Failed Pursuit Of New Identity In On The Road

On the Road was Jack Kerouac’s second novel. Along with Ginsberg’s Howl and Burroughs’Naked Lunch, it would serve as the foundation for a movement that became known as the Beat Generation in the United States. The history of its publication was legendary and it was translated into 25 languages; now it is on The New York Times list of 100 Notable Books, which indicates its strong impact in the world.In China, lots of studies have been conducted on the novel’s themes, historical context, or the religious significance and so on. However, few studies are concerned with the identity issue in the novel. In view of this, the present thesis attempts to make a study of the protagonists’pursuit of a new identity by going to marginal places (the American west or Mexico) and integrating themselves with the marginal beings (the Negroes or the Mexicans) in the oppressive white-dominated society, and further explore the factors that contribute to their failed pursuit.This thesis is divided into five chapters.Chapter One offers an overview of Kerouac’s life and the novel’s outline. Studies about Kerouac at home and abroad as well as the structure of the thesis are also introduced.Chapter Two is devoted to the study of the whites’ revolt against their white identity. Because of the strong tension procured by mechanized industrialization and political atmosphere, the whites are desirous of living a counter-cultural life through drug-taking and sex promiscuity to get away from the spiritual pressure.Chapter Three focuses on the protagonists’pursuit of a new identity. By going to marginal places and becoming marginal beings, the whites endeavor to throw away their original identity and obtain a new one.Chapter Four is an analysis of the whites’failed pursuit of a new identity. It reveals that the whites’illusion to attain the new identity from the marginal because of their false cognition towards the west, the colored culture and their dependence on the white society have contributed to the whites’failure in their pursuit of a new identity. So all the characters involved in the frenetic trips return to the white society at last.Chapter Five, the last chapter, brings the thesis to an end with a conclusion. The protagonists’ feeling lost in the white society mirrors their doubt and criticism of the dominant white culture. Their efforts to find a new identity raise concern about cultural conflicts among the public despite of the final failure.