Comment for Mona

Mona I really like your third essay theme mainly because of its great importance towards the central point of the novel. The idea that society does not accept the Beat Generation represented in the story, gives reason as to why society tries so hard to keep people out of this new culture and stuck with the more conventional lifestyle.

I do not agree, however, with your first point that states that Dean can be successful because it is in fact the road that allows Dean to escape his problems and miss ever being actually successful.

Check out the picture

By the way guys, I just put up a picture in the banner of Jack Kerouac (right) and Neal Cassady (left). That's what Sal and Dean really looked like! What do you think?

Comment to Chow

Chow, i see the first topic as a rather interesting one because Kerouac does do a very good job transporting through time, I just think it will be difficult to go through the book and really understand this subject by analyzing his style of writing. 

On the other hand, I think the one about the third topic, I came up with something similar and so I agree that that is an interesting topic to discuss. I see many blatant scenarios in which we can see how Sal and Dean mistreat the women, and it would be interesting to know if, in the end, they felt any type of remorse for how bad they treat the opposite sex, who they can't seem to love without.

Comment on Chow

Chow, I think your first point is the strongest. It’s an interesting idea. The characters in On the Road often feel nostalgic; it is as if time passing is a loss of the present. They often describe that melancholy feeling waking up the next morning after a party. The excitement has died, the people have gone, and oftentimes, only a feeling of emptiness remains. Everything that seemed important no longer seems to matter. Perhaps the reason why On the Road is so repetitive is because the characters themselves are trying to relive their youth and regain a clarity they thought they had.
 
I like your third point but I disagree with some parts of it. I agree that the mistreatment of women was another aspect of rebelling against society, but I do not think women were completely objectified as part of society. Dean has a strong love for Marylou, and although he often treats her badly, she too partakes in their adventures and enjoys the spirit of ‘Beat’. Both Sal and Dean struggle with their need to rebel and their natural human desires. At the end, however, I did not get the vibe that both Dean and Sal recognized the importance of family. Sal makes the decision to conform, but Dean disappears as suddenly as he arrived. I do not think he had any intention of turning his life around, and this is exactly why Sal admires him. 

Comment to Anike

Anike, I really like your second theme and find it to be your strongest. Kerouac brought up the idea of the Beat Generation for a specific reason: to have the readers feel a certain relation to the unique lifestyle that was most popular during that time. Though I did not realize this at first, I do now and understand why Kerouac wrote the novel in the way he did: to show how one man switches from one conventional lifestyle to a more free bohemian one in order to escape boredom which originally ruled his life.

Now, though there isn't really a weak point in the point you make towards your first theme, I do not agree with some of what you wrote. I do not believe that Dean and his gang are all moving in order to find absolute freedom. I believe that most of the gang are moving around because Dean manipulated them into doing so. Kerouac leaves us clues in the novel which tells us that Dean can be considered a shepherd among his sheep (the gang). Also, I do not believe that Dean is searching for absolute freedom. He has already found that somewhat. What I believe he s doing is running away from his past and in doing so, continues to escape to the road and moves on with his life without facing any serious problems. 

On the Road Term Paper

1.  Discuss Kerouac's use of the passage of time in the novel.

Kerouac's notion of time seems to be that of an entity that is constantly moving and constantly taking other people with it. In the novel, Sal feels many different emotions concerning this idea. As he sees his friends growing smaller in the rear window of a car as he leaves them, he regrets not being able to be a part of their lives permanently. However, the life he seeks makes such ideas impossible to achieve. This is also the case in the memories that Sal and Dean continually share. They cannot conquer the past, so they continually try to relive it with new memories.


2. Discuss Kerouac's vision of individuality in On the Road. Is such a vision of individuality healthy or hurtful?

Kerouac's vision of individuality relies on a person's willingness to separate from the typical lifestyle of in present culture. For Kerouac, this was white American culture. In the novel, Sal often wishes he could become part of another culture or race, a separation, yet whether or not Sal would be able to remain an individual while becoming part of another group is not discussed in the book. One could also question whether Sal was truly being an individual through much of the book, since his goal, as he stated it, was to follow Dean and Carlo around to be a part of the fun they were having. So, one could argue that he was only doing as he was told, not as he wished. Towards the end of the novel, Kerouac seems to be suggesting that separating himself from Dean and the Beat lifestyle had become necessary in order to retain his own notions of individualism.


