"Was I talking to dumb after all? Are my ideas about what to do so silly and stupid and childlike? Isn't this the time now to start following what I know to be true?"

After Ray finally uses his thoughts to something that matters, the life of a girl. It fails miserably, and he begins to question the truth in his beliefs. He did not know enough to sway the girl. And in the end it is the ultimate consequence. He is questioning whether he is following what he truly believes and knows to be true.

"I am now on the road to Heaven. Suddenly it became clear to me that htere was a lot of teaching for me to do in my lifetime."

This is a revelation of Ray's. He learns the hard way that he must teach what he knows. He must teach not what he has heard and memorized byt what he himself has discovered. He is on the road now. He has discovered what he needs to do before he dies.

"He dos'nt need any money, all he needs is his rucksack with those little plastic bags of dried fruit and a good pair of shoes and off he goes abd enjoys the privilages of a milionaire in surroundings like this."

To everyone else being a millionaire would create the perfect life. In Ray's observation Japhy is living his life to the ultimate fullest. With the happiness that all millionaires are supposed to have. All he needs is a few belongings and himself to make his life enjoyable. It is Japhy's own view on the world that makes his life so enjoyable, an accepting blissful view that makes anything that goes wrong an obsticle, and anything right a blessing. Climbing the mountain is hard and dangerous, but ultimately more enjoyable than the luxeries of a millionaire.

"Oh what a life this is, why fo we habe to be born in the first place, and only so we can have our poor gentle flesh laid out to such horrors as huge mountains and rock and empty space,"

Here he is questioning life's obstacles. What is the point of being born at all to undergo trials like this? Why must we survive to suffer? At this moment everything is an obstacle, with no reward in end. While Japhy jogs up to the top to meet his goal, Ray questions the meaning. Why hurt himself further? Why must humans undure what they do?

Dharma Bums 49-72

"Japhy put things in my knapsack and told me I had to carry it or jump in the lake. He was being very serious and leaderly, and it pleased me more than anything else. Then with the same boyish gravity he went over to the dust of the road with the pickax and drew a big circle and began drawing things in the circle."

This quote shows two important things. The first of which is how much he looks up to Japhy. He is proud to be told what to do from Japhy. The second of which is the adventure they are finding in this. Japhy is pretending it is very serious in his boyish way, and Ray Smith is happy to play along. They are looking at this like it was so much more than just climbing a mountain they are creating the adventure before it has begun, making themselves excited. Japhy is anxious to see himself as an important leader, and Ray is happy to follow him.


"Comparisons are odious, Smith."

This is one of the lines of advise Japhy gave. I found it very interesting because I've never thought of a religion as Buddhism apparently does, as disregarding comparisons. Many other religions rely on comparisons, Hell to Heaven, Good to Bad, people live their lives with comparisons even when not religious. A large house versus a small house, a marriage or being single for life. It is hard to imagine living life without comparisons. Our lives would be far more enjoyable if we wer'nt always comparing, but he uses this word of wisdom for another reason. To him All of life is just a void, space, the prerequisite to something more. He is just filling in time, so comparisons are odious.

Dharma #2

"Colleges being nothing but grooming schoools for the middle-class non-identity which usually finds its perfect expression on the outskirts of the campus in rows of well-to-do houses with lawns and television sets in each livinv room with everybody looking at the same thing and thinking the same thing."

He is describing suburban life. For the first time we catch a glimpse of what most of the population is doing while these, "Dharma Bums" live life on their own accord. They lose touch with material longings as the rest of the population gains them. It is black and white between these free-living poets and the growing conformity of the suburbans all around them but worlds away.

"By the time I went to bed I wasn't taken in by no Princess or no desire for no Princess and nobody's dissaproval and I felt Glad and slept well."

He has returned to his normal state of aloofness towards lust. He finds that it disrupts his meditative constant happiness, and has broken his own rules, but is now settling down to forget. He was hesitant and nervous about the wild spontanaiety, but joined for his respect for Japhy, and curiousity for the Princess. He is now letting the thoughts of the night leave him.

