What is your impression of Sal as a narrator? Reliable? Unreliable? Explain and cite the text for support.
Sal is the prototypical innocent, the romantic naïf who learns about life through his associations with Dean Moriarty and other friends. Sal is searching for life, and he admires Dean Moriarty, the man who has found “it,” some special spiritual connection to life. My impression of Sal as a narrator, was reliable because he writes with honesty. Even as a young, aspiring writer, he doesn't try to impress the reader with his writing. He narrates the novel as if he were writing to a close friend, making the reader feel as such. His descriptions and characterization of other characters is also assumed as reliable. Sal draws the reader in by the careful descriptions made step by step. Doing this, describing such a confusing, mad-driven, lifestyle, wholly, is not an easy task, yet Sal does a pretty well job at it while keeping the reader on edge. I think that's the goal of every narrator. To be able to keep the audience interested. Sal Paradise accomplishes this, reliably.
2 comments:
I absolutely agree. Especailly when you said he writes like hes writing to a close friend, making the reader feel as such. WHich is true, as im reading i feel like i know him. it wasn't just a whole bunch of facts it was, real life stuff. More situations i can connect too. He really did keep his readers interested in the book, even when he dragged on and on.
I too mentioned in my response to this question that the book felt like a personal storytelling. I really liked that you said even as an aspiring writer, he isn't trying to impress anyone. Even though the novel possesses rich language at times, it isn't over the top which makes it feel so realistic and kept me guessing through out the whole book how fictitious it really was.
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