Resolution, "on The Road" In The Image Of Women

The Beat Generation is a literary movement that emerged in America in the middle of 20th century. It has a profound and far-reaching influence on the American society in the latter half of 20th century. Writer Jack Kerouac is acclaimed to be the king of"Beat Generation"and his masterpiece On the Road the bible of"Beat Generation". After sorting out the studies on Jack Kerouac and his On the Road in home and abroad, the author of this dissertation find that the female characters in this novel has scarcely been studied. Hence, this dissertation aims to study and criticize the female characters in On the Road.Through a series of analyses, the author comes to the conclusion that Kerouac is contradictory and bilateral about his attitude towards female. In other words, he is conservative as well as transcending on this issue.It is universally acknowledged that the"Beat generation"is considered as rebellion against the mainstream culture of the 1950s and 1960s. However, one cannot observe any subversiveness which is supposed to exist in his On the Road. To the contrary, Kerouac's attitude towards female is at least conservative because two of the three categories of female characters in this novel, namely domestic angel and siren, are the same dichotomy as the traditional male writers does. Meanwhile, in order to emphasize the dominance of male characters, Kerouac put the female in the position of the"otherness", and shapes the female characters according to males'imagination on the"otherness". These females are creative fiction Kerouac made to meet the requirement of shaping male characters. One can observe males'ideal, desire, and fear through these female characters. Moreover, Kerouac evaluates these female according to the traditional values, which indicates his conservative attitude. Even though, in this novel he represents the transcending side by expressing his pity, care, and love to nearly all females.This dissertation consists three parts. The first one is to summarize and sort out the female characters that show up in this novel according to their traits and Kerouac's revealed affection. There are more than fifty females in this novel, at least ten of whom are comparatively important and can be categorized into three: the siren, the domestic angel, and the new female.The second part indicates that in the novel the female characters are not described as maturely and profoundly as the male. Females as the"otherness"on the verge are designed to identify the dominance of male. Meanwhile, judging from the perspective of comparative literary image studies, the construction of female characters by Kerouac is not about the females themselves but the writer's creative fiction. So they bear lots of cultural mentality and are left with males'fancy, desire, and fear. Hence, Kerouac, the king of"Beat Generation"as he is, doesn't get released from the limit of Patriarchy, which leads to his conservative attitude.The third part tries to analyze Kerouac's views on female. His views are bilateral, on the one hand, he upholds the traditional view on housewife; one the other hand, he is endowed with the universal love to nearly all females. He evaluates female according to the traditional views, and represents shapely different affection towards the three categories of females, whereas, he reveals his sympathy and deep concern to females from time to time, which in general result in his contradictory attitude towards the female characters in the novel .