On the Road: The Relationships

Real people are not perfect. They do not always do the right thing. They sometimes make poor decisions, which can ultimately affect others in a permanent and damaging way. Young people are especially venerable to being labeled as irresponsible or trouble when they make a mistake. The true estimate of a person’s kindness and redeemability is their ability to fix or at least understand what they have done wrong  and try to change it. Although I understand this, and making mistakes is part of being human, Sal and his friends are truly a new breed of crazy, irresponsible, and terrible. When it comes to women, none of his friends have an ounce of respect. They discard women like garbage when a new opportunity arises or a better woman comes along. When Sal was last united with Dean he was cheating on his girlfriend. He was balancing two different relationships. Sal and all of Dean’s other friends are completely supportive of this behavior. Before that, Dean and his wife, Marylou, seem to have a loud and abusive relationship, where neither of the two feels they need to change their ways. Sal’s friend Remi picks a horrible girlfriend, who only chose Remi because she thought that he had money. When she found out that Remi was broke, she and Remi begin to fight constantly. It also seemed to be somewhat of an emotionally abusive relationship. Then Sal finds a good girl, but he ditches her when he becomes bored and tired of her lifestyle. He gives her hope that they may meet again, but I do not think that he had any intention of seeing her again. Finally when Sal reconnects with Dean, he learns that Dean has abandoned his wife Camille and his daughter and has reconnected with his ex-wife Marylou. He completely shirks the responsibilities of fatherhood because he is scared and crazy. Sal’s other friend Ed marries Galatea but then leaves her in Arizona because she refused to pay for him and his friends. It seems that Jack Kerouac has a talent for creating male characters who are sexist and arrogant. The girls that he writes about are not only weak losers but also seem to be promiscuous and self-loathing. If Marylou had any self respect she would have never reunited with Dean, who is obviously mental unstable and prone to cheating. I am very pessimistic about the outlook of Sal and his friends’ love lives. At this moment I find most of the male characters disgusting.