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.