Going to get somewhere, or just going. Kerouac's On the Road

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1  INTRODUCTION  2

2  ON THE ROAD IN EVERY RESPECT  4

2.1  IT  4

2.1.1  WHAT IS IT  4

2.1.2  HOW IS IT ACHIEVED OR THOUGHT TO BE ACHIEVED  6

2.1.3  THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SEARCH FOR IT  9

2.1.4  HOW IS IT REPRESENTED  10

2.2  THE WEST  12

2.3  LIMITS  13

2.3.1  MAYBE WE OUGHT TO GO BACK THOUGH (293)  13

2.3.2  TWO FURTHER CASES OF DUALISM  14

2.4  SOME REMARKS ON POSTMODERNISM  16

2.4.1  RACE AND GENDER  16

2.4.2  EVERYBODY GOES  17

2.5  NON-FICTIONAL BEAT LIFE  20

3  CONCLUSION  21

4  APPENDIX  23

4.1  WORKS CITED  23

4.2  WORKS CONSULTED  24

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1 INTRODUCTION

What do Copernicus, Jesus, the German Green Party, and say the Impressionists have in common with Jack Kerouac? Obviously, all of them freed themselves from some prevailing belief or technique, or a similar, and introduced a new one instead. With all of them this introduction did not happen without resistance, especially not without resistance by the influential people of the respective branch. In all cases, the new idea experienced trouble to be taken seriously.

When Kerouac tried to publish his novel On the Road, subject of this essay, which he had finished in 1951, he was turned down several times before in 1957 Viking Press would eventually agree on printing the book. Among the things the novel was disapproved of were the way of life depicted in it, breaking with traditions and trespassing moral and legal boundaries, as well as the lack of a new set of guidelines that were to replace the ones trespassed. Had it previously been the introduction of a new set of guidelines (as with Jesus and the Green Party) or beliefs (as with Jesus and Copernicus) or a new technique (as with the Impressionists) that led to dislike, it was now, among other things, the alleged lack of such a set. Schönfelder (1985: 391) discusses in his essay ”Zwischen anarchistischem Protest und Eskapismus” the quality of the Beats’ behavior and comes to the conclusion that they are subjects of the latter: ”Im Endergebnis liegt eine Spielart eines romantischen Eskapismus vor.”.

Starting from this I am going to show three things. Firstly, I want to illustrate that the journeys in On the Road are not as aimless as they might seem at a first glance. There is an aim the characters are heading for, hence one must not blame the novel for not offering alternatives to the ideas condemned in it. However, it will become clear that this aim, that is thought to provide happiness by a particular form of freedom, involves certain ways of behavior that do trespass both legal and moral boundaries. In ”On the Road” Asher calls the protagonists’ series of journeys a mere ”joyride” (n.d.: 2). One might indeed consider the novel a praise of unbridled hedonism and individualism. It certainly is -- to some extent. But I will secondly try to show that Sal, the narrator, is very much on the road between traditional and new ideas, i.e. that his physical movement is part of an inner movement. In the end, Sal has become aware of the dreamlike quality of his and his friends’ goal. That means that On the Road admits that the advantages of and the happiness resulting from hedonism and individualism are limited. On the Road, in the first place, does not simply rebel against the status quo for rebellion’s sake (i.e. it is more than an escape), and in the second place, does to some extent accept the

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impossibility of a realization of the proposed aim, at least at the time being (i.e. it is not too romantic). So my reading of the novel is the following: the journeys in On the Road are the story of Sal’s quest for a place on the margins of society. This basically is a normal and human process as a response to being exposed to two diametrically opposed options.

The two previous paragraphs have already revealed a major discrepancy. Schönfelder was talking about the Beat Generation whereas I was defending On the Road against his reproach. Indeed, many critics have not differentiated between Beat fiction and reality but have taken On the Road as Kerouac’s barely fictionalized autobiography. After the publication of On the Road, Kerouac ”was besieged with questions about the life-style he had described in the novel [...and] reporters expected him to live up to its [i.e. the portrait of Dean] image.” (Charters 1991: ix). Consequently, the third goal I have is to examine in how far this aim of On the Road permeated Kerouac’s own life, and in how far Kerouac, who represented himself in the person of Sal, succeeded with his moderate ways. I tend to say Schönfelder was not absolutely wrong after all.

