Sharon's Reaction to Chp. 7 & 8

       Well, nothing has changed over this reading –Sal is still on-the-road, continually following Dean around in search of adventure. And in both chapters, just like always, Dean is leeching off of Sal in order to make the on-the-road lifestyle possible. While I always knew Sal was eager to please Dean, this reading only reinforced that with the fact that Sal would even risk antagonizing old friends. In Chp. 7, Sal knew that his childhood friend Bull invited him to come over alone, yet Sal still brought over the whole gang. I thought this instance demonstrated how he prioritized the adventure and Dean over all else. In addition, at the end of his visit, Sal even mentions how much he hated leaving Bull’s house but Dean was going back onto the road, so he must as well –Sal leaves behind everything he could’ve otherwise enjoyed just because of his infatuation with experiencing everything Dean leads him to. 

       One thing that I did think was interesting, though, was how Ed and Galatea left the trip while Sal continued, just like previously where Sal left but then Ed joined. It’s like Dean is some sort of travel guy that everyone is drawn to and follows around until they’ve had enough –at some point, each person leaves but Dean just never stops. Living on the road is literally his life; everything else is secondary. 

       In the next chapter, I felt like the trio traveled quite a bit. I liked how there was considerably more description of the setting than before; it gave a sense of all the unclaimed landscape at the time. What caught my attention, though, was the seemingly changed relationship between the three. Where Sal used to be the odd one out while Marylou and Dean were the crazy ones, it seems that now Dean is the insanely wild one while Sal and Marylou are just on the sidelines. Dean is the ring leader that convinces Sal and Marylou to ride in the car naked, and even gets off the car like that while Sal and Marylou have the sense to put on an overcoat. The talk Marylou and Sal have about the future helped me conclude that Marylou isn’t as crazy as she once was; it seems like she’s grown past that stage and wants to settle down. In fact, I feel that she still genuinely loves Dean, but has come to the realization and accepts that while she’s matured, Dean will never, and even though he loves her, he loves life and himself even more. I wonder how things will eventually end up.