3. Discuss the relationship between men and women in the novel. Are Sal and Dean justified in the ways they treat women?

For those who see typical middle-class life as a burden to be challenged by a free spirit lifestyle, the way Dean and Sal treat the women in their lives might seem necessary. Family and wives were, and are, part of the foundation of society.
However, in the novel, Sal begins to see the pain such a lifestyle can cause to one's loved ones. During their last ride, both Dean and Sal had sentimental moments when relating to children, and they began to see that ideas of family might be more important than they realized. The novel suggests that family ties are a natural part of human life, beyond mere convention. They are essential to survival. Sal and Dean are constantly torn between the love they feel for women and family and the freedom they desire.
Nevertheless, treating women who are not going to become family seems to be a different matter, and here the conflict is about basic respect and equality versus individual glorification. In that sense, the "superior male" treatment towards women is part of the larger beatnik lifestyle of disrespect for the lives and property of others.


4. Compare the "old" Sal of New York with the "new" Sal after his journeys.

The "old" Sal of New York was primarily interested in following around characters such as Dean and Carlo Marx in order to "burn" with them in their madness and to catch some of that himself. Yet, by the time that Sal crosses the Mississippi River on his first journey, and continuing through his second and third journeys, Sal ceases to simply follow people around and becomes one of the madmen himself. While Dean remains the catalyst for these bouts of madness, Sal finds that he too possesses the power to experience life for himself in such a way. His first journey takes him everywhere from drinking on the back of a truck to picking cotton in California. The "new" Sal is a person who experiences life firsthand, not only through others. He also gains in wisdom about some of the effects of libertinism on oneself and others.
 

Comment to Louis

Louis, you're first thesis I found to be the strongest because it was a view point that I never noticed and found to be interesting. I thought I always saw Jack attracted to Neal because he was so mad, but your way of thinking about it makes perfect sense as well. Misery likes company, or in this case, confusion likes company. It would be interesting to see you show how Jack reaches out to Neal because he can relate to them due to their inability to find their place. It honestly I something in their relationship which I never thought about before.

Your last point however, I find to be rather weak. The reason for this is that I see Neal as more of an inspiration or best friend to Jack. I would assume it to be hard for you to prove that Neal is a "cancer" to Jack considering how much admiration Jack has for Neal.

Comment on Mona's post

Mona, I think your strongest point was the third, where you wrote that the book is an example of what society doesn’t want man to do. I discuss a similar point in my post. Dean and Sal challenge almost everything that society has brainwashed us to accept; Dean drinks, experiments with drugs, and does not commit to any single relationship. He also refuses to hold down a job and breaks the law to make his way around. I agree that this is a main theme.

The only point I do not agree with is the first, where you write that Dean can be successful without responsibility. I agree that he seems to be happy behaving as he does, but I also believe that he often feels empty and sad underneath. Dean is looking for clarity and meaning, and at the end of the book he still has not found it.

Themes

1. Those who attempt to live apart from the constructs of society must continually fight for their freedoms.
Dean Moriarty and his gang are always moving because they seek to attain what society will never allow them: absolute freedom. Life on the road gives the crew an escape from responsibilities, chores, and monotonous work. They attempt to live their lives to the fullest by doing whatever they want, whenever they want. However, the the book also reveals that ultimately, the machine that is society is stronger than man. Dean Moriarty is regarded as a loser and a coward; he has made a mess of his own life and no longer has any sense of direction. The adventures and parties that worked out when Dean was young are no longer within reach. Although it is against Dean's nature, he must find a way to play by the rules to be able to support himself and the women he has brought into his life. At the end he is forced to take mediocre jobs and a dull life over a life of excitement on the road. His free spirit, however, still stays alive. Sal admires Dean for his quest for freedom, but he also recognizes the power of society itself.

