It is clear to me that Kerouac loved language from, well, the language he used. The novel revels in long descriptive passages about people and places along the road. When Sal and friends arrive in New Orleans, “The air was so sweet…it seemed to come in soft bandanas; and you could smell the river and really smell the people, and mud, and molasses, and every kind of tropical exhalation” (140). Indians they see in Mexico “…were the source of mankind and the fathers of it” (280). Kerouac’s love of language is also evident in the speech of his characters. Dialects and accents are always preserved, though not at the expense of clarity of text. Kerouac’s love of language makes what could be a monotonous road trip into a colorful adventure.