Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

The group is forced to travel through a more populous area in order to cross the Missouri River. As they reenter the prairie, the narrator thinks more about the difference between his approach to motorcycle maintenance and John’s. He recalls one instance where John refused the narrator’s easy fix for his shaky handlebars simply because it involved an improvised part, not a factory-issued one.

The narrator realizes that he and John regard motorcycles—and reality in general—in a completely different manner. John subscribes to a reality of “immediate artistic appearance,” while the narrator is more focused on scientific reasoning.

While setting up camp, Chris acts out and subtly disobeys his father. Chris complains excessively and unreasonably, rankling John and Sylvia as well as his father. The boy refuses his dinner and walks away from the camp complaining of a stomachache.

The narrator reveals to John and Sylvia that Chris suffers frequent stomachaches that rarely have any physiological basis. These pains were diagnosed as precursors of mental illness. When John and Sylvia hear this, their frustration with Chris turns to sympathy. The narrator goes on the explain to them that in spite of this diagnosis, he cannot stand to send Chris to a psychiatrist—the medical professionals lack the empathy and concern of family.

Chris returns to the tent and gets ready for bed with his father, whining interminably. He cries himself to sleep. Meanwhile, the narrator lies in his sleeping bag, exhausted but unable to sleep. He has a haunting vision of Phaedrus, whom he describes as an “Evil spirit. Insane. From a world without life or death.” The narrator fears that Phaedrus has come to claim Chris.