did everyone finish reading part one of on the road? what did you think? i love part one of the book because it really captures the feelings of freedom and independence as sal (kerouac) crosses the country for the first time. i was lucky enough to be able to take a road trip in the spring of 2008, starting in philadelphia and ending up in san francisco, and it was one of the best things i’ve ever done. after my trip i re-read on the road and found that i had a whole new appreciation for the book. certain passages now had a much more personal meaning for me, such as the part in chapter three where he describes waking up in a hotel room in des moines…
“i woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when i didn’t know who i was – i was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room i’d never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and i looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn’t know who i was for about fifteen strange seconds. i wasn’t scared; i was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, and the life of a ghost. i was halfway across america, at the dividing line between the east of my youth and the west of my future, and maybe that’s why it happened right there and then, that strange red afternoon.”
share your thoughts on part one! was there a memorable quote for you?