Chapter 36 Summary

In the thirty-sixth chapter, Kerouac is more silently watching the goings on of the rest of the group, now approaching the climax of his madness. Dave is cooking the fish he caught. The otter, mouse, and snake Jack had seen and loved when they were living, stay in Jack's mind as Dave lovingly cooks the fish, even asking Kerouac to pray over it before they partake.

After dinner, Jack walks restlessly back and forth from the beach to the cabin, unable to be with the group, but feeling guilty about being away. He describes the misery of his insanity, and goes back to the theory that everyone is conspiring to make him so, or to poison him by some elaborate scheming until the whole world fills with hallucinations of antagonistic forces. Then, all at once, he hallucinates a cross, and so ends the...