Term Paper Part 1

On the Road is a novel that expresses the thrill of taking that unknown path and the road not taken to see where it gets you in life. We sometimes get complacent with our lives and start to wonder what could have been if things had been done differently, and so we take two steps back to see if we can take three forward, but in cases, failure is inevitable and the receding steps don’t stop. That is why we try to change things and meet different people. We feel lost and anonymous in the big crowd and so we search for that special someone that makes us feel important and alive again. In other words, we look for someone who feels even more lost, because as human nature calls, we are always the most important person in our life, and so feeling better than the rest is always a priority.

In this particular case, the main character Sal Paradise is stuck in a life stage where he has reached his limit and his life has steadied off, making it repetitive and dull to him. Sal is married and has a writing career in front of him, but as he stops and ponders on what his life has come to he decided this is not what he wants and thus decides to throw it all away and start fresh. Sal has a problem because he becomes complacent with the life that people dream about. People grow up and do everything in order to finally settle down with the person they love and do what they love, but Sal resents his choice to let his life die down and wants to take action to give his youth another shot at the adventurous and rebellious life, and Dean Moriarity was the perfect person to make that happen.

When Sal met Dean it was like destiny punching him in the face. Sal saw this reckless, crazy, poor womanizer and saw the perfect opportunity to leave his old life behind and start a new life of party and uncertainty. Dean was everything Sal wanted to be. Spontaneous, charming, happy with his life, careless of what will be to come the next day. Sal is lost and vulnerable in this moment. He is vulnerable to be deceived by his own conscience that would otherwise know that this is a horribly risky decision, but his soul is in such a desperate search for that other, worst and more lost soul, that he decides to start chasing Dean. By choosing to follow this ticking time bomb of a man Sal has also decided to leave behind his wife and put his writing career on pause, but hoping to run into some inspiration on this unforeseen journey.