Second 500

            A constant idea that is referenced throughout the entire story Notes from the Underground, is the concept that there are these great “walls” that exist in our and most likely every society that exists in this universe.  These walls stem from the fact that humans as a species do not have all the answers to the big questions.  Where we came from, how the universe came into existence, is there life beyond the stars, does a god exist, is life after death real; these are all questions we cannot answer.  To dwell on these thoughts can be terrifying, so in order to avoid trying to answer the impossible walls are drawn up to secure our thoughts and provide a feeling of warmth and comfort where there is none.  Walls can be anything from the idea of religion and life after death, to the ideas of societal norms.  Nobody knows the truth, so in order to provide a sense of the truth walls are created.  Sal has lived his entire life in mainstream society.  He has put up with society’s wishes and desires and has confined himself to the customs that go along with living among others.  In On the Road, Sal repents society and wishes to follow his own path.  He destroys the walls of maintaining regular church attendance and family to enjoy himself and live life in the moment free from responsibility.

            Sal mentions at the very beginning “that everything is dead” (1.4).  He starts of the novel by acknowledging the fact that his life in mainstream society was getting to the point where he developed what seems like serious depression.  His solution is to try and remove himself from society and take his chances on the road.  He teams up with Dean, probably one of the most unlikeable characters considering his indifferent attitude towards Sal throughout the story.  Dean is always leaving Sal behind, never waiting for him to catch up.  According to most people, friends must be chosen wisely because they define who you are as a person.  Who you associate with often displays your interests and tendencies as a human being.  Sal backs away from this idea or wall, and recreates what societal norms are for him.  Rather than be caught up trying to make a way in a career or build up a contact network to support his family, he chooses to befriend a crazy, juvenile delinquent who will offer him a crazy experience over a safe lifestyle.  “This is all far back, when Dean was not the way he is today, when he was a young jail kid shrouded in mystery” (1.17-18).  Dean is not your typical friend.  By throwing away his old life with his wife and a steady job, and embracing new, crazy friends with a hippie like lifestyle, he demonstrates his frustrations with society’s walls.  Sal has created for himself his own wall, a life on the road with no responsibilities or worries.   

First 500.

            On the Road, by Jack Kerouac, is a novel that tells the story of aimless teenagers who choose to live in the moment rather than focus on the future.  In today’s society we are all focused on the future and the past, whether we are stressing about that future test that is upcoming, or a past mistake that may come and bite us in the butt.  While living like this can help keep us on top of our daily struggles, it can also cause unnecessary stress, which can lead to more severe health problems.  This novel features a group of young adults and teenagers who have thrown aside society’s norms, and are focused on solely living in the moment in order to evade the stresses of their former lives and find a new way to enjoy life carefree.

            While reading through Dostoyevsky’s, Notes from the Underground, I noticed some interesting parallels between the themes and ideas expressed in Notes, to the actions and thought processes behind the characters featured in On the Road.  A major theme that I felt was clearly exemplified in On the Road is the belief that human decisions cannot be mathematically calculated.  This is evident in Sal’s lack of regard for personal safety and care while on his journey around the country.  Generally while travelling, people look out for themselves and make sure that money isn’t an issue.  There isn’t anything much worse than being stuck in a foreign area without the means to food and clothe oneself.  Sal runs into this problem more than once.  If humans were calculable, this wouldn’t be an issue.  “Mañana, said Rickey.  Mañana, man, we make it; have another beer, man, dah you go, dah you go!” (Kerouac 93.6).  In this line, Sal’s lack of interest in earning money for himself shows a blatant disregard for himself, which goes against the notion of humans acting rationally and calculably.  “None of us knew what was going on, or what the Good Lord appointed.” (93.36-37).  Sal has no plan in his life, and to act rationally a plan is needed in order to accomplish tasks.  This constant predicament of running out of money, gas, food, and shelter follows Sal and his gang of friends throughout the entire novel.  Dostoyevsky argues against the scientists of his day who argued that there is some sort of formula or algorithm that can predict how humans behave.  Kerouac agreed with Dostoyevsky in the idea that humans act in whichever way they want, and in many cases this ends up being illogical and irrational.  Just like when humans are tired or emotional, logical reasoning flies right out the window.  The entire idea of riding around with an ex-con lunatic, doing drugs, getting into fights, sleeping in parked cars, and living life on the edge isn’t logical or rational.  Another interesting point that is noticeable in On the Road, and is mentioned in Notes from the Underground is a subtle wish to return to normalcy, or society’s view of normalcy after a crazy adventure.  Every once in a while, after weeks of acting crazy, Sal will attempt to try and live normally, he will retain a job try and get a steady girlfriend and care for himself, but his plans fail because he is always drawn to the craziness of being on the road.  Everyone has an innate sense to be wild and irrational, some are better at hiding those desires than others.      

