Three Themes from On the Road by Jack Kerouac - Book Report/Review Example

? Three Themes from Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Three Themes from an Excerpt of ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac 3 III. Conclusion 6 Works Cited 7 I. Introduction There is much about the work of Jack Kerouac that is revolutionary and exhilarating at the same time, chief among them the sheer magic that can be had from reading something that seems so out of place with the conventional way that people of his time thought, acted and lived their lives. This paper explores three themes emerging out of this magical sense of life as personified in Dean and Sal, and as reflected in the languages, thoughts and imagery that went into the composition of the novel. The three themes are the relationship between Sal and Dean as one where Dean personified the kind of free life that Sal dreamed; Sal’s inner vision as personified and reflected in the person and life of Dean; and the use of unconventional inspired language, thoughts, and composition to bring out the message of free creativity and the search for an ecstatic way of life in the novel (Kerouac; Slate.fr; Reno; Adams). II. Three Themes from an Excerpt of ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac One of the great themes of the novel was the relationship of the writer with a character who embodied the very free spirit that the book wanted to bring out, the spirit of the whole movement towards the unexplored regions of the American psyche. That character is Dean. This character has the stature of someone extraordinary for the very reason that he was passionate about the life that he lived: “He was simply a youth tremendously excited with life, and though he was a con-man, he was only conning because he wanted so much to live and to get involved with people who would otherwise pay no attention to him” (Kerouac 13). There is much to be had from just being with the man, and the writer found in Dean the very personification of what would amount to an escape from the tedium and the ordinariness of the life that he had prior to going on the road. Where there was only the tiredness of the usual formulas employed by the group of writers around which Dean would break through, Dean was a lightning for all sorts of new things, and it would be Dean who would prod the writer into leaving the known and boring life that he lived and into going out on a limb to travel, powered only by their imagination and their willingness to explore and try out new things. The way Dean lived his life is a testament to that boundlessness of spirit that was the personification of the freedom and the spontaneity that the writer wanted to portray in the work (Reno). There is the element therefore of Dean being the catalyst for the adventure and the character around which the other key character of the novel, Sal, formed his own view of reality and of what it means to be fully free and alive. Dean was the character around which Sal would form his own identity too, as a man free to wander and to discover his own capacity for happiness and living fully (Slate.fr). A second theme in the excerpt is the perceptiveness of Sal himself, who after all had the vision to see what he saw in Dean and to be able to glean from the man intimations of his own capacity for inventiveness, creativity, and freedom to live. True it was Dean who showed him the way, but one can argue too that without his own capacity to see and to imagine he would not have been able to imagine the possibilities of life with Dean. It took Sal to realize Dean’s unique capacity for the kind of life that he wanted, and it was Sal who was able to see that part of Dean’s psyche and life that matched his own. This is not hard to imagine. One sees only things that one can identify with and have an internal map of. The fact that Sal was able to realize his own capacity for living creatively and on the brink of things is a testament to the fact that Sal himself saw his own deepest inclinations in the person of Dean. Dean was after all an aspect of the life and of the inner workings of Sal himself. Sal in a way projected himself unto Dean, so that he may be able to see his own inner workings and to make sense of himself and his place in the world. He tells us this in many different ways. In one line of thought he sees Dean as his brother for instance. It is not hard to see that Sal also saw himself in the man. Whatever he saw in Dean, he must also see in his own self. The entire book, to be sure, is the testament not to Dean’s vision of life, but to the vision of life that Sal had, as reflected in the person of Dean. We see the musings of Sal about Dean as a reflection of what he sees in his own personality and in his own heart, in the end. “But Dean’s intelligence was every bit as formal and shining and complete, without the tedious intellectualness. And his “criminality” was not something that sulked and sneered; it was a wild yea-saying overburst of American joy” (Kerouac 16-17; Adams). A third theme in the excerpt is the reflection of the desire to live a different kind of life in the language, the imagery, and the very composition of the novel itself. The language is rich and unconventional, and the thought processes were likewise comparable to bursts of thinking that seemed to defy any linear explanation, but were like the notes of a song that seemed to go off on its own whenever it wanted, like an inspired jazz melody or song. Everywhere in the excerpts this colorful mix of language, thought bursts, and inspired musings keep the reader inspired and engaged. There is no telling where the entire composition would go next. Even when the novel was to go into a phase where nothing was supposed to happen there is the sense that something significant was about to happen, if not in the exterior events, then in the realm of the language, and in the arena of the thoughts of either Sal or Dean. “We stopped in the unimaginable softness. It was as hot as the inside of a baker’s oven on a June night in New Orleans. All up and down the street whole families were sitting around in the dark, chatting” (Kerouac 34). III. Conclusion The three themes taken together develop an idea of the novel as a search for a higher reality and a more expansive and creative, as well as a more spontaneous and happy, way of life. This springs from an inspired vision and an intelligence that is denied many. This overarching idea is reflected in the three themes discussed here- the relationship between Dean and Sal, with Dean as a model of this inspired way of life; Sal’s inner vision and personality as being reflected in Dean; and the way the language and thought processes in the novel reflect this reach for a different, creative and beautiful way of living. The overall effect is indeed nothing short of magic (Kerouac; Adams; Reno; Slate.fr). Works Cited Adams, Phoebe Lou. “Ladder to Nirvana”. The Atlantic. 11 October 1957. Web. 2 October 2013. < http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1957/10/ladder-to-nirvana/306201/> Kerouac, Jack, in Charters, Ann. “From On the Road [Part One]”. The Portable Beat Reader. Penguin Books. 1992. Reno, RR. “The End of the Road”. First Things. October 2008. Web. 2 October 2013. Slate.fr. “On the Road….Looking for Dean Moriarty”. Slate.fr. May 2012. Web. 2 October 2013. < http://blog.slate.fr/viddywell/2012/05/27/on-the-road-looking-for-dean-moriarty/> Read More