In 2.1 I will try to describe the goal of the novel’s protagonists. This objective is utterly closely connected with something called IT. Hence, 2.1.1 will talk about some characteristics of IT, 2.1.2 about some ways how to approach IT, 2.1.3 about the intensity of the search for IT, and finally 2.1.4 about the representations of IT. 2.2 then demonstrates, with the concept of the West serving as an example, how old values have stopped granting happiness and freedom. The West’s ambiguity insinuates the shattered reliability of traditional values and ideas. The next chapter will look at the limits of the search Sal realizes during his hunt for IT. Parallels to this movement between binary oppositions (here: traditional and new) are also to be found in this chapter. In 2.4 I will briefly highlight some thoughts that are anticipating postmodern ideas and examine whether On the Road similarly foreshadows cultural postmodernism by looking at its handling of gender and race. The closing chapter discusses the relationship between fictional On the Road life and Kerouac’s life.

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2 ON THE ROAD IN EVERY RESPECT

2.1 IT

2.1.1 What is IT?

Throughout the novel the characters are struggling to find something they call IT.

IT might, in a first draft, best be described as the state where pure enjoyment is possible,

with the basis of such a state being liberty and understanding. Admittedly, the concept of hunting an IT strikes one rather romantic than down-to-earth. But IT is not simply the end of a ”naiv” search for a meaning in life. IT contains a few fairly concrete concepts about how life is supposed to be. And, for sure, the characters at least sense what IT must be like, even though they are not capable of wording their notion. Freedom is one part of IT. More precisely what they long for is liberty from the compulsion to justify all of one’s actions and one’s conduct. This they try to achieve by living a life in which, especially in the context of sex and drugs, they do whatever they fancy at a particular moment. But this is just one thing, which I will talk about later, and in itself not the ultimate goal. Very touching is their love for life, the intensity with which they try to live and enjoy life. ”every moment is precious.” (97). The young men in the novel (the protagonists are all male) are eager for knowledge, and eager to hear other persons’ life stories.

On the Road is not politically didactic. Never are the friends’ desires connected with specific national or other political issues that were meant to be guiding lines after World War II, such as (stately imposed) anti-communism. Although they must have been felt unsatisfactory by the writers of the Beat Generation themselves, they are not explicitly mentioned as failing guidelines in the novel.

The goal when doing what they feel like is neither provocation nor material addition by breaking moral and legal constraints, but not worrying about what one does. The outcome may be the same in some cases; the motive is different, though. When Rollo Greb ”played Verdi operas and pantomimed them in his pajamas”, he is far from having done something illegal or morally corrupt. But since ”He didn’t give a damn about anything” and is ”so excited with life” Dean knows that ”’if you go like him all the time you’ll finally get it.’ ‘Get what?’ ‘IT! IT!’” (127). Dean has realized that worries are imposed by society, inflicted upon the individual’s conscience by society’s expectations and traditions. Later he says that ”we should realize what it would mean to us to

UNDERSTAND that we’re not REALLY worried about ANYTHING” (134).

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Throughout the book the quality of being able not to worry will remain a criteria for reaching IT. For this quality enables people to enjoy (every single moment) and feel the ”ecstatic joy of pure being” (195).

