“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.