Big Sur
(Jack Kerouac)

Jack Duluoz is a middle-aged writer who is faced with the realization that he is no longer the young beatnik who penned On the Road (in which he was a character called Sal Paradise). He lives at home with his mother, he is an alcoholic, and he feels that the young beatniks who look up to him do not know anything about who he actually is. Jack wants to get away from the constant attention he receives living on the east coast so he takes refuge at the cabin of his friend Lorenzo Monsanto in Big Sur, California. The first three weeks that Jack spends at the cabin he feels as though he is truly happy for the first time in a long time. He becomes a man who appreciates nature and finds the beauty in simplicity. After three weeks in the cabin Jack starts to see ominous signs that madness is impending.

Jack retreats from the cabin to visit with some old friends including his closest friend Cody Pomeray (Dean Moriarty in On the Road). Over the next couple of weeks, Jack continues to drink himself into oblivion, and to drink just to keep himself sane; he also retreats back to Big Sur twice more. He spends a lot of time philosophizing about life and slowly slips into a delirious state that he cannot find his way out of. Jack takes up with Cody’s mistress Billie and finds that she seems to be just as crazy as he is. At Jack’s final trip to Big Sur, he experiences a mental breakdown and paranoia like he has never experienced before. Jack’s friends try to help him, but he feels they only make him crazier. On the worst day of Jack’s delirium, he falls asleep and when he wakes he finds that life is perfect once again.