Study Guide

Big Sur Chapter 12

By Jack Kerouac

Chapter 12

Both Dave and Jack are excited to see Cody – whom Jack cites as one of his reasons for traveling to the west coast in the first place.
Cody lives 50 miles away in Los Gatos; Jack calls him up and they make plans to meet that night.
So they bring alcohol and pile into Dave's Jeep.
There are no seats in the back so they've stuck a mattress there for everyone. As they drive, Jack compares the jeep to the font porch of a house – everyone rocking back and forth (because the seats are broken) and talking.
As they drive past housing tracts and factories Dave laments the population explosion in America, and the fact that "the world hasn't any chance to produce say a writer whose life could really actually touch all this life in every detail."
He and Jack talk about what Jack calls "the too-much-ness of the world" – they are both humbled by the sheer numbers of things and people and writers and books and ideas.
In the backseat of the Jeep are Ron Blake along with Stanley Popovich from New York and his girl Jamie. When the thought of the too-much-ness of the world gets overwhelming, Jack and the others "agree it's too big to keep up with" and simply buy another bottle of Scotch.

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