Question 4 Love or pathological lust? Part 1

Consider both novels. What do you notice about the treatment of women? The characterization of women? Or the omission of women? What might it suggest or signify in either novel?

In the novel "On The Road", women are treated as toys in some senses . Holistically, women are being "used" in the sense that most men only want them for physical purposes rather than for an actual relationship. Throughout the reading it is evident that the marriages usually have one person who is overcommitted to the relationship more than the other party. In this novel, women are more committed to the relationship then men; may i remind you that I said most. In some caes in the novel, the situation is flipped. The women are also very passive, usually the ones who have affairs with multiple men. Examples being Marylou, Lucille, Lee Ann and Camille. They do not realize they are being played by Dean, Sal, and Remi at the same time until the truth comes out later; but when it does they seem to be so open to the affairs as if they do not care that Dean or Sal have slept with other women.

Are the women in this novel, who are so passive, have a really deep or really shallow emotional connection to the men they have affairs with? This question has been lingering in my head and I can not seem to figure this out. The fact that the women will go through all this trouble to sleep with a person and then take physical and mental abuse shortly after; for me it is hard to determine where these women stand. The women in this novel signify a good time while traveling from city to city; but sometimes its more than that. More than the other party can handle. "Then I knew I loved her so much I wanted to kill her...I ran to Ed Dunkel; he's back in Frisco with Galatea; I asked him about a guy we know has a gun, I went to the guy, got the gun, I ran to Marylou...I barged in, she was alone-and I gave her the gun and told her to kill me...I asked her for a sweet dead pact. She didn't want. I said one of us has to die."(185).Now some people may be able to come up with a plausible reason as to why this is wrong, but I am standing on this. The fact that we already knew Dean had an obsession with women that was worse then most predicted, and he had multiple affairs at the same time only adds to the fact that he was a maniac who did not care. The fact that he "loves" someone so much that he is willing to kill them and or himself? Is this a reenactment of Romeo and Juliet in a sense? Is this even love or is this pathological lust? In this novel that seems to be the main issue with every relationship involved; being able to define it. And if they continue to go through these issues so passively, they will never change.


If people could please comment on this post and the questions I raised as I would like to get multiple opinions that would help me define the relationships involved in the novel, On The Road. Thank you