Ciara's Third Paper Blog

Marylou’s objectification was not solely shaped by Dean’s actions; Sal’s behavior and mindset had a large part in the injustice as well. Even in Sal’s initial description, the reader can see that Sal’s image of her is almost solely based on her aesthetics.  He depicts her as “a pretty blonde with immense ringlets of hair like a sea of golden tresses”, explaining, “outside of being a sweet little girl, she was awfully dumb.”  Given these descriptions, it becomes evident that the reason for both Dean and Sal’s interest in Marylou stems from their adoration of her physical beauty, not any beauty or goodness they found within her character or personality.  She is a source of sexual pleasure and, in essence, a treat for them to observe as they attempt to quell their incessant hormones. Not once is Marylou’s mind addressed, in regards to her possessing any kind of intellect or thought besides sexual desire.  When Sal sees Marylou again after her and Dean split, he says: “Marylou had not slept since Denver.  I thought she looked older and more beautiful now”.  Though this might be taken as a compliment, Sal’s comment further enforces the fact that Marylou is merely a source of “eye candy” to Sal and the rest of the men in the novel.  The first person point of view of On the Road allows the reader to receive valuable insight into the way beatnik men perceived women during this time period.  Sal’s descriptions and references towards Mary Lou provide evidence for the idea that women were seen and used as nothing more than a source of physical pleasure.

Similarly to Sal’s descriptions of Marylou, the diction used to depict Terry was just as visually oriented.  She is said to have had “breasts that stuck out straight and true”, with “flanks that looked delicious” and hair that was “long and lustrous black”.  These foundations are the most vivacious descriptions we get of Terry throughout her short relationship with Sal, and well as the first descriptions we get of her.  Of course, it is foolish not to consider the fact that relationships usually begin based on an attraction between two people; however, Sal’s observations regarding Marylou are limited, besides the ones describing her physical appearance.  It is not only this specific relationship; every relationship in the novel seems to be mostly, if not purely, superficial, which would explain the unlucky nature of the relationships that both Dean and Sal experience.

Sharon's 3rd 500

The idea that Sal has begun to make more self-harming decisions feeds directly into Dostoyevsky’s analysis of impulsive versus cautious human behavior. These actions do not arise for no reason; in fact, those who normally fight for what they believe in only do so because they are too ignorant to see the whole idea and weigh all the options. Dostoyevsky compounds this conclusion by contributing his own inability to act to being too smart. His own knowledge and constant thinking render him, and other intellectually superior humans, too perceptive to just pick one side of the argument and act ‘blindly’ as the impulsive people do. Sal, in the beginning of the novel, is the embodiment this latter attitude; he never ventures to the craziness of a life on the road, partially because of his obligations at home, but also partially because he was too indecisive, “always vaguely planning and never taking off” (1). He had worried too much and never got anything done, a sign of his intelligence.