2. The Beat Generation was built on the idea of defying societal constructs.
The reason why this book is such a classic is because its characters epitomize what it means to be a member of the Beat Generation. Jack Kerouac (Sal Paradise), Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx), and Neal Cassidy (Dean) were all influential Beat writers in the fifties. Their adventures are chronicled in On the Road, and therefore readers can experience their points of view first hand. All three characters fight against society and partake in wild, irrational activities that push society's boundaries. They break laws, have unconventional sex, and shirk their responsibilities. I believe Kerouac wrote the book to explain his point of view, and to allow readers to partake in the unique lives of members of the Beat Generation.

3. Our biggest fear is that we will be invisible.
Throughout On the Road, Kerouac hints at the idea of disappearance. Much like we have seen in Notes from the Underground, the characters in On the Road suffer from a great deal of depression when they feel alone. Ed Dunkel tells Sal that he once felt like a ghost wandering Times Square. As human beings, I think we all try to grasp our significance in some way. Wandering Times Square, where one is often flooded by a sea of people, it's not difficult to feel like a ghost wandering through the crowds. Ed is afraid to live in obscurity; later on, Sal expresses a similar point of view after having a falling out with Dean. The characters seek each other's company, perhaps, to feel less alone. They strive to be different, unique, and break boundaries precisely because they cannot stand the idea of fading away quietly.

4. We struggle to find meaning and clarity in a world of chaos.
Dean and his gang create their own adventures and paths. They shun the ready-made package of life choices provided to all of us by the machine that is society. Sal and Dean both try to make sense of a world that is chaos. After a night of heavy drinking, Sal writes, "What difference does it make after all?- anonymity in the world of men is better than fame in heaven, for what is heaven? what's earth? All in the mind" (p. 233). Nights of partying, women, and law-breaking are all attempts to reach what Dean calls "It": perfect clarity, understanding, and meaning. He fears that there is no true understanding to be reached; perhaps the world itself, just like heaven, is only in the mind. However, when Sal does not find "It" across America, he finds it in Dean. The novel ends with Sal recognizing that Dean is who he is, and that the idea he represents is beautiful and clear: the search for clarity and freedom.

Comment on Emily's Themes

I think your third theme has a lot of potential because there is evidence of Dean's bad influence and peer pressure on Sal on almost every other page in the book.

To say one of your thesis's is the worst is very hard because they are honestly all very good and have good supporting details. The one I think may be the hardest one to write about though is probably the fourth one because Sal is always going in and out of the Dean life, and when he's not in it, he becomes the old Sal again, with a steady life and maybe love life. So since this topic fluctuates so much, it may be complicated to generalize it.

Themes

a.    1.   People who are lost want to find someone else who is more lost to find themselves.

-Sal is lost in life and can’t find enjoyment in the things he used to love. He feels trapped by his routine and wants to get away from it. By finding Dean, Sal realizes how ignorant he was being about his life and that he was actually doing okay with his steady, maybe not as fun, but manageable life.

b.   2.    Men spend their time chasing women and then dumping them only to miss them and realize that they miss the emotional connection they had with them and that a physical relation only goes so far.

-The mistreatment of women was an ongoing theme in this book, and they say you can’t live with women, and you can’t live without them. Women play a huge rule in the development of a man’s life. They are men’s soul mates and once men find the right one, they are their best friends and life companions. So maybe Sal’s journey was also a lot about finding a woman to fill his void left by his ex-wife and therefore complete himself in a way and finally become complacent with his life. Terry was probably his best option, but he let her go, and in the end, regretted it.

c.    3.    You only know how good it really is to have a stable life until you live a life full of chaos, incommodity and confusion.

-To this situation, I feel like the phrase “you don’t really know what you’ve got till it’s gone” applied decently. Sal saw his life as boring and repetitive, saw no more meaning to his writing if his life was so dull. He ventured on a journey with a lunatic and pretty much became a nomad for a while. In this time as a nomad, he had very little money, uncomfortable places to sleep, little food, good parties, bad everyday life. It wasn’t until he realized how much of a jackass Dean was that he retired from that kind of life and went back to his old life that actually had some sense of direction.

d.     4.  When one tries to see the good and find answers in someone else that only provides more questions, one befriends everyone’s enemy and can only go forward with their life until they are able to let go of that cancerous person.

