The Lemon Squeezer

      Although still not fully invested in On The Road after nearly two hundred pages, the character relationships are in fact becoming more complex and interesting for me as a reader who looks for distinct characteristics to distinguish between characters. Before this week’s reading, I believed most of the characters to be mundane, boring, and lifeless creatures; however, now after reading this week, I am becoming more intrigued by the character relationships.

      My title for this week’s post, The Lemmon Squeezer, plays extreme significance in relation the characters of the novel. I developed this term myself to describe a person who metaphorically squeezes everything useful they can out of someone, and then dumps them in the trash. I believe this term perfectly describes the character of Dean. His ‘honorable’ quest has turned into one characterized by manipulation, desperation, and lust. He continues to leave Sal, his ‘best friend’, for weeks at a time for someone else, and then returns once he is contempt that he has finished his business. Furthermore, he manipulates Marylou through his profession of his love to her to continue to journey on with him, but in the meantime, truly could care less about any one them. He desires the company of Marylou and Sal, but once he has found something better, leaves them for good.

      To me, it is pathetic that Sal and Marylou would even bother to continue on their journeys with Dean. I understand that Sal admires Dean and his spirit, but Dean’s state of mind is infectious and constantly brings Sal down. Before, Sal dreamed of the Mississippi River and what it symbolized; however, now he can only describes its physical characterizes in a mundane tone. In other words, Sal’s view point has become more and more contemplative and depressed. Dean literally is sucking out all the life and dreams that Sal possesses. In reality, Sal could become a great narrator, but because of Dean, he continues to disappoint.

      I understand that Sal connects with Dean due to their shared status as ‘misfits’ (Sal because of his thoughts and Dean because of his actions), but he has to understand that if he does in fact continue on this road, it will lead to his inevitable lonely death. Sal’s perspective on life needs to continue to stay positive, or I worry that he will attempt to commit suicide, or even worse, become himself, another ‘Lemon Squeezer’.