The Cultural and Social Influence of Kerouac - Essay Example

Jack Kerouac stands unparalleled in prominence and the extent of readership and not any of the “Beat Generation” could stand close to him, in these attributes. His best work to date, On the Road, published in 1957, propelled him to a celebrity status, mainly on the might of a single appraisal in a local daily, that year.As Anna Hassapi comments in her book review that the “beat generation” had a single subject of interest, that being life.Sal Paradise states about the holiness of life and how each and every moment should be cherished. The fright of demise latently trailed the gang around America, as pronounced by their dreams of a soulsupplanting them across the sea of life. By the time this work of Kerouac was published, the localshad started to gain consciousness of the beatnik culture, because of numerous other publications, exposure to media and many other events. However, the introduction of Kerouac’s book made him the heart and soul of the Beat Generation. He made countless appearances on media, both print and electronic, which became a source of the immense glory, that he earned. "I was beginning to get the bug like Dean. 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) The publication, On the Road narrates a story of a group of young men, striving and living on exploration of the American culture, from where the American culture was perceived in 1957, the beatnik culture had its own lifecycle .The story of On The Road commences in the winter of 1947. The wild and jolly Dean Moriarty, , after getting out of jail and getting married, comes to New York and meets a young writer with an articulate company, called Sal Paradise. Amongst his friends is the acclaimed poet, Carlo Marx. Dean enthralls Sal, and their acquaintance begins years of on edge expeditions, in a continuous manner, through the country. With a blend of truck drives and exciting incidents, where he took many rides, Sal goes to his much-dreamt-of west to join Dean and more people in Denver, and then lingers in the west on his own, employed as a fieldworker in California for a little bit, amongst other things. “Movie rights were discussed, beatnik characters began to appear in popular television shows, and Mad Magazine did a parody of the Beat culture. Kerouac, though a serious artist and a viciously loyal gossipmonger of the bohemian lifestyle he wrote about, nonetheless found his idea of the Beat Generation being chosen and sold to Hollywood and popular American culture. The passages of the book which deal with the ‘Hollywoodization’ of America, such as the scene in which Sal and Dean sleep overnight in a Detroit movie theater, seem to be spookilypsychic in light of the popularity surrounding the Beat Generation following the publication of the novel.”(The Cultural and Social Influence of Kerouac) Despite all the popularity, John Kerouac and the Beats Generation were frequentlyheld responsible for all that seemed incorrect in America. A representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation statedthat “communists and beatniks were two of the greatest threats to American culture”(The Cultural and Social Influence of Kerouac). It appeared that everyone could catchseveralunkind views in the backdrop of American culture that could be liable on the mentioned works. Civil libertiesadvocates believed the African-American images in the aforementioned works to be burlesque of actual life, and the writers tenorappeared to a few of them to be condescending in opposition to the racial skirmishestaking placein the country, at the time. However, civil rights adversariesappealed that these workshyped African American philosophy and mergedthe interracial cultures in a way that was purelydeplorable to white sensibilities. Kerouacs exertion in matters of literature was widespread, but he got pint-sized critical praise throughout his lifespan. Nowadays, he is measured as a significant and powerful writer who motivated others. As enormoussocialalterationsarose to accept a change in the USA, during the 1960s, the influence of On the Road was fostered.The book gave power of speech to a mounting, disgruntled frontier of the new generation of the preceding decades. The book came way before the Civil Rights Movement and after the Great Depression and World War 2 and although it has been fifty years meanwhile the events in the book, the spirits, notions, and familiarities in it are still extraordinarily garden-fresh as jargons of agitated, fervent youth who crave for something larger than the flavorless traditionalism of a commonly flourishing civilization. “Kerouac was termedastimulus in several of the radical student movements of the period, and the folk singer Bob Dylan claimed that ‘it was Kerouac who first inspired him to sing songs of protest’ ”(The Cultural and Social Influence of Kerouac). Thebook had not addedintegrity in schools or colleges, it was being readfar and wide by students during the 60s and 70s and was winning over a new age group of novelists and philosophers. Jack Kerouac penned about life on the road, and off the road despite the fact that he did not really take an actual tour. He inscribed about his associates, dwellings, and folks he met in his journeys. He composed in a style that is pronounced as poetic jazz, just hissing the words onto a leaf of paper like a sax player puffing into the night. The words continued to live in the mind after being read. The excursion that Jack and Neal Cassady began has not finished for all of us. The overall community might not be mindful of Kerouac, but Kerouac remains to perform as a light house for the creative sailors in our public looking for their own distinctive artistic development. Hook onto your own ride; clutch the golden ring, and lookout for the firecrackers. Remember, you cannot tumble from a mountain. In the world of today, the book On the Road by Kerouac,remains to be a bonfire of hippy culture and the nonconformistway of life. There have also been reports of a Kerouac film being made. Almost half a decade back, a fiftieth bicentenarypublication of On the Road was printed as well as aversion of "The Scroll," the original unabridgeddocument of the book, which was written on a lengthy endless piece of parchment. Other issues of the novel with new interpretations are also intended. It has been established as a tautology and is irrefutable that this work of Kerouac has become a part of the American culture and will most certainly maintain its position in the status quo. This novel does not limit its magnitude and horizon to a specific time and space, but over the time has proven itself to be an enlightening factor for the generations to come and anyone who feels discontented with the traditional manner of living as well as the countless intricacies in the culture.Regardless he still has his cut of critics. And not all he did in his life was commendable. But what is not arguable is that he was devoted to being a writer. We leave it up to the consent of the reader to resolve what his place should be in the history of English literature and much more. Take a chance and read his books. Kerouac has left the world an heirloom that intellectuals and booklovers are still discovering. Ending on the note, "The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great, that I thought I was in a dream." (Kerouac) Works Cited Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. n.d. The Cultural and Social Influence of Kerouac. n.d. 22 April 2012 . Read More