- Dean is a cancer to Sal, which is not hard to see. People get tired of Dean and his reckless acts and Sal would have a lot more friends and good company if he let go of Dean. Dean is that little devil people see on their left shoulder, and the problem with Sal is that he hasn’t found anyone to be the angel on the right side. 

Thesis

1.     Jack Kerouac emphasis the unstable and abusive relationships between Sal’s and Dean and their respective female partners to glorify the irresponsible lifestyle of the “road”.

- The first example I would use to support my thesis is Dean and Marylou. Dean and Marylou are emotionally and physically abusive towards each other. Dean hit Marylou so hard in the head that he had to get the top part of his finger amputated from the swelling. Dean cheated on Marylou several times, the argued everyday, and yet she continued to say in the relationship because she felt that Dean and her were in love. The second example is Sal and Terry. Sal lived with Terry for a long time trying to live a responsible lifestyle. He supported both Terry and her child picking cotton on a farm, but as soon as he felt that the stable family lifestyle was becoming boring he abandoned both Terry and her child, making her believe that they would be together soon.  A third example I would use is Dean and Camille. Camille was married to Dean and carried Dean’s first two children, and yet he abandoned her every time he got the chance. He cheated on her with Marylou and with Inez and made her believe that he was there for her hundred percent. I would mention how Dean said the perfect woman was someone who did not care that her husband came home at 4 in the mourning and brought his friends. He likes a woman who never argues.

2.     Dean Moriarty exemplifies the anti-hero through his failed parenting, friendships, and sexual relationships in the novel “On the Road”.

- The first example that I would use to support my thesis is Dean Moriarty’s failed attempt at being a father. He abandoned his newborn daughter and to run off with his first wife life. He does not have a stable job, so he has no money to support his child. He makes little to no effort to see or talk about the baby. He also makes little to no effort to keep a stable job to support the baby. In most cases he spends his money on woman and alcohol.  For the example with friendship, I would first site his relationship with Sal.  Sal is Dean’s most dedicated and loyal friend, but Dean is so self-absorbed that does not see how much Sal cares about him. Dean abandons Sal in Mexico, when Sal needed him most. Sal contracted Dysentery and Dean left him sick and helpless in Mexico because he had his owe problems to worry about. Even Sal called dean a “rat”. For Relationship I would again site Camille and Marylou and dean’s twisted perceptive on love and commitment.      

3.     Dean Moriarty’s influence on Sal Paradises affects Sal’s behavior on his trip to the American West through his fiscal irresponsibility, attitude towards drugs and alcohol, and his disrespect for women. 

- The first example would be was unable to keep a stable job through his time on the “road”. He often times did not show up for the first day or he drank on the job. He was always burrowing money from his aunt to pay for his trip, and he wasted his money on woman and alcohol. The second example I would use was Sal not caring that his friend Bull Lee was a heroin addict. He knew that his friend was shooting up at least three times a day, and the narration seemed to make it out as perfectly okay, even though Bull lee had a wife and a family. Sal also spent a great amount of money on marijuana and alcohol. In certain passaged in the novel Sal says that hadn’t eaten in days but had six beer bottles of beer. The Third example I would use is Sal relationship with Terry and Maria. How he left them as easily as he met them and he constantly labeling him by their race and status in life.   

4.     Sal journey to the American West change his perceptive on his own life and his attitude towards his friends and family.

- In the beginning of the novel Sal was unable to keep a job or a relationship very long. As the book progressed, Sal was able to see through Dean and understand that he was not the angel or hero that he had always made Dean out to be. He even refers to Dean as a rat, and he loses faith in Dean for a while. Sal is able to write a novel and make good money from it. I think this helps him again a new kind of respect for himself. He realizes how much he has used his aunt for money and he is able to pay her back for a while. I think he also learns that the West is not as mysterious and strange as he thought, and perhaps the East is his prefect home after all.  He also talks about marriage and commitment in the end which is a step up from him in relationship department. I think he started to see that he likes settled life in the East better then his days on the road in the West.