On the Road: Theme

When I began the novel On the Road, glorifying the old American West seemed to be the most conspicuous theme. In the beginning, the East represents home, shelter, intelligence, routine and safety to Sal. Originally Sal has lost his interest and inspiration for his home in the East. He decides that the East no longer inspires him to create the type of writing worthy of him. He needs a change and the West seemed like the kind of change that could help him write his greatest work. The West represents mystery, intrigue, adventure, and inspiration. The novel, through the narration of Sal, celebrated the wilder side of America. The West has the underlying American motto of “the melting pot”. The author conveys this diversity through the different types of people that Sal is exposed to on his journey of self-exploration in the West. He spends a great majority of his time with people in the middle and lower working class. This shows off the working spirit of American. Sal takes on different odd jobs while on his trip around the country. He is a cop, cotton picker, wander (vagabond) and an author. The differences in these careers allow him to meet types of people who he had never been exposed to in the East. He goes to the Opera and dresses up nice, thus showing him that the West also has culture and an upper class as well. These two different classes of people are also represented in his two different groups of friends. He started to drift from the “snobbier” group, which I thought were the type of friends who belonged to the upper class. I guess this shows that an author’s normal position in society during Jack’s time was with the middle and working class. As Sal travels and becomes more familiar with the land and its people, the West begins to become tamer to him. He sees that it was not so different from the people and places that he left behind.  Sal begins to yearn for home and what it used to provide, like family and stability.  I think the theme has started to turn into - no matter how far you roam, home will always call you back.