Sal Paradise and Marylou Are Dead

      Alright so we're back on this book for the first time in a while and it is exactly as I remember it. In the last reading we see this extended period of time where Sal and Dean are together essentially alone because Marylou is less of a character than Sal is (the only reason we can even call Sal a character is because we're using his perspective) and you might hope to see a bit more depth int heir relationship- perhaps the depth that has been sort of implied or assumed but until now has not been brought up by the author. What we get is more of the idea that Dean is the charismatic wildcard who always gets his way, and everyone he knows basically just worships him. He asks Sal and Marylou to strip and they do. That's it.

      We get some further confirmation that Sal is a lonely dude, it's pretty clear that Dean is his only friend (not even Marylou likes him) and I'm pretty sure Dean only likes him because he is the most loyal of his disciples. We see another character who represents a subculture not yet represented in the book, so that was cool for the whole 10 seconds it was relevant, but unfortunately it all came back to the trio in the car.

      Now at one point we do see a little bit of characterization here, or what might look a little like it, when Dean starts telling stories. This might not seem like a big deal, but it's more than most characters have. Who the hell is Sal? Does he have memories that don't involve Dean? Was he a child at some point? Dean has stories, he has a past that he can reference and while it's not all that deep it's still a story. Sal has no story- Marylou has no story, but it seems like Kerouac has at least a little bit of interest in developing Dean.

      A while back I said I thought the book's purpose was to show us the developing cultures in America at this time, and I stand by that. I just wish we could get more of that as opposed to a long car ride and occasionally a character will pop in to remind us why we're here. I think I'm beginning to see why it's called On The Road, we seem to be on a path with a definite direction, but we're not fucking going anywhere.