English 2000 Perspectives in Literature

The character Dean comes off as a very important character to Sal in the beginning and compares him to being a “long lost brother”. He tends to admire Dean because he feels that they are very different which is true because Dean is extremely more outgoing then Sal being more restraint and conservative. Dean is no stranger to charming people, and isn’t too shabby with the ladies and has a lot of adventure, Sal envies his cause of it. So even though Dean is a big deal to Sal I believe the “Road” is more to Sal making his own tales and adventures.

In comparison to on the road with dean and giovannis room with david is similar in a few ways seeing as how they are both either running to and from something. Dean is on the quest to somehow find his father, a father like void in the gap in his life while on the other hand it may be the opposite situation where david is more running away from his father but both stories strongly involve the presence of their father in their life. The contrast there would be their reasonings for them running away but the subject of who/what they are running from remains a constant.

The characters I would compare in both books would be David and Sal.  The similarities that both characters have would be their fascination with the people in their lives.  For David his admiration to Giovanni was how Giovanni was willing to do whatever he wanted and not care if people judged him.

Sal’s admiration with Dean was how Dean is someone who does not fit in the world.  All of his adventures that ye had aspired to do, that Sal felt he could not.  Both characters begin the book with the people they admired.  and it drives the main characters to do things for themselves.

The insight I have of both character is that they let the people they admire somehow lead their lives and decisions

“The Road” represent in this novel Sal’s journey to self-discovery. He advances from every experience that he encounters and defines a new piece of himself each time. As Sal stated “I realized that I had died and been reborn numberless times but just didn’t remember because the transitions from life to death and back are so ghostly easy, a magical action for naught, like falling asleep and waking up again a million times, the utter casualness and deep ignorance of it”. On “The Road” Sal is constantly experiencing life changing events that alter his perspective on life.

I do believe that Dean plays a huge role in this book even though in some parts he is not with Sal. Dean is the center of this novel because he introduced the world of travel to Sal.  If Sal would have never heard of dean or go to visit dean in Denver he would haved experienced that lif on the road. Even though Sal does mention that he had thought about traveling, I believe that if not for Deans experiences and stories Sal would have not recieved that push that he needed to actually go across the country.  Sal admires Dean because Dean lived the life that he really wanted while he was living the married life.

Dean may seem like the center of the story, but he pops in and out of the story way to much. Sal on the other hand is a constant thought. But everything does revolve around dean, and women like marylou and camie like him and Sal is feeling like the third wheel like  he use to before Dean showed up. To me Sal is the main character cause his thoughts are crazy with emotion. Sal is like the sun and Dean is like gravity.

Dean have the traditional sexuality because he is married to a woman, have a daughter and have a job. In that time period men was suppose to be married to a woman have children and have a job to provide for the family. But he was rejecting the traditional standards by having a mistress and living with her for a while and then impregnating her. Ed Duckel have the traditional sexuality because he marry a girl name Galatea. He rejected the traditional standards by not have the traditional wedding, it was a last minute rush wedding. Sal was rejecting the traditional sexuality standards by not being married or have any children.

Jodi Grant

Some people argue that Dean Moriarty is the center of this novel. Do you agree? Why or why not? What does Dean represent in terms of behavior/lifestyle? Why do you think Sal admires him so much?

In the beginning of the novel I did not believe that Dean Moriarty would be/is the center of the novel however the deeper I got into the book the more it seemed like Dean IS the center of the novel. I said before that Sal looks up to Dean and that is because to him Dean is the personification of freedom. Having been born on the road, consistently on the road and doing whatever he desired, Sal made it seem as if Dean were on another level of humanity. “Mayor insisted he was a moron and fool. Of course he wasn’t and I wanted to prove it to everybody somehow” when Mayor claimed that Dean was a “moron and fool” Sal came to Dean’s defense despite never having actually developed a friendship with him. Sal’s need to defend Dean is derived from his idolization of him and not from his wanting to become friends with Dean. Despite being the narrator and the assumed “central character” Sal talks much about Dean and does nothing but praise him which I believe is enough credit to call Dean the “central” character.

Some people argue that Dean Moriarty is the center of this novel. Do you agree? Why or why not? What does Dean represent in terms of behavior/lifestyle? Why do you think Sal admires him so much?

Well I do think Dean is somehow what Sal talks MOST about in the book, but I’m not sure if Dean is the “CENTER” of the novel…yet. Sal just admires him way too much in my opinion and I think that’s why Sal talks about Dean too much, Sal talks about Dean as if he was a God, but I also believe that Sal might be bisexual and he doesn’t want to recognize it, because he’s trying to find himself by traveling and getting away from daily rutine. In terms of behavior/lifestyle I think Dean has freedom and wildness/badboy style and that’s what Sal admires and envy, the qualities that Dean has.