Leo Franques
Dr. Bezusko
Intro to Fiction: Poverty and Gender/ENGL 10113
6 February 2019
The Careless Road
In Jack Kerouac’s novel, On the Road, Sal roams carelessly around America. For him,
stability is inconceivable and the journey to a new place is more enticing than the destination
itself. When Sal arrives in one town, his thoughts and speech always long for someplace else. He
continually travels to escape responsibility and avoid personal intimacy. Sal understands that his
negligent behavior destroys his relationships with women, but he lacks the empathy for the
feelings and needs of others, and therefore, refuses to change his nomadic lifestyle. Kerouac’s
