On the Road

Sal rides the bus through the Midwest. On his journey, he meets a 20-year-old man named Henry Glass who was recently released from prison. Henry reminds Sal of Dean but lacks Dean’s unbridled exuberance. Sal keeps a close eye on Henry and feels protective toward him. When he arrives in Denver, Sal reunites with many of his friends. He has fun meeting up with the Rawlinses, Tim Gray, and Stan Shepherd. Stan has heard about Sal’s plans to go to Mexico and wants to join him. As they’re about to leave, Sal receives a telephone call from Dean, who has bought a car and is on his way to Denver. Sal knows that Dean has abandoned his calm, sensible life. 

Dean swoops into Denver with revitalized chaotic energy. He claims that he needs to go with Sal to Mexico to finalize his divorce from Camille because doing so is faster in Mexico. Their friends welcome Dean back, and they spend an evening partying together. The next day, Sal meets Stan’s grandfather. The old man tries to convince Sal not to take Stan, and he begs Stan not to go. However, Stan insists on going. Sal, Dean, and Stan say goodbye to their friends and begin their journey. Sal looks back to see Tim standing in the distance as they disappear over the horizon. 

A short distance out of Denver, a bug bites Stan’s arm. He reacts badly, and his arm swells up. Sal considers this to be a bad sign of things to come. They travel further south, eventually passing through Texas. They stop in San Antonio to find a doctor for Stan, and he receives a dose of penicillin. The local Mexican girls make Sal think of Terry. He wonders where she is and how her life has turned out. The men visit a local pool hall and take in the culture. Eventually, they cross into Mexico. Though they all feel exhausted and tired of driving, they pass the border through a small, seedy town named Laredo and cross a bridge over the Rio Grande. As soon as they’re in Mexico, they feel better. Dean loves the smiling, carefree Mexican border guards who seem so much more relaxed than their US counterparts. The men swap their dollars for pesos. 

The men travel south through the Monterrey Mountains, passing through hot and swampy regions. They watch the locals as they pass. Dean feels an affinity toward them and Sal wonders whether Dean sees himself in them, thinking that their simpler, more instinctive lifestyle attracts Dean. As Sal drives through Gregoria, he stops to talk to a man named Victor who sells products by the roadside. Sal jokes instead that they would rather buy women. He’s shocked when Victor offers to find him some women and Dean leaps up excitedly to ask whether Victor can also source drugs for them. On the promise of providing women and marijuana, Victor leads the men to the shack where he lives with his family. Victor’s mother takes marijuana from her garden and the men smoke it with Victor and his brothers. Feeling very stoned, they launch into a long, introspective discussion that doesn’t translate well between English and Spanish. Both groups seem to be in a good mood, however. The men return to the car. Sal watches Dean, wondering whether he looks more like Franklin Roosevelt or God. Victor rides with them and takes them to visit his wife and child. The men are so stoned that they insist that Victor’s baby is the most beautiful baby they’ve ever seen. Afterward, they visit a brothel where a jukebox plays loud mambo music. They drink, dance, and then hire prostitutes. The girls are mostly teenagers. Though Sal finds them attractive, he sees one girl talking to her mother, and shame overcomes him. Instead, Sal hires an older prostitute. After they have sex, he drinks and dances some more. Dean is so inebriated that he barely recognizes Sal, who still fixates on the 16-year-old prostitute he saw earlier. He’s convinced that she has a unique dignity. Eventually, the men wave goodbye to the women. Victor next takes them to a bathhouse, where they refresh themselves. Dean likes Victor so much that he tries to convince the Mexican to return with them to the US. Victor politely declines the offer, though he’s sad to see the men leave. He wants to stay with his family. The men leave Victor and travel on. 

The men drive through a jungle region. The headlights on their car no longer work, so they must drive carefully in the dark. They realize that Stan is still stoned, which makes the other two men laugh. Feeling exhausted, they pull into the small town of Limon and sleep. Dean sleeps on the road, while Sal sleeps on the car and Stan sleeps inside. The weather is very warm, and mosquitos fill the humid air. A Mexican sheriff passes by on horseback. Rather than arrest them, he just makes sure that they are well. Sal views the man as a gentle guardian. As a wild white horse trots by, Sal watches as it passes near Stan. He’s convinced that it won’t harm Stan and, when it doesn’t, he views the scene as an auspicious dream.

The men wake up the next day covered in dead insects and begin to drive again. The terrain changes, and the local people seem darker, shorter, and stranger than before. When they stop in the Sierra Madre Mountains, they spot a toddler of indigenous ancestry. Dean wonders whether she knows anything other than the spot where they see her. The men feel alienated from the local people, recognizing the differences in their lives. They drive on and pass by a group of girls selling crystals by the road. When the car stops, the girls surround the car. Though they’re still young, they seem much older. Dean swaps his watch for a crystal. As the men drive away, the girls try to follow but can’t keep up. The car passes through mountains until they arrive on a pass above Mexico City.

The men arrive in Mexico City. The city is busy, wild, and densely populated. Everything is constantly moving around them. Mexico City feels like the logical end point of the journey. The men walk through the city streets as though they’re still in a dream. Sal contracts dysentery and develops a terrible fever, which makes him delirious. He blacks out. When he wakes up a few days later, Dean reveals that he has finalized his divorce and now plans to drive back to New York. He says that Stan has offered to stay behind with Sal. As his health improves, Sal realizes that Dean is a bad person. However, he forgives his friend because Dean doesn’t know any other way to live.