Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On the Road, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom, Travel, and Wandering
Society, Norms, and Counterculture
Friendship
Writing
America
Privilege and Prejudice
Summary
Analysis
The group went out to hear some jazz music and had a great time. Dean and Sal got one jazz musician to join them and hang out with them. They all piled into a big Cadillac and sped through the city. They had a wild night and Sal and Dean thought a saxophone player looked like Carlo Marx.
Dean and Sal have a good time going out drinking and listening to jazz. The fact that they see Carlo Marx in a saxophone player may mean that they miss their old friend.
Themes
Dean and Sal went around to different bars and ended up drinking with “a colored guy called Walter.” They went back to Walter’s place for more drinks, and Sal was impressed when Walter’s wife at home didn’t seem bothered by this at all. As the night went on, Sal tried to figure out where he and Dean could sleep.
Sal and Dean continue to have their reckless fun. Their admiration of Walter because his wife doesn't complain shows how sexist they are: they value a wife who stays at home and doesn’t criticize her husband.
Themes
Dean had a friend who lived with his father in a hotel room, and they ended up crashing with them for the night. Sal went to get his and Dean’s bags from Galatea’s place, where Galatea warned Sal, “Someday Dean’s going to go on one of these trips and never come back.” Part of Sal didn’t want to leave San Francisco, but the next day he and Dean took off headed east.
For once, Sal doesn’t quite feel ready to leave and get back on the road. Galatea, having already felt what it’s like to be abandoned by someone like Dean (in her case, Ed), warns Sal that Dean will abandon him as well.
Themes
