On the Road Spirituality Quotes

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

Quote #4

I wanted to go and get Rita again and tell her a lot more things, and really make love to her this time, and calm her fears about men. Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together; sophistication demands that they submit to sex immediately without proper preliminary talk. Not courting talk - real straight talk about souls, for life is holy and every moment is precious. (I.10.11)

While Dean sees sex as holy, Sal sees the interaction between men and women in conversation as the holy part. Sex, according to Sal, only obscures the issue.

Quote #5

Terry came out with tears of sorriness in her eyes. In her simple and funny little mind had been decided the fact that a pimp does not throw a woman’s shoes against the door and does not tell her to get out. In reverent and sweet little silence she took all her clothes off and slipped her tiny body into the sheets with me. It was brown as grapes. I saw her poor belly where there was a Caesarian scar; her hips were so narrow she couldn’t bear a child without getting gashed open. Her legs were like little sticks. She was only four foot ten. I made love to her in the sweetness of the weary morning. Then, two tired angels of some kind, hung-up forlornly in an LA shelf, having found the closest and most delicious thing in life together, we fell asleep and slept till late afternoon. (I.12.26)

It is not until after the act of sex that Sal uses religious terms to describe himself and Terry, suggesting that sex is not the important bit for Sal.

Quote #6

"How did you get from Tucson to New Orleans?" I asked. She said she wired home for money and took a bus. She was determined to catch up with Ed because she loved him. I went upstairs and told Big Ed. He sat in the chair with a worried look, an angel of a man, actually. (II.3.2)

Sal sees holiness in all of his friends, but never in himself.