Jack Kerouac’s On The Road: The Guide to Wasting 4 Years of Your Young Adult Life

“…Live, Travel, Adventure, Bless, and don’t be sorry…”
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road

The above quote truly encompasses the main ideals of Kerouac’s 1950’s classic. The story revolves around the lives of two writers, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, who decide to travel across the country in search of inspiration for their literature. It is believed by most that Kerouac based these two main characters on himself, and his travels and encounters across the country. These two men travel across America four times in just a little over three years, and at many points in time, they lose touch with who they are as people. It is in this era that the “Beat Generation” began.
Most people are familiar with the LSD and marijuana experimentation throughout the 1960’s, as people quickly jumped on board the “counterculture” band wagon. This is seen as a groovy time period, and many contribute the use of marijuana and acid for giving us great music from Beatles, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and The Who. However, most people don’t realize that the experimental, liberal ideals of the Counterculture movement actually stemmed directly from the Beat movement of the 50’s.
To be “Beat” meant a trend towards non-conformity. People such as Kerouac believed that to conform to society extinguished the flames which make us creative and unique from one another. His method of expressing non-conformity was to be constantly in motion, and constantly isolated from the stationary, stable society. A rolling stone gathers no moss was an expression that struck deep in Kerouac’s heart. Connecting back to the allusion of ‘60’s music, the beat generation favored the free flowing, innovative sounds that were quickly becoming popular during this time period. The “Jazz Age” had resonated through time from the Roaring Twenties, right up to the early ‘50’s. At one point in the novel, Moriarty is explaining to Paradise the definition of “it” when referring to musicians. When a musician had “it” they understood their craft to the point where they had finally transcended logical understanding—to a place where man existed as an individual. Mainly, the characters of the novel find their own ways of transcending the mundane aspects of life; unfortunately, they resorted to drugs and binge drinking.
Many people will ultimately love this book because you can’t help but appreciate the dramatic affect it had on society. Dr. Hunter Thompson, considered to be the father of "Gonzo" Journalism (a style of writing where the author will place himself in the situations he is writing about, to the point where he becomes the center of the plot) considers Kerouac his main source of inspiration. Thompson went on to write Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (yes, the movie starring heart throb, Johnny Depp). Both Thompson and Kerouac proved society was undergoing dramatic change because they were both able to write about drugs and alcohol so vividly-- and become famous for it.
However, the author’s writing skills were very lax, and non-descriptive. Generally, Kerouac was more caught up in his message than conveying exactly what he felt during his travels. The only time the reader is allowed to feel as Sal does, is when he describes a week long party he exchanged less than 5 words to any one person. If the author has reached a point in his life where he no longer recognizes himself, how is the reader supposed to get in touch with whom the author is; or for that matter, what is the message he is trying to convey?

...and if the "fish" thing wasn't at the bottom of this blog site...I probably would've posted this about 30 minutes ago. It's not even a game and it was able to distract me for that long!! loll