Desperate To Choose - Kerouac "on The Road"

Jack Kerouac, the author of On the Road, was a central figure of the Beat Generation, a generation which rebelled against middle-class conformity in post-Word War II America. The novel On the Road was regarded as the Testaments of the Beat Generation. The novel described several experiences of Sal and Dean who across the mainland of United States to delivered the theme rebellion and pursuit. The characters rebelled against the mainstream of American society and the traditional ethics, for the development of individual freedom and the realization of personal value. The core of the paper is analyzing the specific text of on the road, aspects from the characters, the title, the concept of writing and the existentialism which is important in novel, especially the theory of despair. There are three chapters besides introduction and conclusion in the paper.The first chapter of the paper outlined the main lines of the adventurous travels, the theme and the historical significance of the novel in the literary word, at the same time, combed the context of the writing which is in chaos and evaluated the status of On the Road selectively. The writer argued that the dissolute behavior of the characters such as sex, drugs, alcohol, was delivered by Jack Kerouac to the readers that he was looking for the meaning of life, the value of human being through the novel.Chapter II’Jack Kerouac is on the road’is the main part of the dissertation. There are two performances. On the one hand is the symbol of road life such as the network of American highways, the cars driving rapidly on the road, Jazz making people laughing on the road; on the other hand is the writing style of Jack Kerouac’s novel which expressed the mind of author naturally, originally and creatively. The reasons that Kerouac traveled and lingered on the road like a hobo are complicate, such as Sal’s detail reason that’I had just gotten over a serious illness that I won’t brother to talk about’, and’I’d often dream of going west to see the country’ Kerouac’s social reasons that the atmosphere of time is disorder and dim, the economy increase fast and the gap between the rich and the poor is wider and wider. The most important reason that people travel on the road is philosophical, the holly spirit make people despair. At last, Kerouac chose religious beliefs to resist to the despair, utilize practical action-touring to get rid of the despair.Jack Kerouac’s religious confuse between Catholic and Zen haunted the whole article. Kerouac abandoned Catholic and chose Zen which originated in East Japan early, in order to escape the darkness of time, it is effective. Life is unreal and we should cherish; social life is chaotic and we need back to nature to purify our mind. And it is the third chapter. The conclusion conveyed that Kerouac’s novel provide a mental model to the person who is despair. The theory of rebellion and pursuit’on the road’is educational. The process is more important than the result. It means travelling on the road is a brand new life. The essence of life will turn on if we are ’on the road’.