Book I, Part I - Desolation in Solitude: Chapters 4 - 7 Summary

Kerouac describes sunsets and nightfall with eloquent language, wondering how it would be possible to induce speech from Mount Hozomeen before the night comes and the North Star begins to twinkle in its various colors. Everything is seen from the window above a desk where Kerouac spends days writing, smoking, and reading pitiful pulp magazines. The wait to return to civilization is too long.

The author retells a degrading and insulting dream that ruined the peaceful atmosphere of the previous night. Mrs. Kerouac entrusts the remaining household money to Deni Bleu to buy a steak while her husband is on his deathbed in the other room. Kerouac doesn't understand why Deni should get the money instead of him but the decision has been made. The...