On the Road Sadness Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

The opera was Fidelio. "What gloom!" cried the baritone, rising out of the dungeon under a groaning stone. I cried for it. That’s how I see life too. I was so interested in the opera that for a while I forgot the circumstances of my crazy life and got lost in the great mournful sounds of Beethoven and the rich Rembrandt tones of his story.

[...]

"What gloom, what gloom," I said. "It’s absolutely great." (I.9.6, I.9.8)

Sal creates an interesting contrast between sadness and its seeming opposites. He finds the gloom in the opera to be "great" and becomes ecstatic at the thought of finding company for his misery.

Quote #5

The night was getting more and more frantic. I wished Dean and Carlo were there - then I realized they’d be out of place and unhappy. They were like the man with the dungeon stone and the gloom, rising from the underground, the sordid hipsters of America, a new beat generation that I was slowly joining. (I.9.15)

In contrasting the social elite of the Denver gang with Dean and Carlo, Sal characterizes the latter with a seriousness and sadness that the former lacks.

Quote #6

Everything seemed to be collapsing. As we were going out to the car Babe slipped and fell flat on her face. Poor girl was overwrought. Her brother and Tim and I helped her up. We got in the car; Major and Betty joined us. The sad ride back to Denver began. (I.9.21)

Sal finds a return journey to be sad. We see a pattern in his traveling: anticipation, arrival, disappointment, and finally a sad return.