As the book comes to an end, the theme in On the Road becomes more and more evident. Kerouac established himself in a time were he went beyond his generation. A traveler, much like Mark Twain, whose river became a road. Kerouac provides imagery of such times. "That grand wild sound of bop floated from beer parlors; it mixed medleys with every kind of cowboy and boogie-woogie in the American night. Everybody looked like hassle. Wild Negroes with bop caps and goatees came laughing by; then long haired broken down hipsters straight off Route 66 from New York; then old desert rats, carrying packs and heading for a park bench at the Plaza; then the Methodist ministers with raveled sleeves, and an occasional Nature Boy saint in beard and sandals. I wanted to meet them all, talk to everybody..." One of my favorite passages from the book, determines how Kerouac was trying to show the myriad colors in life. Painting a picture for the reader, of characters that changed the world in those times and forever. Comparing the minister to the hipster and how they're all just people. Do you think Jack Kerouac achieved his goal when writing On the Road, Did he show a true America?
1 comment:
Hello Alex!
You seemed to like to compare what you are reading with other things and be able to make connections in most of your entries. That’s a PLUS! Like Mark Twain, Kerouac is an explorer. We need people like Kerouac in this world, because he was considered a radical. Radicals seem to have absurd views of far left or right varieties, or simply of an extreme kind. They are so named because they desire change at the "roots" of society.
Without them, the world would be bland.
Because of Kerouac’s writing (and others like him), we now have people of different varieties. America is a land of freedom, not just in a racial sense, but also allows any individual to express him/her self (radically or not).
And lastly, happy holidays!!! =)
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