At the beginning of the novel, Sal Paradise admits to having ambivalent feelings about Dean, at first thinking him to be a little too tough, a real...

On one
hand, Dean represents the freedom of the Beat Generationunwilling to be tied down, always on the
move. However, Sal does find problems with the darker side of this trait: for instance, Dean's
inability to ever really love one woman (or man), his irresponsibility, his attraction to
teenage girls, and his drug addictions.

In the end, though, Sal always seems
to forgive his friend for his bad behavior. (Or perhaps a better word might be
"overlook.") Dean abandons Sal while traveling on more than one occasion, yet these
events are never enough to make Sal write Dean off completely, since Sal thinks Dean's
complicated family and love life have made him what he is and, therefore, he cannot shoulder all
the blame for what he does. Even at the end of the novel, when Sal muses about his unfaithful
friend, he thinks, "He'll be alright," with a sense of peaceful resignation.

However, after being abandoned by Dean in Mexico during his delirium and illness (right
after Dean's idea of the perfect night: partying with sex workers), Sal does not seem interested
in emulating Dean's lifestyle any longer. Though he admires Dean, he knows his way of fast
living with no attachments will never satisfy him. So while he still idolizes Dean as a holy
goof, he is done trying to be a holy goof himself. This is as close to resolution as his
feelings for Dean Moriarty ever come.