The Radical Lives of The Beat Generation in Novel "On The Road"

After the end of World War II the United States fell into a state of conformity, the start of the Cold War brought the Red Scare that sprinkled and plagued American Culture with obedience. As with any guidelines or set of rules, there are those who are just going to break them. Countercultures are formed by those who go against the mainstream and have values that oppose the norms set in place by society. The Beat Generation was one of these countercultures that sprouted during the 1950s in result of the conformity set in place during this time. The Beat Generation consisted of notable writers as well as literature that represented their alternative lifestyle. Jack Kerouac was one of these writers prominent during the Beat Generation. His book On the Road is a prime example in showing readers the nonconformist lifestyle of a Beat. In this novel, we follow the narrator Sal Paradise, who travels with his personal hero Dean Moriarty on multiple occasions across the country in a carefree road trip. With a first read of On the Road one may see it as simply as the rambling of a teenager’s fantasy. This book is extremely frantic, hard to follow, and spontaneous. However, in actively paying attention to the text, Kerouac throughout this novel uses the actions of his characters to show the readers there are deeper meanings behind these ramblings. With a closer insight of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road one may become aware of how the franticness of “IT”, the road, Jazz and the book itself are all pathways to bring the book’s theme of self-discovery present to the reader.

Before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, blacks in America faced an intense amount of racism and segregation throughout the United States. This segregation caused African Americans to start their own subculture. Jazz music was a type of music prominent during the time that On the Road takes place. It was a genre of music that was played and enjoyed largely by African Americans. This is interesting because Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, who are both white males, love this music with a passion. When Sal and Dean attend a show at a Jazz club named Birdland, Dean shows how much love he has for the music and the musician playing the music. He states, “There he is! That’s him! Old God! Old God Shearing! Yes! Yes! Yes!” And Shearing was conscious of the madman behind him, he could hear every one of Dean’s gasps and imprecations” (Page 128). Dean’s fascination with Jazz music is interesting because Jazz is a type of music celebrated by African Americans and Dean being white goes against the prejudices white America had towards blacks. Sal and Dean would go out of their way to find places that played bebop Jazz, they interacted with African American culture in a friendly manner as if they were African Americans themselves. In a sense, Sal and Dean were breaking racial boundaries, but Kerouac also wanted to make it aware that this was something enjoyed by all Beats during this time. The presence of Jazz music in Sal and Dean’s life also had to do with the nonconforming nature that their culture revolved around. The common belief of American society was that the two races should stay separate. Sal and Dean did not conform to the belief of segregation. While they did often refer to black people as “Negros”, for example when Sal states, “A six-foot skinny Negro woman was rolling her bones at the man’s hornbell, and he just jabbed it at her” (Page 198). This was due to the fact that words such as Negro were politically correct during that time.

The two Beatniks give Jazz music and its artists this sense of mysticism. Throughout the novel, Jazz is only praised, not one negative word is uttered about the genre. Dean often refers to Jazz musician George Shearing as God, when he says “God’s empty chair,” … God was gone; it was the silence of his departure” (Page 128). The mysticism Dean applies to Jazz is comparable to the mysticism Sal applies to Dean. Dean is fascinated and idolizes George Shearing. Dean calling Shearing God is a pivotal example of how Dean mystifies Shearing. George Shearing is Dean’s hero much like Dean is Sal’s hero. Both Sal and Dean are energized and captivated by the actions of their respective heroes.

The type of Jazz Sal and Dean seek after is free form and frantic just like the nature of the novel as well as the essence of the road Sal is hitchhiking across. In a contextualization of the novel one can see that the road is a pathway for self-discovery. When Sal arrives at the Les Moines hotel early on in the book he is alone and says, “That was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn’t know who I was — far from home, haunted and tired with a travel, in a cheap hotel room I’d never seen” (Page 15). Sal being alone and saying “I didn’t know who I was” shows the reader this is a story about growth. The road symbolizes Sal’s path as an individual and at the end of the road he finds out who he truly is as a person. The constant and frantic shift of destination mirrors the Jazz music Sal finds himself constantly going back to. Throughout the course of the novel Sal is constantly trying new things and with each experience he gains an insight of who he is. Throughout the book, Sal finds himself in situations where he is left alone, and the book emphasizes these moments. For example, Eddie leaves Sal, after a long night in Denver Sal is left alone, Slim also leaves him alone sleeping on a bench. The time Sal has to himself is time for deep personal recognition.

In the book, Dean is occupied with finding “IT”, Kerouac never explicitly tells the reader what “IT’ is, but one can assume it has something to do with self-discovery. “IT” is ever changing, different for every person and goes hand in hand with the road Sal is traveling on. When addressing Sal, Dean tells him, `Now, man, that alto man last night had `IT' — he held it once he found it; I've never seen a guy who could hold so long.' I wanted to know what `IT' meant. `Ah well' — Dean laughed” (Page 207). Dean lets Sal know that “IT” is this frantic spontaneous thing that varies from person to person. While “IT” varies from person to person “IT” can also be different for a person throughout their lifetime, “IT” is always changing. Once someone has found “IT”, it does not mean that they have “IT” for the rest of their lives. Dean also tells Sal that society as a whole has very little individuality. Society is constantly looking for something to worry about, and they have not found their “IT”. Deans points out,

“They have worries, they’re counting the miles, they’re thinking about where to sleep tonight, how much money for gas, the weather, how they’ll get there — and all the time they’ll get there anyway, you see. But they need to worry and betray time with urgencies false and otherwise, purely anxious and whiny, their souls really won't be at peace unless they can latch on to an established and proven worry and having once found it they assume facial expressions to fit and go with it” (Page 209).

Dean reestablishes why it is so important for the both of them to keep traveling on this road. Without their “IT” they are the same as the conforming society around them. “IT” is an every changing concept of self-discovery, there is an endpoint that is unique to everyone. The road is a journey to find “IT” and the metaphorical road is the journey one has to complete in order to achieve their individual “IT”. Since “IT” is individual to everyone, the journey, which is the road, is essential for everyone. Kerouac amplifies this in the book when it is stated, “What’s your road, man? — holyboy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. It’s an anywhere road for anybody anyhow” (Page 251). This is when it becomes clear that everyone has to take his or her own journey to achieve “IT”. The journey that one embarks on is their own road, unique to them and pivotal to their self-development.

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road is a novel following the adventures of Sal Paradise across the United States and eventually to Mexico. On this road trip, Sal goes on countless adventures, meets many acquaintances, and lives a life on the edge. At first this book may just seem like an autobiography of a teenage boy traveling cross-country, but it goes further than that. On the Road is a story about self-discovery and finding out who you are as a person. Going into the book with an attentive mind allows one to become aware of how Kerouac brings to light certain ideas and symbols. Jazz music in this story may seem like just a music genre that was present at the time. Looking deeply into how the text develops one will find that it is a foundation for racial integration and a way of not conforming during a time where conformity was flaunted in American society. Also, the frantic nature of Jazz mirrors the book as well as the frantic nature of the ever changing “IT”. The franticness of “IT”, the road, Jazz and the book itself allow the theme of self-discovery to become central throughout the development of the text.