Dharma #1

"'Fuck you! sang Coyote, and ran away!' Read JAphy to the dinstiguished audience, making them howl with joym it was so pure, fuck being a dirty word that comes out clean."

In the poetry reading they are all yearning for something completely free, the word fuck being something normally too harsh for people to hear in poetry, and that is exactly what they want. They want truth, and individuality. Fuck being incredebly truthful and clean of smoothed over pretty words.

"He wore mountain climbing boots, expensive ones, his pride and joy, Italian make."

He is describing Japhy, and ironically this amazing poet is the only one not dressing as a stereotypical poet. To Japhy Poetry and freedom are a way of life. He lives his poetry. He climbs the mountains he describes with his climbing boots. It is not a group of words he struggles on, and scribbles onto a page in order to be read at this reading. It is simply what he sees.

Extra Credit:

I find this quote exceptionally true. Something I often think about is how far some people are willing to step out of their lives to follow something they believe in. Many people care for the environment to an extent, some people have recycle bins, some vote for environmental representatives in congress, but few are willing to change their lives for what they believe in. In this situation we seem to be so caught up in our cookie cutter lives it is nearly impossible to dig ourselves out. All or nothing seems to be the way. The next part may seem completely hypocritical as I do not follow these values, but they are solutions I think we should follow. Donating money, and recycling will take away the guilt but to truly sweep off our footprints we must dramatically change the conception of success. But how can we sustain ourselves while not aiding this web we are caught in of conformity and jobs that is killing the environment and basic values. The best thought I could come up with is to create an environment as self-sustainable as possible. It is totally radical, but again, all or nothing. Some steps to creating a self-sustainable environment would be to have your own garden and farm, not all your food can be produced here but aiding the super markets is aiding, “The web.” In my experience many people have far too many clothes. This is completely hypocritical again, but we can happily enjoy our clothing and fashion without having thirty shirts. Drinking water from a water bottle may seem like a small thing, but the amount of plastic and aluminum sodas and drinks I see sold amaze me this would not only reduce your footprint, but would help your health. : ) In the world we live in it is far too tempting to live a self-sustainable life unless we were to pretend we lived three hundred years ago. But these steps are still dramatic for many, including myself. What marvels me is that these steps are so hard to perform. Once we live a certain way like most of us do, it seems that America in itself has become something of a conformed suburban land. We cannot dig ourselves out. But we show our environmental side through small tasks that don’t draw too much attention. He ends by saying we are not ready…yet. We will perhaps be forced to be ready in the future through depleting of our energy sources and dramatic environmental changes, we will be forced to change in the future, but hopefully future generation will see the obscurity in the situation and step out of the cookie cutter before we are forced. But for now, nothing is affecting us directing enough to make any changes in our comfort zone. The “sense of grounding.” We find in our jobs.

Are these Actual Miles? By Raymond Carver

Page 584.

“ ‘Kiss kiss. Here.’ She says and points to the corner of her mouth.”
Their marriage is very robotic, and suburban style. She cares more that her lipstick looks good for the sale, than that he can kiss her. She cares more for the money, and the sale than kissing her husband goodbye. The perfect lipstick seems stereotypical of the 1950’s woman. Their appearance being just as important as what they say. Their marriage seems empty.

Page 584.

“Fog lifted, Ernest Williams stared, then slapped the paper against his leg, hard. Leo recalls the slap hunches his shoulders…”

Ernest Williams is the neighbor who can see much from his window across the street., more even than the wife of Leo. Leo cheated on his wife, but has not told her. The guilt however is always there. There is always something in the room with them, a huge secret that he hunched his shoulders with the weight of. This is another example of the hidden secrets of suburban life. On the outside everything looks like a fine marriage, but on the inside is a man cheating on his wife.