In one of their car talks (206 -8) Dean and Sal find out that either of them had dreamed about freedom as early as in his childhood. They recall similar pictures of themselves shaping the world with a scythe according to their wishes and overcoming, on horseback or on foot, ”every possible obstacle that presented itself” (208). Again, these dreams have nothing rebellious about them. However, grown up Sal sees himself less potent when he dreams that ”some spirit was pursuing me [... and] finally overtook me just before I reached the Protective City”. He realizes that this spirit ”was bound to catch us before we reached heaven” (124). In other words, he and his friend Carlo Marx find out that one will always be haunted by traditions, by moral and legal constraints etc. unless one is dead or not born yet. For death is the reproduction ”of some lost bliss that we probably experienced in the womb” (124). And since Carlo and Sal think that a state where you free of being haunted by the coercion of justification is IT, moments of remembrance of this lost bliss become ”The one thing that we yearn for in our living days” (124). This is a first hint to Sal’s realizing the impossibility of an unlimited IT during lifetime. Carlo, likewise suspicious, shortly after predicts his friends that they will ”come staggering back in search of your stone” (130), meaning their tombstone.

Having sex means to come as close as it gets to this yearned-for remembrance. For sex seems closely connected with birth and death, also with regard to one’s ability and thereby compulsion to justify. As often as possible Dean tries to have sex, ”mad with a completely physical realization of the origins of life-bliss; blindly seeking to return the way he came”. ”to die the sweet deaths of complete love” (132) enables Dean to free himself from all forms of coercion.

There is also the law in form of cops who force them to justify their actions, usually speeding. The Mexican ”lovely policemen God hath never wrought in America” (295) are one reason why they feel so much more comfortable south of the US-American-Mexican border. ”No suspicions, no fuss, no bother” (295).

The other key concept of the search is understanding. This second part is even more delicate to describe than the first one. It is probably the same thing Mary Sands thinks of when talking about Kerouac’s ”human, spiritual insight” (1999: 5). Or let us call it ultimate knowledge. What the characters in On the Road aim at is ”the moment when you know all” (129), or even, when you know ”like mad that everything [... yo u]

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had ever known and would ever know was One” (147). Dean, who as we will see later is representing the utmost power of struggling for IT, ”cared and wanted to understand more and much more than there was” (198). Here the search for sure becomes spiritual, and at times maybe romantic.

As a conclusion, one might say that the two pillars of IT (the freedom not to worry and the ”true knowledge” (5)) are very much interdependent. In the characters’ opinion, one must enjoy each single moment, i.e. live it without worrying about it and its consequences. One is able not to worry once one understands. This again requires a hyper-awareness of all moments past, passing, and yet to pass.

2.1.2 How is IT Achieved, or Thought to be Achieved?

The question that immediately emerges is: What do the heroes of On the Road do in order to come closer to the IT? Are there particular events and actions that help to approach IT?

In numerous cases digging, that combines enjoyment and understanding, is the key to IT’s intensity. Trying to find for instance a German equivalent to the verb to dig instantly reveals the complexity of the term. Try to translate the following: ”I dug Chicago” (14); ”digging the girls” (92); ”I dig life” (123); ”I’ve always dug your feelings” (186); ”dig this trick” (212). For a German version of the novel, Unterwegs, the translator 1 came up with expressions such as ‘in sich aufnehmen’ (101, 153), ‘auskundschaften’ (177), ‘einsaugen’ (203), ‘durchwühlen’ (227), and ‘sich vertiefen’ (315), as well as with a number of translation of to see strengthened by the German adverb ‘genau’. All these terms convey to some extent intense knowledge and understanding of something. Others stress the aspect of enjoying: ‘auf etwas stehen’ (124, 134, 177), ‘dufte finden’ (127), ‘sich amüsieren’ (272). Unfortunately some of the terms used fail to communicate either part of to dig, e.g. ‘besehen’ (101) or ‘mitkriegen’ (270). But it should have become clear how difficult a task to tackle the translation of the term to dig is, the reason being its complexity, which derives from the complexity of IT.

A similarly close look at the usage of the concepts of madness and nakedness

would prove them desirable states. One of the definitions Langenscheidt-Longman offers for mad is ‘uncontrolled’, which explains the advantage of madness. For being

1 Unterwegs was published in 1987 by Reclam, Leipzig. Admittedly, I could not find out the translator’s

name. All it says is: ”berechtigte Übertragung aus dem Amerikanischen”.

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