Brianna Harden
AP English
Period 3
October 8, 2010
On The Road
Jack Kerouac’s exhilarating novel, On The Road, documents a group of young friends crisscrossing America while finding their ‘kicks’ in jazz, sex, drugs, and deep conversations on love, poetry, and passion. Exposing the underground “Beat” lifestyle of the 1950s, Kerouac highlights the defiance of a generation seeking the freedom promised by the American Dream while totally devoting themselves to instinct and emotion.
Sal Paradise is a unique writer living off veteran benefits and his amiable aunt. He also narrates the novel with a curious wonder at his experiences of traveling the road. Sal seems to be bored and angry at his life and friends around him, that it’s so obvious he wants more. He yearns for more enjoyable experiences, and the opportunity to let his soul loose. On the other hand, the crazy energy given off by Dean Moriarty embodies Sal’s attitude; meaning that Sal knows he has that potential to resemble Dean. Dean was born in Denver, his mother died young and his dad became a drunk. Sal explains that Deans criminality “was not something that frowned and sneered; it was a wild yea-saying over burst of American joy; it was Western, the west wind, an ode from the plains…” Deans passionate disregard for his own responsibility and the trouble he invites into his life, such as juggling women and stealing cars, results in a mad dash for the opposite side of the country. It is as if, the road turns his passion into fulfillment and the road is his souls journey to accomplishment. In Dean’s perspective, the only way to explore the world is through journey because “the road must eventually lead to the whole world.”
