The narrator’s character change from formerly modest and quiet, to more impulsive and daring is further detailed; he squanders the little money he had left by getting drunk and trying to get with girls. The very fact that he even gets intoxicated with Montana Slim, who he doesn’t particularly know or like, attests to his altered attitude. Yet to me, it seems that he is not changing because he is doing so unconsciously, but rather because he purposefully wants to be in the character of the West. Reading how he imagines how “[his] gang” in Denver will view him as “strange and ragged” struck me as odd; the narrator has imagined the West for so long, and wants to change and fit into its ‘impulsive’ stereotype to show his friends his new side. It reminds me of how he claims to set West for adventure, but is ironically limited to Denver and gives up other true opportunities for spontaneous fun. This behavior slightly irritates me because he seems so obsessed with reuniting with his friends; it is not about traveling West for the sake of exploring, but traveling West to follow them and tag along on the adventures his friends have.
I also thought the hint of conflict between Chad and Dean was also interesting. Even though it was Chad who picked him up and whose house he stayed in, the narrator keeps wondering about Dean, explicitly thinking “Where is Dean and what is he doing right now?” in the midst of conversations and dinner with Chad’s family. I don’t particularly understand his obsessive preoccupation with Dean and find it off-putting. In my opinion, it displays that the narrator is reliant on Dean, who still hasn’t shown up to greet him.
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