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.