Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 11 in one sentence



We're back at it after a brief respite yesterday to recover from New Year's Eve festivities. Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 11 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.

The Dharma Bums Chapter 11 in one sentence:
Starting out at noon and leaving their packs at camp, Japhy -- dressed only in a jockstrap -- leads Ray and Henry toward the summit, they marvel at the beautiful mountain lake at the foot of the Matterhorn (unseen by most men) at 11,000 feet, and with only a 1,000 feet to go Morley decides not to try it and wait at the lake, so Japhy and Ray start up the scree slope, but after some difficult climbing Ray gets scared by the height and wedges himself inside a ledge and yells to Japhy -- "I'm staying right here!" -- then Ray ponders a Zen saying ("When you get to the top of a mountain, keep climbing"), and when Japhy reaches the top Ray hears him yodel, but Ray considers Morely the smartest of them all and vows that they'll never get him up there again.

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 12 and post a one-sentence summary.

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