The Beat Generation and on the Road Essay
Violence and Crime is lifting at a steady rate. but when did America inherit its deficiency of safety for the mean individual? The reply is from the “beat” coevals. Depressed and hurt from World War Two and The Great Depression the “beat” coevals sparked a ruin into larceny. drug and intoxicant maltreatment. and irresponsible sex. During the late 19 mid-fortiess and early 19 1950ss it was non uncommon to see people thumbing on the side of the route and acquiring picked up.
This was a clip when people considered the United States of America to be safe and the mean individual could walk the streets without worrying about being robbed. raped or murdered. Today it is uncommon to happen person who wittingly allows their adolescent kids to thumb across the state or sometime even walk to school on their ain. The contemporary citizens of the United States of America lock their autos. their places and even put their kids on tethers. These safety safeguards would look pathetic and cockamamie to those born before the 19 1960ss.
This over-zealous sum of safety and security can all be blamed on those who have abused the good and guiltless nature that Americans have antecedently displayed. The all in coevals stole and lied at such an increasing rate that contemporary Americans must be cautious of each other and unrecorded in fright of the most ugly offenses. In the novel. On the Road by Jack Kerouac. the supporters steal. prevarication and acquire high to make full the empty infinites in their agenda and to sooth the strivings in their psyches.
It is through these actions that security develops and these malevolent thoughts are exchanged to the young person that is populating under this broke and beat-up coevals. The all in coevals. hurt by universe war two. lost the trust for the mean American citizen by stealing. mistreating drugs and intoxicant and making broken households. The greed for others belonging and the deficiency of handiness of wealth in the universe has tempted all to steal and lie to derive for themselves. In the novel. On the Road. the supporters are seen stealing gas. coffin nails and even autos.
Dean. the narrator’s long-time friend has literally grown up on the incorrect side of the paths. His male parent being a rotter and a rummy helped him larn how to steal and last the barbarous universe that the homeless unrecorded in. “We stopped at a gas station. and there Dean and Marylou played piggyback around the armored combat vehicles and Dunkel went indoors and stole three battalions of coffin nails without seeking. We were fresh out” ( Kerouac 139 ) . Dunkel. another homeless hitchhiker is picked up by Dean. Sal and Marylou. He effortlessly steals coffin nails for them. exposing another act of larceny by a stateless individual.
This act of larceny shows the reader the deficiency of morality of the vagabonds in America. When any of the supporters are confronted by the constabulary it is at a minute in the novel when they are non interrupting the jurisprudence. “We had to follow the flatfoot back to the station and there pass an hr waiting in the grass while they telephoned Chicago to acquire the proprietor of the Cadillac to verify our place as hired drivers. Mr. Baron said. harmonizing to the bull. ‘Yes. that is my auto. but I can’t vouch for anything else those male childs might hold done. ’…Everything was straightened out and we roared on” ( Kerouac 236 )
It is really lucky for Dean and Sal to ne’er acquire into existent problem with the bulls when they are stopped by them. because they steal so much that with the modern twenty-four hours security system and constabulary they would be immediately caught and hauled off to prison. It is with this deficiency of morality and their ceaseless desires and dependences that the supporters continue their travels. stealing and doping back and Forth across America. Along with the wickednesss of larceny comes the offense of drug and intoxicant maltreatment. Throughout the novel the supporters drink to a great extent and experiment with marihuana. and Benzedrine.
When the group of irresponsible citizens travels to Louisiana to see Bull Lee they easy damage their livers with Benzedrine. Bull Lee represents the “teacher” of the group. the one from whom they have learned their ways of life. It is to no surprise of the reader that Bull Lee is invariably strung out on Benzedrine. “That dark Marylou took everything in the books ; she took tea. fatheads. sesame. and spirits and even asked Old Bull for a shooting of M. which of class he didn’t give her ; he gave her a martini. She was so concentrated with elements of all sorts that she came to a standstill and stood Goofies on the porch with me” ( Kerouac 147-148 ) .
It is evident that all of the supporters abuse drugs and intoxicant. This shows their demand to acquire off from the universe and leave their lives behind. Like the route. and thumbing. drugs help them run from their jobs so that they can happen felicity. This fresh present’s drug and intoxicant maltreatment as a really evident tendency in society. Because of World War Two the people of America have seen many ghastly and atrocious sights. and therefore they find the demand to distance themselves from society as a whole. so that they can blunt the hurting from their losingss.
It was believed for a long clip that Kerouac wrote the novel On the Road while taking Benzedrine for the euphoric and originative feeling that it gave him. “For decennaries. in infinite publications. Kerouac’s 19 51 typewriting session has been described as ‘Benzedrine-fueled’ and ‘Benzedrine –drenched’ and so on. This is non the likely instance. In a private missive. Kerouac corrected Ginsberg when. old ages subsequently. he wrote an article for Village Voice stating that Benzedrine boosted Kerouac’s typing effort.
Kerouac told Ginsberg in definite footings that ‘Road was non written on sesame. on coffee’ ( Jack Kerouac Letter to Allen Ginsberg 184 ) ” ( Theado 15 ) . It is non unreasonable for those to hold questioned Kerouac’s soberness during the times that he wrote On the Road. It is from this coevals that we have learned that one can acquire high on simple prescription medical specialty. Along with the drugs the Acts of the Apostless of larceny can even be considered one of the ways that the supporters create unreal euphory for themselves. “…while they might steal to back up their drug wonts. for illustration. Dean ‘Stole autos for joyrides’ ( Kerouac 10 ) .
