dbum 2

Kerouac p. 32

“I think he’ll end up like Han Shan living alone in the mountains and writing poems on the walls of cliffs, or chanting them to crowds outside his cave.”

Although Japhy is an amazing poet, and well respected among the poetic community, people still predict that he will be al alone. He chooses to live his life in solitude, instead of with others. He will be seen as a lunatic and maybe not a poetic genius until he long gone.


Kerouac p. 38

“’In the summers I was always a government fire lookout- that’s what you oughta do next summer, Smith-‘“

This quote seemed insignificant at first, but as I looked at it more, I really liked it. Spending the summer as a government fire lookout would give you lots of time by yourself to think. It is very much like Han Shan living in the mountains by himself. This may be one of the reasons that Japhy loves to be solitary.