On the Road: Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Sal, Dean, and Marylou drove out of New Orleans, along the Mississippi River. They stopped at a grocery store where Sal stole some food and Dean stole a carton of cigarettes from a gas station, so they were “stocked for the voyage.”

They drove through some swampy land. Dean hoped they’d find a “jazzjoint...with great big black fellas moanin guitar blues.” They soon found themselves surrounded by a dark forest and Sal says that the dark was “a manuscript of the night we couldn’t read.” As they went into Texas and approached Houston, Dean recalled some of his times there (complete with drugs, booze, poetry, and women).

Sal took over driving after Houston. It started to rain and Sal had to veer off the road into the mud to avoid a car coming at them on the wrong side of the road. Dean and Sal had to get the car unstuck out of the mud, and ended up covered in mud themselves. They encountered snow and were cold and miserable. They all missed New Orleans.

In Sonora, Sal stole more food. Dean kept talking nonsense, and drove them toward El Paso. At one point, he stopped and took off all his clothes to run around outside. He encouraged Sal and Marylou to “disemburden yourselves of all that clothes,” and the three of them drove for a while all naked in the front seat.

After a while, they parked the car and Marylou and Dean had sex while Sal slept. They drove onward to Clint, Texas, the home of a radio station Dean was familiar with. They finally arrived in El Paso, completely broke, needing money for gas. Dean ran off with “a crazy dumb young kid, fresh out of reform school.” Marylou told Sal that she knew Dean was going to leave her.

Dean came back and they sped out of El Paso, planning to pick up some hitchhikers who might help out with gas money. Sal says that Marylou watched Dean out of the corner of her eye with “an envious and rueful love.” He says that Dean had confessed to him that he thought Marylou was a whore and a pathological liar.

Dean picked up a young hitchhiker, but the hitchhiker had no money. Sal said he could borrow money from a friend in Tucson, so they headed that way. In New Mexico, Sal pawned a watch for a dollar, which was enough money to get them to Tucson. A policeman pulled them over, but after checking Dean’s license let them go on. Dean said that police are “always interfering.”

In Tucson, Sal found his friend Hal Hingham, a writer who had moved to Arizona to write in peace. Sal, Dean, and Marylou ate a meal at Hal’s place, and then Hal leant Sal five dollars. Hal was lonely and missed New York. With the five dollars, Sal took off with Dean and Marylou, leaving Hal behind like “the other figures in New York and New Orleans,” as their “foolish gang,” kept moving.