The phrase “joy ride” must be understood rather literally as an experience of joy. and joy-spontaneous and unmanageable- seemed to be in scarce supply in the sad universe Sal describes” ( Holton 23 ) . This unhappiness in the universe that Sal describes. can. in their eyes. merely be cured through frivolousness. and mischievousness. Causing mayhem seems to be one of the few ways the characters in the novel can make felicity for themselves. Interrupting the jurisprudence makes them happy and due to this life of foolhardiness and jurisprudence breakage. promiscuousness and broken households are developed.
Throughout the fresh Dean and Sal sleep with many adult females. to fulfill their desire for feelings of euphory. Dean is found at the terminal of the novel in his 3rd matrimony and holding four kids. Although Dean loves his kids it is non plenty for him to remain married to the female parent of his kids. Dean could non happen felicity in his past matrimony because he invariably feels the demand to be free and unattached from the existent universe. This could easy be because of him being brought up in a broken household.
This shows that because of peoples past deficiency of making stable. conventional households. has developed an age where it is more uncommon to happen a household where the hubby and married woman have merely been married to each other. It is made clear that all of those around Dean find him irresponsible and even crackbrained. Galatea brings this up to Dean by stating: ”You have perfectly no respect for anybody but yourself and your blasted boots. All you think about is what’s hanging between your legs and how much money you can acquire out of people and so you merely throw them aside” ( Kerouac 194 ) . It is most obvious that Dean is careless and foolhardy.
This is represented by his indecency to non remain with his kids and non back up them until he is required. by jurisprudence. to make so. His deficiency of stableness in female familiarities upsets his friends to the point of them non seeing him in any well-thought-of manner. “Dean’s affair with a 3rd married woman is in consequence a dual treachery. a dual failure. It is a treachery of his hail-fellow matrimony to Sal. and a treachery of the freedom of action and motion that goes with ’IT’” ( Hunt 51 ) . Dean’s promiscuousness is normally seen today. and is regarded every bit unsafe because of the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections.
This spread of STI’s could even perchance be from the round generation’s unbelievable sexual aberrance. As clip progresses life can merely acquire harder for everyone because of the old generation’s irresponsibleness and sloppiness. One would reason that it is irresponsible to fault anyone for society’s mistakes and dangers. As the human race advancements. so does its problems. It is impossible to fault one coevals for all of the problems in America. but it is clear that the offense rate jumped after World War Two with the xplanation that interrupting the jurisprudence was the lone manner for people to happen euphory.
Drug maltreatment and larceny were. for the most portion. under-the-rug topics and non expected of the mean individual. Society has rapidly learned that anyone can be a condemnable and that it is better to be precautious of the worst offenses than to be left amazed and helpless from being excessively naif and swearing all. Today. The United States of America is plagued with felons and wrongdoers of the jurisprudence so that the people have covered the state with security cameras. technological safety safeguards and locked doors.
The people of The United States of America have learned the difficult manner. to non swear their neighbours from the actions of the all in coevals. It besides was really unheard of to hold a non-conventional household before the 19 1950ss. The divorce rate is at an all-time high. and it is because of the hapless actions that people make with those around them. This was all sparked by the round generation’s lubricious relationships and impromptu matrimonies. The rise in promiscuousness and the deficiency of desire to be responsible with sex post-World War Two gave the thought that it is all right to non be conventional to the future coevalss of America.
Human existences learn from those around them. and it is non uncommon to happen tendencies in frailties through different coevalss in households. One’s hapless determination. witnessed by young person. will probably be reflected in the hereafter by the young person. It is with the cognition that one’s present actions will impact the hereafter of those around him or her that one should derive duty for the hereafter. It is without a uncertainty that society in the United States of America has drastically changed since World War Two and even more so with the creative activity of the cyberspace in the 19 1880ss.
The round coevals has given society the load of deficiency of trust. Through the actions of many. American society has gained the cognition that any one individual can be a condemnable. Due to the maltreatment of drugs. and intoxicant from the all in coevals. it is non uncommon to happen nuts and drug addicts throughout the streets. Society is non naif any longer to the maltreatment of prescription drugs and inhalators. Medicines that have helped many have been removed from modern medical pattern because of those who abused them for euphoric experiences.
Families are now normally seen with fluctuations in dealingss between siblings and without a traditional set of two parents. The divorce rate in The United States of America has increased to a greathearted tallness. Promiscuous images are often seen on the telecasting. in magazines. and on the cyberspace. Children have grown to be unaffected by gruesome and sexual images. It is undeniable that stealing is looked down upon by many. but in the present United States of America. the kids are no aliens to shrinkage.
Society in America is losing its morality as clip goes on. It is due to the inappropriate actions of past coevalss that the citizens of The United States of America have increased their security and misgiving in people as a whole. The all in coevals. particularly. has disturbed the heads of the American people with its nihilist motions. One should inquire him or herself why society is being invariably watched through security cameras. and why it is so difficult to happen a traditionally structured household. and why it is now unsafe to thumb.
