I Still Have Hope

       This week’s reading of On the Road was pretty much as awful as the rest in relation to boredom and I have nearly given up on the novel completely. As a few of my peers have pointed out, the novel really sticks out as dull and monotonous because we automatically compare it to the other works that we have read which are (in my opinion) some of the best of the best. The major issue that I have with this novel is that every time I open it to read it, I can almost expect what is going to happen. This week in particular was a disappointment because I felt that the plot would develop a bit more since the reading was a little lengthier (which of course I was wrong about). 

       In terms of the details from this week’s reading, there is really not much to say or point out other than the fact that Dean and Sal continue to party hard and Sal is still a loner and a failure while Dean is a straight-up “boss” for lack of a better word. The one part of the reading that I did find pretty interesting was reading about Sal and Dean’s experiences with weed. I figured that somewhere along the novel we would see this happen just because of the time period and the type of person that Dean was in addition to the fact that Sal would do anything to be like him. I must say that I did find it quite entertaining reading about Sal’s thoughts as he was in this other state of mind. However, I feel as if Kerouac misses a great opportunity to “spice” the novel up a little when they are smoking. Instead, the novel drags along a little more and it seems as if the author is just trying to get through a period of Sal’s life as fast as possible.
       Overall, the reading this week was a major disappointment but I still find myself somehow still excited to read more. I know for a fact (at least I hope) that this novel cannot continue like this forever and there will eventually be some development. Maybe Sal will find himself a companion and begin to drift away from Dean or maybe Sal and Dean can get in some huge fist fight over a girl…I do not know exactly…but just anything and I mean ANYTHING to make the novel a little more interesting. 

Sal

      I have given up on On The Road, and more so than before. Good ol’Sal and Dean are as awful as they before, and honestly the whole group acts as stupidly as the last time they drove cross country. No one has learned from anything, and even during the few times that Kerouac shows the reader any development in his characters it just leads to more disappointment in their actions. Though I feel that we got to understand Mary Lou and actually see her character develop it did not make me like her any more than I previously did. Kerouac still represents women as inferior and disposable characters, not to mention the fact that Dean had tried to get Sal to have sex with Mary Lou while he watched. So far the strongest female character we have met in the book as been Bull’s daughter who claims, "look at the silly men!" when watching the boys play in their back yard.  
      Carlo seems to have moved on from the group and is no longer interested in their life style. He is much more mature from when we last saw him. He is now living in his own apartment and eventually kicks the group out once he becomes annoyed and bothered by their messiness and fighting.

      What I found incredibly amazing and laughable was the fact the Bull Lee, a man whose life purpose is to experiment and test out different types of narcotics, finds Dean crazy. There’s as saying that “someone will always be better than you are” but I think Dean is the most insane person in existence and considering his history I can’t really blame him.

      Though Sal annoys me constantly and I find almost all of actions prime examples of stupidity, I also feel bad for him. He seems very lost and disenchanted from the world he lives in, and I think this is something that everyone can connect with. It makes sense for Sal and Dean to constantly be on the road, where you don’t have to look back or deal with consequences. Dean obviously wasn’t ready to be a father so he left Camille and traveled cross country to avoid the responsibility. Sal has been disappointed a lot, we all saw his optimism when he first decided to travel cross country in the beginning of the novel.

“The balloon won’t sustain you much longer. And not only that, but it’s an abstract balloon. You’ll all go flying to the West Coast and come staggering back in search of your stone’” (Meagan Adler)

      As we continue on this seemingly insignificant cyclical journey with Sal, we become frustratingly bored by his “I didn’t want to interfere, I just wanted to follow” (pg.123) complacently dull attitude.  Sal is never going to be an individual, but will rather always be a follower, trying to identify who he is in his attempt at escaping the inescapable societal institutions with Dean.  He is simply a haggard sheep who has no influence over himself and therefore can never be the individual he strives to be.  As the cop takes after them “with his siren whining” (pg.127), we are constantly reminded that the individual is destined to fail and that Sal is trying to beat a structural societal system that is inevitably going to defeat him.  I feel like these moments augment our irritation with Sal, as he is aimlessly wandering through the United States in search of a nonexistent identity.  I also become annoyed with Sal when he expresses his excessive admiration for Dean, almost as if he is like a God.  Dean is a leader figure, trying to lead the Beat Generation out of society, where multiplying restrictions inhibit the freedom of the individual; however, has Dean really succeeded in doing so?  It seems as though he too is purposely wandering through the nation trying to defeat the undefeatable societal institutions.  As a member of the youthful Beat Generation, Sal sees the country as “wild and brawling and free” (pg.135); he feels as if he has the power to truly become an individual, yet we, as a reader realize that he is a mundanely dull nobody.  A particularly powerful part of chapter 6 is when Old Bull says, as he sits with Kafka on his lap, “’Tain’t nothing but bureaucracy.  And unions!’”;  I was intrigued by the Kafkaesque idea of the failure of the individual that supports how we feel as we journey with Sal.  Carlo acknowledges the failure of Sal and Dean as he expresses, “The balloon won’t sustain you much longer.  And not only that, but it’s an abstract balloon.  You’ll all go flying to the West Coast and come staggering back in search of your stone’” (pg.121).  I feel as if we can relate to Carlo, as he mentally matures, and realizes that Sal’s journey has no purpose and will not succeed, for once he again sees the fringes of society, he will come back under the roof of society, for it is an inescapable and undefeatable force.  

Sick and Tired

      Surprise! Another week and yet the same plot story has occurred once in the again in the predictable On The Road. At this point, like my other partners in the blog, I am sick and tired of reading a book which has no substantial ‘meat’ to it. Even in this week’s reading, Sal himself discusses where the road is tacking him.

      After reading this chapter while at the same time reading Notes from the Underground, I would like to point out that the narrator in Notes from the Underground make an excellent observation about mankind. In this story, the narrator discusses how human beings are so afraid of being bored that they will build roads and streets just for the sake of it. In terms of On The Road, Sal and Dean go on these road trips as they have nothing better to do with their lives. They are afraid at facing the reality that their lives have no substance that they would rather waste their time abusing drugs and having sex than facing the harsh truth that I am discussing right now. They are on the road for the sake of with without an purpose or meaning, just like the entire novel. I have yet to figure out what the point of central theme of the novel is besides a sense of hopelessness.

      Furthermore, it seems that the plot stories between part 1 and part 2 parallel each other despite slight variations. Once again, Sal is warned multiple times not to spend too much time with Dean; however, he heads everyone's warning, ignoring his own mental and physical health, and is once again going to undergo a mental breakdown. At this point, I do not in the least bit care that Sal is miserable because he keeps turning back to the person who makes him the most depressed.

      Also, even though I at first I liked Dean, I think at this point he too is as pathetic as Sal. Dean blames everyone but himself as proven by when he once again gets arrested for speeding. If he in the first place did not speed, he would have no one to blame. Rather, Dean is constantly complaining and treats woman as his accessories. It is sickening to say that Kerouac suggests that the only thing women are good for is for nurturing and or providing sex.
      I do not know if I could have made this any clearer, but at this point in time is a dread to read On The Road. I would rather reader Notes from the Underground, although dense, because at least it has some logic and meaning behind the context of its text.