Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Dharma Bums, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Enlightenment and Nature
Counterculture and Freedom
Friendship
Literature and Authenticity
Inclusion, Exclusion, and Community
Summary
Analysis
Sean Monahan is like a mainstream version of a Dharma Bum: he lives with his family in the countryside, where he works as a carpenter and meditates in the shack up the hill. Meanwhile, his wife, Christine, does housework and makes food from scratch, and their two young daughters wander around and play on their own. The house is full of straw mats, books, and records, and everyone eats sitting on the floor at a low Japanese table.
Sean Monahan’s hybrid lifestyle shows that being a Dharma Bum isn’t all-or-nothing: even if there is a tension between mainstream values and Buddhist ones, it’s possible to be a dedicated Buddhist and still have a job, a family, and a house. In this same vein, Christine Monahan lives like a stereotypical 1950s housewife. But this raises important questions about Ray, Japhy, and Sean’s Buddhism: is it really designed to liberate everyone, or just men? What kind of work do Ray and Japhy look down on, and where does domestic work fit into the picture? What would home and family look like in a liberated Buddhist society? If women would still be forced to do domestic work, whether they like it or not, then such a society wouldn’t really be liberated—rather, it would liberate men at women’s expense.
Themes
When Ray arrives, he meets Christine, who feeds him and explains that Sean and Japhy are working. Ray praises Sean as a model patriarch, because he gives all his visitors food and drinks but also makes them contribute for groceries. After eating, Ray heads for the cottage atop the hill. He passes evergreen trees and partially sawed firewood on the steep path up to the sturdy shack, which has three rooms and plenty of space, as well as a beautiful view of the whole county.
Because Sean and Christine have money and a house, they’re a crucial lifeline for the other Dharma Bums. Ray and Japhy arguably wouldn’t have a place to stay if it weren’t for their generosity. This shows how their sense of freedom from work and conventional American life is really only possible because other people who do work and live conventional lives are willing to support them. Moreover, Ray praises Sean for giving him food and drinks, even though Christine is actually the one who does so. In other words, Ray sees Christine’s generosity as a reflection of Sean’s benevolence, as though she were not acting out of her own free will. Perhaps he thinks that Sean forced her to help him, or he still believes that men hold all the responsibility and make all the decisions in a nuclear family. Buddhism clearly hasn’t led Ray to rethink conventional gender norms, and this again raises the question of whether he views women as equals who can be liberated through meditation, just like men can.
Themes
Japhy has organized his shack meticulously, filling it with flowers, crates of books, and the ubiquitous straw mats. Ray reads one of the poems that Japhy has nailed up on the burlap wall: it’s about the birds he sees and the books he’s reading. Ray decides to make dinner, so he leaves to buy groceries and then returns and cooks beans over a fire. He notes Japhy’s spare ingredient shelf, which he uses to make “mysterious Chinese dishes.” In the evening, Ray chops wood and waits for Japhy inside, by the fire. When Japhy arrives, he eats voraciously. He and Ray smoke and talk about their plans—Japhy promises to throw parties and bring girls. He also invites Ray to work with Sean and him in Sausalito.
Fittingly, Ray’s initial communication with Japhy is indirect, through poetry. Japhy’s poem is just a summary of his experiences, which shows how he views literature as a way of capturing and transmitting experience. Of course, this is why it’s meaningful to Ray: literature allows them to share their most personal thoughts and feelings, even when the other is not present. Japhy’s poem is, in part, about literature—or the way other thinkers in the past have influenced him and allowed him to view the world in a new way. Japhy’s “mysterious Chinese” cooking again shows how Ray has come to associate Asia with exotic Buddhist wisdom, and Ray’s decision to cook for Japhy shows that he wants to pay back Japhy’s generosity.
Themes
Japhy shows Ray a drawing of Crater Peak in the Cascades, where he used to work as a fire lookout and where Ray is going in a few months to do the same. Japhy remembers hitchhiking there with a shaved head, like a bhikku, and teaching everyone he met about Dharma. The landscape was harsh before the snow melted, but beautiful in summer. After making it to the top of Crater Mountain, where he was stationed, he chatted with the other lookouts by radio. He talked with Jack Joseph, his friend and mentor, every day; Jack was stationed at Desolation Peak, the same place where Ray will work this summer. Japhy spent his free time wandering semi-naked around the forest.
Ray’s upcoming gig as a fire lookout is another example of how he’s following in Japhy’s footsteps in order to pursue enlightenment. This is Japhy’s intention: when he enthusiastically preaches about Buddhism, this shows that he’s also dedicated to spreading wisdom and helping others follow in his footsteps. As Japhy explains it, the fire lookout job will enable Ray to spend a long period of time in solitary meditation in nature. After their hike up Mount Matterhorn and Ray’s winter in the North Carolina woods, it's clear that Ray and Japhy both think this is the best way to make progress towards enlightenment.
Themes
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Ray and Japhy read and meditate for awhile. But when Ray says he wants to share everything he learned during his season of meditation in North Carolina, Japhy rejects him, saying that he prefers actions to words. Ray notes that Japhy now seems harsh, disappointed, and tired of Buddhism. He even talks about marrying and getting rich after his trip to Japan. Really, he admits, he’s just depressed—in part because his sister Rhoda is marrying an insufferable rich guy, and his dad and aunt are fighting.
The apparent changes in Japhy’s personality show that even he’s not perfect—rather, he still struggles to choose the virtues of Buddhism over the material rewards of a conventional life. This reaffirms the realization that Ray had on Mount Matterhorn: “When you get to the top of a mountain, keep climbing.” In other words, a Buddhist’s work is never done. They can always do more to improve themselves, and they can always fall back into misery, vice, or confusion.
Themes
Ray and Japhy decide to sleep. Ray goes outside, meditates to the sounds of the animals, and says a prayer for Japhy. But in the morning, Japhy is his old self again: he bangs on a frying pan, yells a Buddhist chant, and serves Ray pancakes.
Ray expresses his love for Japhy through prayer, and it seems to work: Japhy quickly bounces back from his self-proclaimed depression. Their mutually supportive friendship allows them both to balance out their highs and lows over time.
Themes