“On the Road”, however, marks the transition from Sal’s cautious, conservative lifestyle to one of gambles and risks. Upon the divorce, he decides to finally throw away any inhibitions and set out. Although difficult at first, as evidenced by Sal’s misery during the first few days after realizing his preconceived notions were incorrect, Sal later adjusts to his new lifestyle by using Dean as a guide to living life on the edge. The subsequent more decisive, albeit wild, behavior that results is, as Dostoyevsky analyzed, representative of Sal’s freer nature in which he is no longer overwhelmed by constant overthinking, choosing instead to make decisions in the spur of the moment without thinking of the consequences. While Sal chooses this lifestyle, however, Dean embraces this decisive, impulsive nature because it is the only one that has ever made sense to him. In accordance with Dostoyevsky’s observations, Dean has never considered any other life because he is simply unable to picture himself without being on the road. Just as the generation before the Beat had only accepted a sensible and structured society, Dean can only appreciate wild risks; he is too set in his ways and stubborn to accept anything else.

For this reason, Dean also embodies Dostoyevsky’s idea of walls; like much of the Beat generation, Dean tries to go against the structured society of the time, breaking down the wall of conformity. In doing so, however, he is setting up a different one –the belief that only being on the road will give him the happiness he wants. Even suffering from withdrawal-like symptoms and depression whenever he has somewhat settled down with his family for a short time, Dean feeds off of being on the road to such an extent that he cannot function well outside of it, associating things like sex, drugs, alcohol and partying as strictly on-the-road experiences. He has rejected the typical work- and family-oriented lifestyle so much to the extent that he feels restricted in even the remotest settings of it. 

Sharon's Second 500

Sorry I fhad orgotten to finish the 500 after Orlando:/

            A second focal point that Dostoyevsky’s novel centers on is the fact that humans in general do not follow rationale, thus willingly walking straight into situations of self-harm. The reason for this behavior is not, as Dostoyevsky analyzes, due to unawareness or lack of understanding; rather, even though they know what will happen, humans purposefully choose to go against what is in their best interest simply because they can –it serves to reassure them that they can still exercise their own free will. The idea of the Beat Generation embodies this; just like Dean and Sal, the entire young generation rebelled against the ‘safety’ of the plain and normal paradigm of that time. In the search for the meaning of life, they experimented with relatively freer, but taboo and more unsafe, activities, such as constant usage of drugs, in an effort to exercise their free will in not being relegated to the same sensible, tedious lifestyle of the earlier generation.

Similarly, Dean and Sal consistently go back onto the road in an effort to combat the humdrum of ‘normal’ life, even when they know it is completely illogical. The pair travel through places they’ve never even heard about and with hitchhikers they don’t know when there is no one else to bring them anywhere; in addition, they do not worry about what they are doing, ignoring all the risks and consequences of such actions like ‘foolishly squandering’ (29) money at clubs. Even with the little they have, and the knowledge that they should budget even a dollar or two, Dean and Sal always end up with nothing by the end of the night. In the later half of the novel, the two even leave their families who need them behind, going against the families’ wishes and abandoning the stability of domestic life for the impulsive freedom of the road. In fact, the first time Sal leaves, his aunt tells him not to as that Dean would get into trouble, but Sal still chooses to leave, knowingly picking the life on the road because he can. Although he starts off his travels with the claims of self-actualization in the first half of the book, Sal seems to actually want only to follow Dean; even though, according to his desires to start a new, refreshing and exciting life doing things he’s never done before, it would be in his best interest to take up all opportunities for an adventure presented during his initial travels, Sal does not. When confronted with the chance to join a traveling circus or take a free trip to California with an immensely entertaining, wandering group, Sal rejects all offers because he wants to follow Dean specifically. However, this directionless search for Dean’s respect causes Sal to abandon older, truer friends from his previous lifestyle, like Chad and Roland Major; by preferring to be with Dean, who is a considerably less sound friend, Sal rejects his own best interests and seeks to follow Dean around simply because it is what he has chosen to do. 

