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So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty, I think of Dean Moriarty.

Jack Kerouac#29

MemoryTravelExistentialismNostalgiaAmericaNight

About this quote

What does it mean?
A sprawling reflection on America's vastness, human dreams, suffering, and the approach of night, mixing nostalgia with existential uncertainty.
In plain terms
Watching the American landscape at night makes me think of people's dreams and our uncertain future.
What can you take from it?
Vast landscapes highlight human dreams and the inevitability of aging.

Where it applies

  • travel reflection
  • evening contemplation
  • memoir writing

Putting it to work

  • reflect on landscapes
  • journal personal memories
  • observe daily life

Questions to consider

  • What does the landscape say about your journey?
  • Who do you think of when night falls?

Another view

The romanticization of the road ignores the harsh realities many face.

More from Jack Kerouac

  1. What difference does it make after all? - anonymity in the world of men is better than fame in heaven, for what's heaven? what's earth? All in the mind.

    Permalink to quote #28
  2. 'Now you understand the Oriental passion for tea,' said Japhy. 'Remember that book I told you about; the first sip is joy, the second is gladness, the third is…

    Permalink to quote #30
  3. The car was swaying as Dean and I both swayed to the rhythm and the IT of our final excited joy in talking and living to the blank tranced end of all innumerab…

    Permalink to quote #27

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