Through his adventurous and child like spirit, Sal made a deep connection with me in the first two chapters in that his innocent dreams of exploring the “promised land” rejuvenated the meaning of life. His vision of the people and places that surround him make earth seem like a real life heaven through his use of adjectives. All objects that he observes are incredible, the sweetest, or the best. However, because of this relationship that I formed with Sal, I was extremely frustrated at him this week. His righteous dreams consumed him, and as a result, he became similar to a naive child as illustrated by his relationship with Eddie. He believed Eddie to be similar to his family which was his greatest downfall to date in that Eddie was a complete stranger. In this world, people have learned to kill or be killed whether it be people from the east or west coast. In other words, people such as Eddie are willingly ready to squeeze Sal like a lemon of everything he has and then dump him in the trash in order to further continue on their journey. Even though Sal pays for Eddie to take a bus to Omaha, the second that Sal is no longer useful to Eddie, he leaves him alone like waste.
I was aggravated with Sal in that he should have known better. Even if people from the west might have different moral values and remind Sal of his family, in the end, it is in the nature of people to be selfish in order to further themselves in life. It is heartbreaking that Sal allows himself to be taken advantage of and be disappointed by ‘friends’ because he allows his idealistic dreams to take hold of him and blind him of reality.
Despite his light setback, I still believe in Sal. He is a unique force in this world in that no one today will bravely pack up all their belongings and take themselves out of their comfort zone in order to have a journey of finding their true selves. I now see that these dreams can create some weaknesses such as naiveness; however, I also realize that it can give people the strength to become self actualized.
I too experienced almost a frustration with the narrator’s naivety, depicted through his interactions with Eddie. Although we cannot dislike the narrator for believing in the innate goodness of people, we can be irritated with his gullible nature; however, I think that this betrayal also allows the him to grow as a person as he realizes that people have selfish intentions. Although the narrator might be consumed with the idea that the West is the place where he will be able to change, this interaction suggests that maybe it is the journey itself that will allow him to become the new person he wants to be. As cliche as it might be, "life is a journey, not a destination" (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Already, we have seen him evolve as he begins to interact with the various people whom he encounters on his hitchhiking adventures. He is desperate for this spiritual transformation that he strongly believes will come at his destination, but has he ever thought that it might come in the journey? I like your reference to the lemon when describing Eddie and the narrator’s relationship; I agree that Eddie does “squeeze Sal like a lemon”. Although the narrator is foolish to trust Eddie, we can relate to him in the sense that we have all, at one point or another trusted someone who has betrayed us; however, it is this betrayal that teaches us not to automatically invest our trust in people. Furthermore, I think this betrayal is a vital component to the transformation the narrator seeks; after this, he is mesmerized by his journey, “as in a dream” (pg. 25). The “stars seemed to get brighter” (pg. 27) and he begins to feel “like an arrow that could shoot out all the way” (pg.23) as he continues his journey out to the promising West.
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