Best American Short Stories - Essay Example

?A Literary Essay A Literary Essay Words 515 I. Introduction Some of the best American short stories maintain a carefully-crafted balance between destruction and creation. Such balances are delicately maintained in the two texts which will be analyzed forthwith, with respect to various literary elements apparent in their deliberate construction. Here, it will be attempted to: 1) compare and contrast Kerouac’s protagonist and Exley’s protagonist, from the respective works of “On the Road” and “A Fan’s Notes”; 2) parse the idea that modern fiction avoids thematic didacticism; 3) define success in relation to Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road”; and 4) discuss the character of Sal Paradise in “On the Road.” II. A Comparison-Contrast of Protagonists in “On the Road” and “A Fan’s Notes” Sal Paradise and Frederick Exley are the main characters in, respectively, “On the Road” (written by Jack Kerouac) and “A Fan’s Notes” (written by Frederick Exley). Sal Paradise is a reflection of Jack Kerouac’s own personal life, as Kerouac spent years quote “on the road,” traveling across the United States in a sort of vagabond fashion—much like his protagonist in “On the Road.” Kerouac (2002) describes one of his characters talking about Sal: “[A]nd now in fact you’re ready to hook up with a great girl if you can only find her and cultivate her and make her mind your soul…” (pp. 187). Even though Sal hangs out with Marylou, one is not entirely certain if he will end up with her in the end. What concerns men are women, especially having matured into young adults and begin the “mating game.” Sal continues to exhibit this angst about his love life throughout the book “On the Road,” even as Frederick Exley reflects similarly on his awkward or nonexistent interactions and relations with women. Sal is a character whose relationships often seem like they are distant from his own ‘head space,’ or how he relates to them in his mind. Even though Sal is conscious of what is going on around him, he is far removed from this world enough to talk about what he really thinks in the book. Exley mirrors these aspirations in his own ruminations about sports fandom, which is touched upon in his book—but he also makes plain the common dilemma that Sal has in “On the Road,” which is primarily in the search for a life partner. According to a quote by Exley (1988) from the Goodreads website, Exley wrote of his own self-imposed ‘angst’ over women, "You won't always get the girl! Life is rejection and pain and loss’…" (pgh. 1). As we can see, like, Sal, Exley (himself) is a character who worries about the impression he will make on others. Additionally, similar to “On the Road,” “A Fan’s Notes” seems like it takes place in the space inside Exley’s head, kind of like his own solemn narrative. This narrative goes above and beyond what one might usually expect. It is not just a book about describing sports fandom, but about loneliness, the stigma of mental illness, and the inability to conquer one’s addictions in the face of great emotional turmoil. III. How Modern Fiction Avoids Thematic Didacticism Didacticism could be defined as polar opposites. One common example is the idea of good and bad. Didacticism tends to lend to preachiness in writing, and therefore modern fiction writers’ commentary generally seeks to avoid usage of such an approach—unless characters are giving soliloquys or monologues in which they extrapolate upon a subject in a very homiletic manner. It’s not entirely bad for modern fiction to be “preachy,” but—unless it is endemic to a character’s persona—usually this style of writing is avoided because it is not what people care to read. If they want to read a homily they will read a sermon—not a work of fiction. Fiction is a nonjudgmental genre, if one may, primarily because the characters and the things that happen in fiction books are either lies, made-up, or history which is fictionalized. Therefore, readers don’t expect truth from fiction, although there can be truth in fiction. However, when a character or characters overtly make preachy or didactic statements, modern fiction becomes less credible due to the fact that it is more of a manifesto than a work of fiction—if that makes sense. As such, it only makes sense that fiction writers should seek to eliminate that in their books which sounds like preachiness or overly-moralized writing and standpoints. Themes which deal directly with good and evil may not be considered interesting in modern fiction, especially due to the postmodernist bent that everyone has a unique perspective and no perspective is wrong. IV. The Definition of “Success” in Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” Sal Paradise’s definition of “success,” it seems, is his ability to finally find himself—which is what he had been having difficulty locating in his own life. In order to finall find peace at the end of the story, Sal retreats to the solemn, sobering, and somewhat comforting fact that he is an average person who is by no means exceptional in almost any way. Having arrived at a feeling that he has a sort of normalcy or averageness assuages his fears that he will never amount to anything in life. Sal realizes, in the very end, that he does not have to reinvent the wheel in order to make a living, settle down with a nice girl, and find the good things in life—because he self-actualizes, coming to the conclusion that everything he had was right there with him in the beginning of his trip “on the road.” His definition of success, therefore, is not what other people define for him—but his success is self-made. Sal is a self-made man, a person who survives on his own merit—for the most part. Therefore, he takes pride in being able to support himself and indeed be the type of character who is scrappy, and able to scrape by on barely anything—and still come out on top. Sal prides himself on his ability to make his own success in life and make his own luck. Therefore, his success is very much based on his ability to freelance and freeload—very much embracing that vagabond spirit which has helped him navigate the uncharted waters of life very deftly. V. A Discussion of the Character of Sal Paradise in “On the Road” Sal is not an inflexible type of character, nor is he one which finds life’s whimsies unforgiving or uneventful. He seeks out thrills and frills, but by design and not by inherent lollygagging. Sal makes his own reality; he is his own reality. He creates and destroys at will, bringing whatever he will into his consciousness at his command—creating and destroying, creating and destroying—cutting out of his life what he doesn’t want, and drawing nearer to the things he does want. Sal is the ultimate cosmopolitan creation of the “Adam Qaedmon” of the adult male—“Adam” (or man) in his natural state—how he is, what his base feelings are, what are his motivations, what are his needs, what are his wants, and what is his passion in life. What Sal ultimately finds makes him happy are being in relationship with someone whom he cares about—but is not quite sure, at the end, how everything will resolve itself. However, what he does have by the end of the book is a stronger sense of self, the assurance that everything is going to work out for the good of his future, and the good-natured persistence of a dandy bohemian living one day at a time on a borrowed dime. Sal projects the image of an outwardly self-assured man with little self-confidence on the inside—a cocky marauder boasting a big game who is able to deliver in spite of himself. Sal epitomizes everything about the adult male that is average, that is fascinating, and that is mundane—all at the same time. Thus, Sal’s trip “on the road” demonstrates the innate wanderlust inherent in the human species, and, irregardless of gender—Sal’s universal appeal as a character told through the eyes of Kerouac, but with a specific, targeted platform. In search of diversion and women, stumbling somewhat aimlessly through the raw beauty of the American countryside—Sal makes his story our own. Weaving his story, Sal’s life and times in “On the Road” is but an allegory for our own at-times trite and at-times fantastic and significant lives. VI. Conclusion The unique approach of the best of America’s short story writers has made their work what it is today. Undoubtedly, it has here been the approach to discuss the following: 1) a comparison of the main protagonist in “On the Road” and “A Fan’s Notes”; 2) how modern didacticism is not present in modern fiction; 3) how Sal Paradise characterizes success in “On the Road”; and 4) how Sal Paradise could be described in terms of what his character is like in Kerouac’s book. “On the Road” essentially became a cult classic due to its detail-saturated, real-world take on life. REFERENCES Frederick Exley quotable quotes. (1988). Available: . Kerouac, J. (2002). On the road. US: Penguin. Read More