Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road centers on the travels of Sal Paradise.  Sal travels across the United States many times and even ventures into Mexico.  While on his travels, Sal meets up with many people multiple times, Dean Moriarty being Sal’s primary accomplice.  Kerouac accentuates many prominent motifs in this novel which are Sal’s infatuation with Dean, Dean’s tendency to get himself into troublesome situations, and Dean’s discourtesy when it comes to friends.

Cover of On the Road (Penguin Classics)

      Throughout the novel, Sal is infatuated with Dean.  Sal explains why he wants to know Dean better,

 “Yes, and it wasn’t only because I was a writer and needed new experiences that I wanted to know Dean more, and because my life hanging around the campus had reached completion of its cycle and was stultified, but because, somehow in spite of our differences in character, he reminded me of some long-lost brother; the sight of his suffering bony face with the long sideburns and his straining muscular sweating neck made me remember my boyhood in those dye-dumps and swim-holes and riversides of Patterson and the Passaic.”  (Kerouac 7).

This long explanation by Sal is unsolicited by the reader and quite abrupt, which gives weight to the speculation that Sal is obsessed with Dean.  Sal states that he thinks of Dean as a “long-lost brother,” which might lead the reader down the path of infatuation; however, Sal needlessly goes on to state how the sight of Dean’s neck glistening with sweat brings him back to his younger days.  Sal’s statement causes one to wonder if he possibly wants a deeper relationship with Dean.  Later, after explaining Dean’s history to a great extent, Sal states, “Dean, who had the tremendous energy of a new kind of American saint…”  (Kerouac 38).  Sal enjoys talking up Dean’s strong points as evidenced by this statement about Dean’s energy and saintliness.  Sal genuinely admires Dean and looks up to him as a righteous person, though throughout the novel it becomes increasingly evident that Dean is not so honorable.  Sal builds Dean up into his image of the perfect person even though Dean has many shortcomings.  During almost every part of the novel, Sal talks about Dean and how excellent and outstanding he appears to be.  Sal seems convinced that Dean is flawless and that is the greatest sign of Sal’s infatuation.  Kerouac successfully displays Sal’s obsession with Dean through his countless fawning descriptions.

      Dean constantly searches out troublesome situations throughout the novel.  One situation is explained by Carlo to Sal, “Oh, [Dean and I] ran around the bars and then Dean stole a car and we drove back down the mountain curves at ninety miles an hour.”  (Kerouac 57).  Dean consistently finds himself in bad situations and stealing a car is just one example of that.  Not only does Dean steal a car, he also proceeds to break the speed limit without fear of being pulled over by the police.  Dean is both foolish and extremely audacious as demonstrated by this situation.  Later, Dean finds himself short on cash so when another traveler suggests, “Come on, man, let’s go mash somebody on the head and get his money.”  (Kerouac 162).  Dean pursues undesirable situations like this due to his carefree attitude.  Dean has no regard for laws or human decency, so he does not rule out, if short on money, possibly mugging a person.  While most people would find robbing a person cruel, Dean has no qualms with it.  Sal explains one of Dean’s experiences, “Finally he got a hold of some bad green, as it’s called in the trade—green, uncured marijuana—quite by mistake, and smoked too much of it.”  (Kerouac 184).  Dean’s tendency to get into trouble is exemplified by his poor choice with the marijuana.  Dean was disoriented for three days because of this choice and his choices frequently lead him down an unwise path. Dean chose, as he so often does, to get himself into this situation. Dean’s poor choices show that he does not think through situations and he is too spontaneous. Kerouac characterizes Dean as an unruly and troublesome person who exemplifies his image of a joyous and amusing friend.

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      Dean shows impoliteness toward friends if a better opportunity arises or if he has nothing to gain from being with said friend.  Marylou, Dean’s first wife, explains about Dean’s impoliteness, “Dean will leave you out in the cold any time it’s in his interest.”  (Kerouac 170).  Marylou says this to Sal right after Dean drops them off in the middle of San Francisco to pursue another commitment.  Dean always pursues the most promising opportunity with little regard for his friends’ feelings.  Sal already knew this about Dean, yet he still sees Dean as a good friend for some unknown reason.  At the end of the novel, Dean explains to Sal why he is leaving him, “I got my divorce from Camille down here and I’m driving back to Inez in New York tonight if the car holds out…  Gotta get back to my life.  Wish I could stay with you.”  (Kerouac 300).  Sal gets sick and Dean decides to leave him in Mexico because Dean has already gotten what he needs from Sal and Mexico.  Dean says he has “gotta get back to [his] life” which implies that he does not consider his time with Sal a valuable part of his life.  Dean’s wish that he could stay with Sal sounds like an empty gesture to feign sympathy, because in reality, Dean could not care less about what happens to Sal.  Sal finally realizes that Dean was not such a good friend.  Dean shows his true colors throughout the novel, but it takes Sal until the absolute end of the journey to realize that Dean really was a selfish and uncaring person.

      Overall, Kerouac successfully displays certain aspects of his characters prominently throughout the course of his novel.  Kerouac uses these aspects to display to the reader things about his characters which the other characters in the novel are unable to see.