On the Road

In the discussion of On the Road, I liked how someone (maybe Dr. H) brought up the question of male friendships versus female friendships, and which ones last more. I think that it can be seen in this novel that while men may stay "friends," or as I like to think of it, acquaintances, for a long time, you lose that sense of closeness. The two lead characters considered themselves friends, but realized that the friendship really was not a mutually beneficial one where both parties gained positive feelings from the other party. I think that females have a tendency to have fewer long-lasting friends, but the one or two that they have will be deep in meaning and in value. I think it would have been interesting to have more female characters in this novel to see if those assumptions are correct.