On the Road pg 67

"Now you got to make up your mind one way or the other, or you'll never get anywhere... but all I wanted to do was sneak out into the night and disappear somewhere, and go and find out what everybody was doing all over the country." (page 67)

This quote in chapter 11 sums up Sal's road trip perfectly. Once Sal finally gets a job as a cop with Remi he questions himself as he always does and thinks that he is not made out to be a cop. All he can think about is how much he would rather be out somewhere meeting other people instead of working and making money. In the end of part 1 Sal travels back to New York and says "it was October, home and work again." The way he goes back and forth from one way of life to another and always wants what he doesn't currently have proves to me that he is indecisive in the kind of person he is and the kind of life he wants to live. We said in class that if you are everything, you are nothing and this makes sense because he cannot choose a path or settle with one way of life. Sal never sticks to one job, one woman, one city or a way of life that will provide stability and normalcy. I definitely think his spontaneity is a distraction for him and a way for him to dismiss his problems and his questions about his lifestyle. Once he finds something that satisfies him just a little bit, he moves on and wishes for something else, something new.

Question: Why did Sal search for a woman throughout his journey, complaining about how lonely he was and how he wanted a woman so badly, and once he found one he loved he gave her up so easily?