Essay about Jack Kerouac’s On The Road - The American Quest

On The Road and the American Quest Jack Kerouacs On The Road is the most uniquely American novel of its time. While it has never fared well with academics, On The Road has come to symbolize for many an entire generation of disaffected young Americans. One can focus on numerous issues wh en addressing the novel, but the two primary reasons which make the book uniquely American are its frantic Romantic search for the great American hero (and ecstasy in general), and Kerouacs Spontaneous Prose method of writing. On The Road is an autobiographical first-person book written in 1951 and based on Kerouacs experiences of the late 1940s. At the time, America was undergoing drastic changes and the sense of sterility brought on†¦show more content†¦(42) Dean and Kerouacs alter ego, Sal, represent one of the three main types of character patterns seen in 50s literature: that of the Rebel. And while representative of the rebellious James Dean-like figures of literature, they are perhaps even more repres entative of 50s youth culture in their endless searches. For what? The quest is left open for debate. Tim Hunt suggests that Kerouac could be searching for several things in On The Road: a father (or brother) figure, the chance to regain lost joy, or a type of revelation (91). Hipkiss contends that Neals speeding dashes down the road are as much flights of panic, the fear of never making it, the fear of losing all the life he ever had, as they are quests for ecstasy, which is itself an escape from fear and the frustrations of desire. (43) Of course, elements of restlessness surface in earlier American novelists such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald, but Kerouacs search for a type of identity in an era of increasing conformity sparked rebelliousness On The Road-style and encouraged many to, as Tim Leary would put it several years later, tune in, turn on, and drop out. As Kerouacs searches for the great American hero and ecstasy in general made On The Road uniquely American, so too does his style of writing. Kerouacs search for ecstasy naturally led to the explorationShow MoreRelated Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Kerouac’s On the Road – The River and the Road3035 Words   |  13 PagesTwain’s Huckleberry Finn and Kerouac’s On the Road – The River and the Road One element that separates a good novel from a great novel is its enduring effects on society. A great novel transcends time; it changes and mirrors the consciousness of a civilization. One such novel is Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. For the past one hundred and fifteen years, it has remained in print and has been one of the most widely studied texts in high schools and colleges. 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