Sal Paradise is the main character in the beatnik novel "On the Road" by famous American writer Jack Kerouac. Sal is a young man, who, being sort of a star-strucked by his new friend Dean Moriarty, decides to travel through America with him in search for, as said in the first chapter 'girls, visions, everything'. Wandering throught the streets of the USA and Mexico, Sal faces many different people, finds love, adventures, gets drunk on life, listens to jazz, hitchhikes, and, mostly admires everything. There is some kind of sadness to the character too, but it's more of a bitter-sweet type, as he's always searching for something more, because he is amazed by the crazy and excited people he meets, the new stars of America in the 50s, who for him are the only people that are worth going after. He's the narrator of the story, which is believed to be some sort of a biography of the writer. The same character, which is Kerouac himself, appears in others of his novels by different names- Ray, Jack, etc.
by Nathaniel Flint January 11, 2022