Part 2 of Term Paper

Since it now has been proven that there exists some form of madness within Dean and Sal, “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars”, we can move onto the idea that there seems to be a desperate attempt by both to appease this sickness that gnaws at them. The solution, though not permanent, is their constant push to moving forward. Though, we can recognize that it does not get rid of the illness entirely it seems to be the temporary antidote for these two characters:  

“Sal, we gotta go and never stop going 'till we get there.'
'Where we going, man?'
'I don't know but we gotta go.”

The road is there escape from life. As all humans do, we age and fall victim to the idea of “responsibility”.  However, there are those who are afraid of falling in line and accepting their fate as normal adults and try anything to leave this notion of normality behind. Also, because these kinds of people are a minority of society, the loneliness causes them to go insane since they have very few others to speak with about their thoughts. Such people include Sal and Dean who were fortunate enough to find each other and were able to find the mystical power of healing which lies within the road. That is why both of these characters are so attracted to the road; it allows them to escape the responsibilities that tie them down to a life of boredom and inaction. Also, with the increasing number of responsibilities, the amount held by an individual can help determine hold old that individual is. The more chores, the older the person is. Therefore, as rational human beings, Sal and Dean wish to remain young as long as possible and, on the road, they can remain as young as they wish since time has no meaning while they are traveling back and forth across the nation. “And for just a moment I had reached the point of ecstasy that I always wanted to reach, which was the complete step across chronological time into timeless shadows, and wonderment in the bleakness of the mortal realm, and the sensation of death kicking at my heels to move on, with a phantom dogging its own heels, and myself hurrying to a plank where all the angels dove off and flew into the holy void of uncreated emptiness, the potent and inconceivable radiancies shining in bright Mind Essence, innumerable lotuslands falling open in the magic mothswarm of heaven. I could hear an indescribable seething roar which wasn't in my ear but everywhere and had nothing to do with sounds. I realized that I had died and been reborn numberless times but just didn't remember especially because the transitions from life to death and back to life 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. I realized it was only because of the stability of the intrinsic Mind that these ripples of birth and death took place, like the action of the wind on a sheet of pure, serene, mirror-like water. I felt sweet, swinging bliss, like a big shot of heroin in the mainline vein; like a gulp of wine late in the afternoon and it makes you shudder; my feet tingled. I thought I was going to die the very next moment. But I didn't die...”