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Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Part 3, Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Angel of Terror:
Sal describes yet more of Dean's skilled but irresponsibly fast driving in Chapter 9 of Part 3. His description involves a simile, a metaphor, and precise verbs that allow the reader to imagine Dean's eager yet deliberate maneuvers.
Dean came up on lines of cars like the Angel of Terror. He almost rammed them along as he looked for an opening. He teased their bumpers, he eased and pushed and craned around to see the curve, then the huge car leaped to his touch and passed, and always by a hair we made it back to our side as other lines filed by in the opposite direction and I shuddered. I couldn't take it any more.
The Angel of Terror is the title of a 1922 mystery novel by Edgar Wallace, a prolific British writer whom Kerouac may well have read. Sal might be alluding to that book here, or possibly he's just using the phrase to suggest that the drivers whom Dean tailgates are terrified. After the "Angel of Terror" simile, Sal personifies the car as if it is a responsive horse or even an extension of Dean's body. The car "leaped to [Dean's] touch" in order to pass on the single-lane highway, a dangerous maneuver. Sal idiomatically says their car passed without getting into a wreck "by a hair," by which he means they barely made it.
Related Themes:
