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Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—Shepherds:
In Chapter 6 of Part 4, Sal drives through Mexico as his friends sleep. He sees shepherds and describes them with imagery and a biblical allusion:
The shepherds appeared, dressed as in first times, in long flowing robes, the women carrying golden bundles of flax, the men staves. Under great trees on the shimmering desert the shepherds sat and convened, and the sheep moiled in the sun and raised dust beyond. "Man, man," I yelled to Dean, "wake up and see the shepherds, wake up and see the golden world that Jesus came from, with your own eyes you can tell!"
Recall that On the Road is, according to Kerouac, about a spiritual quest for meaning as much as it is a series of physical journeys. Fittingly, in one of the final chapters of the novel Sal sees a biblical scene: shepherds. Shepherds have a crucial place in the Bible's New Testament, both as actual people (such as when shepherds visit the newborn Jesus) and as a symbol of Jesus's guidance of humankind. Accordingly, Sal sees these Mexican shepherds working in rustic, pre-industrial conditions, and he feels as if they are a part of the "golden world that Jesus came from," a world of poverty and labor.
Kerouac takes great care to describe this biblical scene with imagery. The shepherds are dressed in "long flowing robes" and carry crops and staves. Because of the heat, the desert is "shimmering," and the sheep kick up dust. The passage is full of light: twice Kerouac uses the word "golden," and both the sunshine and the heat are mentioned.
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