11/26/07
The Role of Drugs in American Literature
"Dean and I are embarked on a tremendous season together. We're trying to communicate with absolute honesty and absolute completeness everything on our minds. We've had to take Benzedrine. We sit on the bed, crosslegged, facing each other." (p41) In this quotation Dean and Marx are being watched by Sal. They are embarking on a "season" or trip together by expanding off each other's ideas. The Beat movement was all about writing and poetry so they are flowing with each other's eccentric ideas. In order to write and "communicate" with "absolute honesty" and "completeness" they have taken a drug called benzedrine or "bennies." These were paper strips found in inhalers that were then rolled up into balls and taken with alcohol or coffee, used as a stimulant. It was one of the very first recreational drugs, or drugs taken for non-medical purposes. It is obvious that recreational drugs are illegal and harmful, many are deadly. Yet why is it that Jack Kerouac's writing style changed, when influenced by drugs such as bennies also called speed? Why is such a popular book, based on alcoholism and drugs, so effective to American culture? Although the price paid was Jack's death from alcoholism, why is it that On The Road is so popular when Jack typed it under the influence of benzedrine (speed), and is the cost worth it?
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How is taking the drug be able to communicate better? As you mentioned, “drugs are illegal and harmful, many are deadly,” shouldn’t the drug make anybody less able and more feeble? And what aspects of Jack Kerouac's style changed, from what to what?
I think what made his book so popular is because alcoholism and drugs were part of the American culture since long ago. And because he wrote this book while using Benzedrine, he had first hand experience on what he was writing about. Jack Kerouac didn’t literally sacrifice himself to influence the culture, he died from what he loved (alcohol), so his death was well worth it.
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