Jack Kerouacs novel On the Road - Essay Example

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road is the quintessential novel representing the Beat generation. It is the story of the friendship between Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty in connection to the travels that was a parallel to their life. Sal and Dean represented “the sordid hipsters of America, a new beat generation” (Kerouac 34). The hardships of their travels from coast to coast, going for thousands of miles on a meager budget characterizes the things they have to do and undergo just so they can get through. The concept of the American dream was brought up in the story but the reality of poverty pounds on them from every corner. It was that time in America when everything seemed possible but reality keeps a person in check. People were still reminiscent of the abundances before the onslaught of the Great Depression and the memory of the War remains. The inevitable revival of America was toward the notion of freedom on the road which had never sounded more appealing than ever to a generation that had become tired of poverty and lack of gainful employment. Early in the book, Dean had the wildest and most illuminating relationship with Carlo Marx. He told Sal, “I have finally taught Dean that he can do anything he wants, become mayor of Denver, marry a millionairess, or become the greatest poet since Rimbaud” (Kerouac 28). This seems ironic given that his name resembles that of Karl Marx who is famous for his works calling for communism and the concept of social equality by living in commune. Perhaps similarly, Kerouac’s character is also a philosopher who spends the night with Dean talking about absolutely anything they could think of. He encourages Dean on a mindset that he could have so much more for his life if only he is able to let go of his vices. Sal later on agreed that Dean was somehow able to achieve this ideal state but only as far it can go. “He was finally an Angel, as I always knew he would become; but like any Angel he still had rages and furies” (Kerouac 152). They had no clear direction but they knew that life should be better than how it already is. This glimpse of the good life was also briefly envisioned by Sal. When he was with Remi Boncoeur, they devised a plan to improve their status and careers. “I was to stay in the shack and write a shining original story for a Hollywood studio…Finally I told Remi it wouldn’t do” (Kerouac 40). Remi imagined Hollywood success for the both of them with their partners by their side. He represented the possibility of an alternate life if only Sal had the good sense to know who his real friends are early on. Nevertheless, Sal is invariably and hopelessly attracted to Dean although he knew he was a con man. This also stems from his frustrations and hopes to escape his disappointments. I wished I were a Denver Mexican, or even a poor overworked Jap, anything but what I was so drearily, a “white man” disillusioned. All my life I’d had white ambitions. (Kerouac 105). But in the end, Remi was brought back into the picture as Sal literally left Dean on the curb to go to Remi’s concert in the Cadillac he provided. Finally realizing that Dean and his madness was a good but distant memory but no life at all. All the same, Sal had experiences on the road that can never be bought by money. On one of his hitchhiking trips he gets a ride from a cowboy who tells of the scenes during the Great Depression. He recounts how men from different backgrounds are all out of work that they all had to ride together in one vehicle just to look for employment anywhere. “Nebraska I ain’t got no use for. Why in the middle nineteen thirties this place wasn’t nothing but a big dustcloud as far as the eye could see” (Kerouac 14). Sal was finally in the West and he could feel how far he has come. Parting with the cowboy, Sal and Eddie got acquainted with the true encounters of a traveler. A man in a gallon hat approached them, “You boys going to get somewhere, or just going?” We didn’t understand his question, and it was a damned good question” (Kerouac 15). It really was a good question and it was probably one Sal kept on asking himself. The man was offering them part-time jobs which they declined. This was the first refusal for employment and perhaps the only one in the novel. Soon after, Sal and Dean had to take on odd jobs to make ends meet. Hard labor could perhaps best describe the types of occupation they had. Unlike Dean, Sal had the benefit of getting a monthly GI check which also gave him the opportunity to enroll in college. Even so, he had to work various jobs for a living. He worked as a cop with Remi guarding barracks of unruly men bound for the high seas. He also worked in the fruit market lugging crates of watermelons he described as, “the hardest job of my life” (Kerouac 105). The famous chapter with the Mexican girl showed what blue-collar work is and how poverty takes its toll. “Every day I earned approximately a dollar and a half. It was just enough to buy groceries in the evening on the bicycle” (Kerouac 58). Soon, this impoverished life also drove them apart as he let go of her thinking it was for the best. Dean also worked menial jobs. He was a parking attendant for a while. “I say fling, but he only worked like a dog in parking lots. The most fantastic parking-lot attendant in the world” (Kerouac 6). At one point he was also a pressure cooker salesman. At various moments, Dean had devised and executed petty crimes to have things their way. In a couple of times they have all connived to take groceries and steal gas because they did not have enough money. Especially after the police have gone after them and slapped them with exorbitant fines. In a trip where they were to take Sal’s aunt and furniture, they got a speeding ticket and a $15 fine. They say this was only because of their California license plate that explains why the police were on to them. This juxtaposition of the treatment of policemen was shown between law enforcers in the United States and in Mexico. The police in the U.S. saw them as threats since they looked like they were hooligans while Mexican cops let them be. They knew we were broke and had no relatives on the road or to wire to for money. The American police are involved in psychological warfare against those Americans who don’t frighten them with imposing papers and threats. (Kerouac 81). On the other hand, they were treated with respect by policemen in Mexico. When they were in the car indulging in the weather at night a policeman approached them. But instead of questioning them on their business, they were addressed politely by the law enforcer. “Such lovely policemen God hath never wrought in America. No suspicions, no fuss, no bother: he was the guardian of the sleeping town, period” (Kerouac 170). In a foreign land they were deemed decent because of their being American but in their own country they feel aggravated by the imposition of authority. The exchange rate translated to their elevated level in society that even for just an ephemeral moment they had everything at their fingertips even whores at $3. These scenes of false wealth to escape reality were reoccurring in On the Road. When they got hold of a Cadillac limousine through the travel bureau, Dean could not get over his excitement but Sal was the one who took it as his responsibility. Dean used the car to pick up women and when they visited Ed Wall, he wanted the latter to believe that Sal is rich and owns the car. “Far from believing that tale about my owning the Cadillac, he was convinced Dean had stolen it” (Kerouac 133). Cars played a central role in the notions of wealth and poverty in the story. It was a symbol of wealth and a representation of freedom that allows for the possibility of life on the road. The characters they met on the road were well represented by their automobiles. Kerouac was specific in identifying the cars that he mentions in the novel. The blond farmer brothers had a truck with a flatboard, Terry’s brother Rickey had a ‘38 Chevy, Old Bull Lee had a Texas Chevy, and Marylou took off in another man’s Cadillac. The cars had also become descriptive of their owners and how they play in the storyline. Even Dean had gotten himself a car which he bought from his savings. On the other hand, Sal never found the necessity of purchasing a vehicle. This shows the road mentality of the eagerness to own an automobile through Dean. But in the end it was also the same image that Sal saw to cap his turbulent friendship with Dean. “Locomotives smoked and reeled above him. His shadow followed him, it aped his walk and thoughts and very being” (Kerouac 147). Work Cited Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: The Viking Press, 1957. PDF. Read More