"husband". Kerouac always returned to his mother Gabrielle  (called "Memère") after his adventures, and wound up living with her  permanently after the success of "On The Road" gave him enough money  to buy a house. Kerouacs friends, such as  William S. Burroughs (qv) and Allen Ginsberg (qv) were aghast  that Jack was bound so tightly by his mothers apron strings,  thinking it kept him emotionally retarded. He failed to have a deep,  lasting relationship with any of his wives or any other woman (his  last wife, Stella, was described by most as being a kind of  household slave abused by both Jack and "Memère"). Kerouac defended  himself, saying he made a solemn oath to his father Leo on his  deathbed to take care of his mother, though it was unlikely he meant  that Jack should forgo having a stable marriage of his own and live  with "Memère" for the rest of his life. On her part, Memère kept  Kerouac infantalized, with his own blessing: She opened his mail and  forbade certain of his friends from visiting her home (and Jacks  home), such as Ginsburg, who had known him all their adult lives.  After reading Jacks mail, Memère would send poisonous letters to  Ginsburg and others, including Jacks girlfriends, which Jack  defended. Burroughs became so disgusted he terminated his friendship  with Kerouac. On his part, Miles points out that Kerouac was well  aware of his Oedipal problem. Kerouac named the character modeled  after himself in _Subterraneans, The (1960)_ (qv) "Leo Percepeid."  Leo is his fathers name, and Percepied translates literally to  wounded (or "pierced") foot. Oedipus, as a baby, was ritually  wounded on the foot and left to die before being saved, then growing  up and slaying his father and bedding his mother.