The Dharma Bums

by

Jack Kerouac

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Sean is an alias for Locke McCorkle, a Buddhist carpenter who lives in rural Marin County. He lets Japhy and Ray live in a cabin behind his house for several months in the spring of 1956, and he pays them to chop firewood for him. Halfway between a Dharma Bum and an ordinary family man, Sean lives frugally and in harmony with nature, while also working to support his family. His wife, Christine, does all the housework and raises their children. Sean also frequently throws parties attended by Bay Area Buddhists, ranging from Ray’s friends Alvah Goldbrook and Warren Coughlin to more distant acquaintances like Bud Diefendorf. Ray constantly emphasizes Sean’s kindness and generosity, but he’s mostly significant in the novel because of the physical spaces he provides for Ray and his friends to get together.

Sean Monahan Quotes in The Dharma Bums

The The Dharma Bums quotes below are all either spoken by Sean Monahan or refer to Sean Monahan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Enlightenment and Nature Theme Icon
).
Chapter 25 Quotes

Japhy said “Why do you sit on your ass all day?”

“I practice do-nothing.”

“What's the difference? Burn it, my Buddhism is activity,” said Japhy rushing off down the hill again. Then I could hear him sawing wood and whistling in the distance. He couldn't stop jiggling for a minute. His meditations were regular things, by the clock, he'd meditated first thing waking in the morning then he had his mid-afternoon meditation, only about three minutes long, then before going to bed and that was that. But I just ambled and dreamed around. We were two strange dissimilar monks on the same path.

Related Characters: Ray Smith (speaker), Japhy Ryder (speaker), Sean Monahan
Page Number: 175-176
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 34 Quotes

And in keeping with Japhy's habit of always getting down on one knee and delivering a little prayer to the camp we left, to the one in the Sierra, and the others in Marin, and the little prayer of gratitude he had delivered to Sean's shack the day he sailed away, as I was hiking down the mountain with my pack I turned and knelt on the trail and said “Thank you, shack.” Then I added “Blah,” with a little grin, because I knew that shack and that mountain would understand what that meant, and turned and went on down the trail back to this world.

Related Characters: Ray Smith (speaker), Japhy Ryder, Sean Monahan
Related Symbols: Mountains
Page Number: 244
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sean Monahan Quotes in The Dharma Bums

The The Dharma Bums quotes below are all either spoken by Sean Monahan or refer to Sean Monahan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Enlightenment and Nature Theme Icon
).
Chapter 25 Quotes

Japhy said “Why do you sit on your ass all day?”

“I practice do-nothing.”

“What's the difference? Burn it, my Buddhism is activity,” said Japhy rushing off down the hill again. Then I could hear him sawing wood and whistling in the distance. He couldn't stop jiggling for a minute. His meditations were regular things, by the clock, he'd meditated first thing waking in the morning then he had his mid-afternoon meditation, only about three minutes long, then before going to bed and that was that. But I just ambled and dreamed around. We were two strange dissimilar monks on the same path.

Related Characters: Ray Smith (speaker), Japhy Ryder (speaker), Sean Monahan
Page Number: 175-176
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 34 Quotes

And in keeping with Japhy's habit of always getting down on one knee and delivering a little prayer to the camp we left, to the one in the Sierra, and the others in Marin, and the little prayer of gratitude he had delivered to Sean's shack the day he sailed away, as I was hiking down the mountain with my pack I turned and knelt on the trail and said “Thank you, shack.” Then I added “Blah,” with a little grin, because I knew that shack and that mountain would understand what that meant, and turned and went on down the trail back to this world.

Related Characters: Ray Smith (speaker), Japhy Ryder, Sean Monahan
Related Symbols: Mountains
Page Number: 244
Explanation and Analysis: