Monahan's economical shack is also the site of enormous parties, which Ray and Japhy participate in but soon tire of. Ultimately, Ray leaves his family to return to live with Japhy, who is living his admirably simple life in the shack of one of their friends, Sean Monahan. They do not understand his developing understanding of the world as neutrally meaningless, and thus wonderful. His relatives grow irritated with his idleness and refusal to work or participate in family affairs. As he travels, he experiences many enlightening meditation sessions and meets a variety of colorful characters.ĭespite Ray's compassion for humanity, he finds that he is often misunderstood.

This is one of the factors that contributes to his decision to leave his cottage and hike cross-country to his family in North Carolina, his possessions stowed securely in a rucksack on his back.

Upon descending to reality, however, Ray experiences the suicide of one of his friends. At times, he feels euphorically confident and alive. There Ray enjoys the simple pleasures of creating spontaneous haikus and hiking to bold new locations with good friends. Ray, Japhy, and chattering maniac Henry Morley soon set off to climb the daunting Matterhorn Peak in California's Sawtooth Ridge. He proves to be a serious and meditative Buddhist scholar as well as a party animal who shares alcohol and women with his friends. Ray and his friend Alvah Goldbook share a small cottage in Berkeley, and Japhy lives down the street in an even more humble dwelling. Ray attends a rowdy poetry jam at 'Gallery Six' in which a number of his friends perform, but he is more impressed by the forthright poetry of Japhy Ryder. Inspired, he calls the man a 'Dharma Bum' and then begins to recount a series of adventures that he has undergone with other such free-spirited people. The novel opens with Ray Smith meeting an old bum while traveling on a freight train in California. Between meditation and revelry, Ray, who is modeled off of Kerouac himself, finds steadfast friendship and meaning in the wide and crazy world. Written in Jack Kerouac's signature easy and free-flowing style, The Dharma Bums tells the story of Ray Smith and his adventures as a hitchhiker, mountaineer, and aspiring Buddha.

The dharma bums book