The Road To Nature In Jack Kerouac’s Novels

After examining five representative works by Jack Kerouac in his different life stages,I find in these novels existing an implicit road towards nature.In his early representative novels like The Sea is,My Brother and On the Road,the heroes all set off from their homes because of their dislike of city life and city spirit.Therefore,the impulsion to quest on the road arises in nature.On the road,the heroes gradually became familiar with nature as its broad and beautiful scenery that was promoted by their search and inspired by their spirit.In The Dharma Bums,the hero Ray Smith,inspired by Jaffe Ryder,through climbing mountains and living alone in mountains,entered nature and paid close attention to the details of nature.However,in Jack Kerouac’s later work Desolation Angels and Big Sur,the hero Jack finally escaped from nature.This article believes the reason is that Kerouac’s understanding of nature has never surpassed the anthropocentrism,which made his heroes never had the courage to face the death and terror in nature.Besides,owing to his guideless Buddhist search,he persisted in his wrong understanding of "emptiness."He cannot reconcile the vibrant phenomena in the natural world and the decomposition of all meanings brought about by "emptiness",so his heroes crashed and escaped from nature.This article believes that though Kerouac failed in his road to nature,but the beautiful descriptions about nature in his novels remains.He also left a profound lesson about the importance of correct natural concept.