The Road Of Searching For Authentic Existence

On the Road by Jack Kerouac is a cross-country story of the narrator Sal Paradise (one of Kerouac's alter-egos) and his friends' several journeys across America and into Mexico. On the road full of fast-speed driving and dazzling merry-making, the heroes display their determination to rebel against the conventions, and aspiration to construct their own values. Expressing the spirit and attitudes of the Beat Generation, the novel has become the Beat classic and it has exerted a measureless impact on the values and life styles in America.Based on the Sartrean existentialist perspectives of "anguish," "freedom of choice," "responsibility," "authentic existence," etc., the present author reads On the Road as searching for authentic existence . Except Introduction and Conclusion, there are four chapters in the thesis, expounding the existential heroes' searching tetralogy - "Confronting Anguish of Existence," "Escaping from Inauthentic Existence," "Searching for Meaningful Existence," and "Finding Authentic Existence."The Introduction gives a brief, survey of BG, Kerouac and On the Road; reviews the critical responses to the book; presents the predominant aspects of Sartrean existentialism; argues that On the Road can be read from a Sartrean existentialist perspective; and shows the purpose as well as the significance of this research.Chapter One scrutinizes the anguish of existence in On the Road after explicating two basic Sartrean concepts of "existence precedes essence" and "absurd." In the absurd existence, the "existential heroes" meet anguish of meaninglessness, of alienation and of death. Confronting anguish is the starting point of searching for authentic existence. The existential heroes know the absurdity of existence, undergo anguish and then embark upon searching for authentic existence.Chapter Two discusses "freedom of choice" and examines the heroes' choice of escaping from inauthentic existence. "Freedom of choice" is the prerequisite for establishing one's authentic existence. Exercising "freedom of choice," the existential heroes in On the Road strive to escape from the grip of inauthentic existence. Conformity, industrialized civilization and bureaucratic manipulation characterize the world of inauthentic existence from which the existential heroes have moved away.Chapter Three expounds the heroes' choice to search for meaningful existence. The whole active group of Beats are concerned with re-recognizing life and creating meaning in their own ways. They are celebrating experience and adventure, and are searching for identity, for spiritual "IT," and for transcendence of holy progress.Chapter Four enunciates that by taking responsibility, the existential heroes ultimately obtain authentic existence. The existential heroes affirm their rebellious and active behaviors by the "Beat philosophy," and they attempt to help all humans lead autonomous and authentic lives. Choosing something and accepting the consequences concerning both the self and the whole humanity, the existential heroes complete the progress of searching for authentic existence.Based on the above analysis, the author of the thesis draws the conclusion that the existential heroes are thrown into the absurd existence and confront anguish, in which they can only employ freedom of choice to escape from inauthentic existence and search for meaningful existence, and therefore achieve authentic existence by shouldering the responsibility.