Thesis:
Many of Dostoyevsky’s ideas from “Notes from the Underground” manifest in
Kerouac’s On the Road, explaining the role inherent human nature has in why
Dean and Sal act the way they do.
Outline:
I.
Man is self-interested in only himself;
everything he does is to further his own experience.
a.
Dean needs Sal –that’s the only reason
he stays with him
i.
Sal is the educated one.
1.
The first time Dean scouts out Sal, he
does so because he had no other place to live, and he wanted Sal to show him
how to write.
ii.
Dean needs Sal’s resources/money.
1.
Always gets Sal a job so he can work for
money for them to travel around together.
2.
Stops by Sal’s friends’ houses just to
pick up money and then continue on the road again –Sal funds their adventures.
b.
Sal leeches off the experiences Dean
finds himself in.
i.
Always says that he can’t keep up with
Dean’s gang –that’s precisely why he needs Dean as a way to get into the ‘impulsive’
group.
ii.
He was a writer, and needed new
experiences – Dean was the inspiration - “I shambled after as I’ve been doing
all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are
the mad ones” (5)
iii.
He wanted something new and refreshing –“My
life hanging around the campus had reached the completion of its cycle” (6).
1.
“Somewhere along the lines, I knew there’d
be girls, visions, everything…would be handed to me…” (7)
2.
Sal knows Dean can ‘fix him up’ with the
girls.
c.
“He was conning me and I knew it, and he
knew I knew, but I didn’t care and we got along fine” (4)
II.
Don’t follow rationale or protect themselves
against self-harm.
a.
Dean and Sal continually embark on
adventures even when they know it’s completely against logic.
i.
Travel with hitchhikers they don’t
know/risking their lives in the case that there is no one to bring them
anywhere.
ii.
Keep ‘foolishly squandering’ (29) the
money at clubs even though they know they should save it.
iii.
They almost die a couple of times and
leave their unprotected families behind, but still make the trip.
b.
Sal constantly leaves behind everything
just for Dean.
i.
In the first half of the book, he drops
all opportunities for an adventure (like the circus offer) because he wants to
follow Dean specifically.
ii.
Abandons his old/real friends, like Chad
and Roland Major, because he’d rather be w. Dean.
c.
Don’t listen to their families and go
against their better judgment.
i.
The first time Sal leaves, his aunt
tells him not to and that Dean would get into trouble, but Sal still leaves.
III.
Impulsive v. Cautious – Seeing only one
side of the argument and acting v. Being too smart to act at all
a.
Dean = impulsive
i.
Keeps acting on whim because he is so
limited by the wall of adventure and life that he doesn’t stop to think or over
worry, like Sal does.
b.
Sal = Too cautious
i.
But he changes over the course of the
book - that’s why Dean is his guide to live life on the edge.
ii.
Taking ‘gambles’ during his on-the-road
life instead of living conservatively, as in the beginning.
IV.
The journey matters more than the
destination.
a.
Dean and Sal keep heading off with a
final destination in mind, but don’t care how they get there. They enjoy the
‘during’ aspect, and are afraid to see the end of it –stops the excitement and
danger.
b.
The people they meet –they don’t mind
never seeing them again, it’s all about the “then and there”.
c.
During his first trip, Sal sets off
without any idea of how to get to Remi –just leaves with some money.
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