Response to Mona

     Mona, I agree with your comparison of Dean to a sheep herder; everyone that meets him seems to want to be him. Like every leader, Dean has a natural magnetism. He is the catalyst for Sal's new life and everything he aims to achieve. The first page of the novel starts with, "I first met Dean..." (p. 1). It does not come as a surprise, then, that Dean has been the driving force for the entire novel. Perhaps Sal is like Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby. He seems to be the narrator of a grand story that is not about him at all. Instead it is about Dean and everything he represents: freedom, control, and clarity. Dean is a free spirit; he refuses to be held down by anyone. For this reason, he has difficulties keeping a relationship and remaining loyal to one girl. Although Sal wants to pursue a steady relationship and "rest my soul with her till we both get old" (p. 108), he cannot break from Dean. Like America itself, Dean shines with opportunity, mystery, and promise. Wherever he goes he brings a crowd of followers with him. Perhaps this is why Neal Cassidy was such an influential figure in the Beat Generation.