A Lot to Cover

      Wow, there’s a lot in this week’s reading that I will probably not be able to go over, but let’s just say that there was a lot of…excitement? Dean and Sal essentially go crazier than crazy and act like they are part of some badass movie. Neither of them have any control over their lives and Sal realizes this. Dean, on the other hand, cannot get himself to understand the mess that he is living. Although we have hated on Sal since the beginning for living such a boring life, we have to commend him on at least understanding that he is trash. Dean continues to live his joke of a life and he does not find much wrong with it. At one point in the reading he goes after Marylou and wants to kill her just because she is a distraction to his current affair with Camille. Dean’s insane attempts to get rid of Marylou result in a self-imposed injury on his hand. Moreover, when Dean and Sal finally get together again at the beginning of the reading, they take off for a new adventure.

      The two men jump back “on the road” and it seems as if Dean has no emotional attachment to the remnants of a family that he leaves behind. Sal, in reality, is really leaving nothing behind, but he realizes that Dean is no longer someone that he should look up to. For the first time, Sal notes all of Dean’s weaknesses when he thinks about what Dean says to him. Sal understands that Dean can fuck a million girls and still be a failure if he is unable to settle down and just be happy. In my opinion, Sal has reached a point where he has given up on life and he is only staying with Dean to give him any sort of reason to live.
      One major idea that I would like to point out is the possibility that Dean and Sal are having a significant mid life crisis. One scene that can arguably support this argument is when Sal becomes angry at Dean when he mentions how he is older than him. Sal becomes insulted at the fact that Dean would point out his old age. In addition, the two of them act as if they are two crazy teenage boys by stealing cars and fleeing a city and just constantly having to escape the consequences of the law.