Big Sur Chapter 25 Summary

  • The gang arrives at the play Cody was talking about – an outdoor affair done up Western style with wagons and tents. Jack tries to entertain a sheriff at the gate with a joke.
  • Jack is drunk and causes trouble by trying to play one of the pianos inside. They end up taking off early after arranging for the director to drive Evelyn and the kids home.
  • Jack and Cody, alone in the car, drive towards the glittering city.
  • They don't even talk, they just pass a joint back and forth between them. Jack concludes that their thoughts are so vast, they can no longer communicate them.
  • Cody, he thinks, is the greatest writer in the world – except he'll never get down to writing anything. "Becoming a writer holds no interest for him because life is so holy for him there's no need to do anything but live it, writing's just an afterthought or a scratch anyway at the surface."
  • Jack decides he's proud of himself for loving the world – "Hate's so easy compared."