On the Road Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary

  • Sal treks to the Rockies in a car with a few of the guys, but Dean and Carlo don’t join the party.
  • Sal is living the high life: wearing someone else’s suit on his back and someone else’s girl on his arm, staying in a nice house, mingling with The Right People, and seeing opera.
  • Sal agrees with a man in the opera who sees gloom and sadness in the world.
  • They throw a party at this big house in Central City. Girls and booze quickly follow.
  • Sal realizes that, while he wants Dean and Carlo to be there, they wouldn’t fit in with the gaiety and good times.
  • Sal almost gets laid until a bunch of young kids try to hit on the girls without the requisite prep work.
  • Sal gets strangely introspective here. He’s on the roof of the world and yelling, thinking that there’s some pearl of wisdom coming his way via an old man with white hair. And that the world is sad.
  • Sal decides that everything will be OK once he makes it to San Francisco.