Sal Paradise: narrator and one of the main characters of the novel; lives originally with his aunt in New York; leaves on four different trips across the country with Dean Moriarty; the fictional alter ego of Jack Kerouac.

Dean Moriarty: main character; lives in San Francisco, but travels constantly back and forth to New York; a wild, mad character whose energy and craziness affect others, especially Sal; with Sal, drinks large amounts of alcohol, does a lot of drugs, and sleeps with a lot of different women, fathering four children by two different women; the fictional alter ego of Kerouac's friend Neil Cassady.

Carlo Marx: eccentric poet in New York; becomes best friends with Dean and Sal; the fictional alter ego of the poet Allen Ginsburg.

Old Bull Lee: writer and drug addict in New Orleans; has traveled the world; mentor to Dean and Sal; the fictional alter ego of William Burroughs.

Marylou: Dean's first wife and brief love interest of Sal.

Ed Dunkel: close friend of Sal and Dean; lives mostly in Denver and San Francisco; marries Galatea so that she will pay for his cross-country trip with Dean, then leaves her in a Denver motel.

Galatea Dunkel: wife of Ed; often left by him in difficult situations, but stays with him through the novel; the only woman not afraid of Dean--she gives him a piece of her mind.

Remi Boncoeur: friend of Sal's from prep school; Frenchman who lives in a shack in San Francisco; helps Sal get a job as a security guard; gambler and thief, but also often kind-hearted and settled in his life.

Lee Ann: Remi Bondoeur's girlfriend in San Francisco.

Sal's aunt: maternal figure throughout the novel; always willing to give Sal and Dean shelter and food at the end of their journeys; protects them in one scene by paying for a traffic ticket and keeping them out of jail.

Chad Gray: Sal's friend in Denver; interested in Indian culture and anthropology.

Tim Gray: Dean's and Sal's friend in Denver.

Roland Major: writer and friend of Sal's in Denver; patterns himself after Hemingway and is more acquainted with life's delicacies.

Camille: Dean's second wife; lives in San Francisco and fathers two of Dean's children; the final woman Dean goes back to at the end of the novel.

Babe and Ray Rawlins: brother and sister who live in Denver.

Elmer Hassel: Elmer never actually appears in the novel; he got lost in Times Square and was never seen again, though Dean and Sal always look for him when they are there.

Lucille: a brief love interest of Sal's; Sal believes he will marry Lucille, but he gets called to go on the road with Dean instead.

Terry: Chicano migrant worker Sal meets in California; Sal falls in love with Terry and spends several months picking cotton in the fields with Terry, her child, her family, and other migrant farm workers; Terry first symbolizes the purity Kerouac sees in marginalized cultures in America.

Slim Gaillard: jazz musician.

Inez: a woman Dean finds and lives with in New York; Dean has a child with Inez and leaves her to follow Sal to Mexico; after divorcing Camille, his second wife, Dean marries Inez only to leave her the next day to go live with Camille in San Francisco.

Stan Shephard: friend of Dean's and Sal's who accompanies them to Mexico City.

Victor: Sal's and Dean's friend and guide in Gregoria, Mexico; provides Sal and Dean with drugs and whores during their stay.

Eddie: hitchhiker Sal meets on the road; reminds Sal of his family in New York.

Rita Bettencourt: a girl to whom Dean introduces Sal.

Rollo Greb: beatnik scholar whom Sal and Dean greatly admire.

Hingham: friend of Sal's in Arizona.

• Biography of Jack Kerouac
• About On the Road
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Glossary of Terms
• Short Summary
• Full Summary and Analysis
• Summary and Analysis of Part 1, Chapters 1-4
• Summary and Analysis of Part 1, Chapters 5-10
• Summary and Analysis of Part 1, Chapters 11-14
• Summary and Analysis of Part 2, Chapters 1-6
• Summary and Analysis of Part 2, Chapters 7-11
• Summary and Analysis of Part 3, Chapters 1-5
• Summary and Analysis of Part 3, Chapters 6-11
• Summary and Analysis of Part 4, Chapters 1-4
• Summary and Analysis of Part 4, Chapters 5-6, and Part 5
• Related Links on On the Road
• Suggested Essay Questions
• The Cultural and Social Influence of Kerouac
• Author of ClassicNote and Sources
• Purchase On the Road and Other Works
• Test Yourself! Quiz 1
• Test Yourself! Quiz 2
• Test Yourself! Quiz 3
• Test Yourself! Quiz 4
• Essays on On the Road
• Message Board on On the Road