‘But what time will you be back?’” (pg.39). Camille is willing to sit around, waiting for two hours so that Dean can do whatever he intends to do. A particularly powerful description for me was when Sal describes Ray’s sister, Babe, as a “doll of the West” (pg. 37); here, we see clearly see him objectifying a living person so that she becomes an inanimate object. Also, the name, Babe, clearly connotes the importance of beauty to men, as they see women as targets of physical attraction. Although in my prior posts I thought I could relate to Sal, in these chapters I felt it difficult to connect to a character who is so casually degrading towards my own sex.
I completely agree with Meagan in that the reading consisted of many discriminating representations of females. However, I do not think that this is necessarily such a bad thing because the characterizations portray the overall attitude that was present during the time period. Moreover, this allows Jack Kerouac to accurately define the setting of On the Road. In addition, I also believe that the focus on women in the reading allows the reader to understand the obsession that characters such as Dean have to satisfy their sexual desires. Most importantly, the author conveys the importance that Sal is giving to the idea of finding a woman whom he could love forever. Throughout the reading, Sal’s desperateness becomes extremely obvious as he continuously admires the women (as Meagan describes) for their great looks and/or personalities. It seems as if the entirety of the reading had a focus on telling the reader that a majority of the novel will be composed of Sal’s pursuit of a woman.
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