Does anyone else think that this book is getting much more depressing? It seems like all of the characters are slowly deteriorating: Dean is going crazy, Carlo is going crazy, and Sal seems to be getting more depressed every minute. This time when he travels to California, he barely even enjoys it, and comes rushing home pretty soon. The old "gang" also breaks up in a saddening end to part two, where they "were all thinking [they'd] never see one another again and [they] didn't care." Also, we meet some new depressing characters, like Old Bull Lee, who lives in a sad, decrepit old house somewhwere in Louisiana and shoots up heroine every couple of hours. It seems that the whole optimistic, adventurous spirit of the beginning of the book is deteriorating. My guess is that pretty soon, something actually important might happen and Sal might actually decide what to do with his life.