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The Beat character in J.Kerouac’s novel On the Road. Rediscovery of America.






On the Road is a adventure about passion: the passion for the unknown, for the differences and similarities among members of the human race, for the simple things, for nature, for music, for freedom, for friendship, for youth, for life. The novel exhibits a complete search for the self and for the meaning of existence.

Sal Paradise “The road is life” translates the expectations of one entire generation. For a long time, this premise that the road is life has fed the tradition of Travel Literature. The road could be considered life in different aspects, and understood as life, through different viewpoints. There are uncountable reasons for traveling, in North American culture, traveling is very important and it is related to the formation of the myth of the American Dream, of which the positive and negative implications constitute the Beatniks’ focus of interest. On the Road takes an important place in the tradition of travel literature. It feels like hitchhiking with them around the US and Mexico, enjoying the jazz beat in the same clubs they go to or, yet, experimenting the sensations of being on the road without leaving home.

In On the Road, Sal Paradise travels from one side of the country to the other, observing different aspects of national usages in each state he passes through, questioning identity and cultural differences among his own compatriots. Except for the trip to Mexico, Kerouac shows his concerns about how Americans face the social circumstances of post-war reality.

The Beat writers found their identity as an artistic movement traveling in the States, which inspired Kerouac to put reality and fiction together in order to claim that social and artistic changes were necessary. Furthermore, the novel is about the most complex kind of travel: the search for the self, a trip which the main purpose is to get in contact with inner feelings by crossing unvisited limits and broadening personal horizons. On the Road is a landmark in traditional traveling literature for its confessional simplicity. Kerouac wrote other books about traveling.

On the Road was a story of several men and women who used time to fulfill their own personal desires, not the desires of others; they were completely unconstrained by any schedule other than their own. This view of time abruptly opposed the common post-WWII view of time.

Dean Moriarty had a personal schedule filled with events down to the very minute. He had a rationalized view of time; he saw time as something that never stopped, and he wanted to take advantage of every moment. While society viewed a twelve hour period as a constricting amount of space in which people were pressured to make something in order to make a living, Dean was not pressured by time because he used time to meet his own ends. Instead of producing materials, Dean sought sensation and stimulation. Time does not employ Dean, he employs time”. Dean was bound to movement because he lived in the moment and the moment was always moving. Living in the moment allowed Dean to remain unsusceptible to capitalism’s/society’s control. Dean had a fragmented view of time (which we will discuss later), he did not see the connection between past, present, and future; he only paid attention to the present moment.”.

Kerouac depicted Mexico as relaxed and unconstrained by time. The people may have been poor; however, they were much happier than their American counterparts. “Mexico is continually portrayed in obverse relation to an oppressive America. Things are cheaper, cops are nicer, and time sheds its constraining feel”. Mortenson noted the symbolism of Dean exchanging his watch, which symbolized “clock time”, for crystals that a young Mexican girl found on a mountain (Mortenson, 61). Dean loved the fact that everyone was so relaxed in Mexico. Throughout the book, Dean was searching for what he called the “it”. “It” refers to the pure ecstasy and pleasure of the moment. Dean used Jazz music and drugs as vehicles bringing him closer to “it.” However, when Dean was able to find “it”, it only lasted a moment.

Sal Paradise Note the symbolism of Dean Moriarty’s and Sal Paradise’s last names. Even though Sal tended to follow Dean, Sal represented a different view of temporality than that of Dean. Compared to Dean, Sal felt the tension of the moment. “He continually looks forward and backward for release.” While at the same time, Dean saw death as the end of all existence. While Dean only cared about the moment, Sal used writing to “extend his past experiences into the future”.“Sal may attempt to follow Dean’s example, but ultimately his Christian belief in the transcendence of death differentiates him from Dean’s belief in the sanctity of the moment. Although Sal follows Dean throughout the novel, he never entirely abandons his moral conceptions. However, despite Sal’s failure to emulate Dean, they nevertheless remain united in their mutual attempts to escape oppressive notions of time”.






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