Juan Pino Post 2

To begin the analysis of Kafka’s pillars in the novel by Jack Kerouac, the presence of the church pillar that Kafka alluded to in his stories is noticeable. In “On the Road”, Kerouac does not bring the church pillar forth in a traditional sense. The characters that represent the Beat Generation are not bound by a traditional moral code such as the bible. In “On the Road”, a key characteristic of the Beat Generation is that they are attempting to figure everything out. They explore new ways to represent God; they have a different mindset for everything that is spiritual. In other words, these characters that Kerouac has created are attempting to define God and the church and thus this specific Kafkaesque pillar affects them all differently.

            A clear example of this is Sal who finds God in travelling. “I drove through South Carolina and beyond Macon, Georgia, as Dean, Marylou, and Ed slept. All alone in the night I had my own thoughts and held the car to the white line in the holy road. (Part 2, Ch. 6, P. 13) What a Catholic man may find in Church, Sal finds on the road. Now for the second part of Kafka’s theory, which states that the pillars contradict each other: If the average person were to take up Sal’s way of thought and go on the road like Sal does, with no goals and for simple joy of the journey, then the family would almost certainly cut that person off. It is simply too much of a burden to have someone leeching off you like that, enjoying what is an extended vacation that they call a way of life. In the end, for this situation, the church and family’s interests collide and are not one and the same. 

            Another example of untraditional form of church in On the Road comes along with Dean Moriarty. Dean finds

Ciara Keane Post 2

Much like Camille, Dean has no respect for Marylou, treating her like a disposable, emotionless pleasure toy that he only calls upon when it is convenient; naturally, he has no problem being unfaithful to her.  At one sharp he would rush from “Marylou to Camille, of course neither of the knowing what was going on.”  While he was still married to Marylou, he would have sex with her and head over to Camille’s to have sex with her immediately after.  He showed no sense of remorse or guilt concerning the fact that he would express his love to his wife through the ultimate act of love, only to turn around and have sex with another woman shortly only hours after.  He took advantage of both of them, making sure he got his daily dose of sex form both of them, disregarding the idea of faithfulness.  When Sal is describing the situation, he says that Dean was “going to get the necessary papers for their divorce.  Marylou’s all for it, but she insists on banging in the interim”.  This explanation makes Marylou seem desperate and senseless.  It makes it seem like she asks for this treatment; like she is to blame for Dean’s solely sex-based relationship with Marylou.  Maybe Marylou thought that she could win Dean back by providing him with consistent sexual opportunity, but naturally, Sal and Dean’s phallocentric lens only allows them to see that Marylou is a stupid slut without standards or morals.  Dean even takes his objectification of Marylou so far that he asked Sal to sleep with her so he could “see what Marylou was like with another man”.  Not only does he not mind his wife having sex with another man; he offers her up to Sal like she is his possession to give.  Though Sal denies the request, they never discuss Marylou’s opinion in this because in their eyes, she has no say.

            Dean’s values become apparent through the way he treats Marylou.  After he broke up with her once, he realized he wanted her back, but knew she wanted nothing to do with him.  Therefore, he “wanted absolute proof that she was a whore” so he could provide himself with an excuse for why he didn’t need her, and why he shouldn’t want her back.  He tarnishes her name, manifesting lies so as to make himself feel better about the irreparable mistakes he has made.  “For to him, sex was the one and only holy and important thing in life”, so worrying about how the things he said and did affected Marylou was not a priority, or even a matter of consideration.  Dean’s head is crowded nyphomanic thoughts; however, men like Dean seemed to think this was a legitimate excuse for the wrongs they did onto women, when that is all it really was: an excuse.

When he was with Marylou, the way he spoke to her when he had her was reflective of what he considered her to be.  When he was attempting to decide his next move, “he decided the thing to do was to have Marylou make breakfast and sweep the floor”. It is the small details that speak the loudest: he didn’t ask her to, he was going to ‘have her’ do it. She was nothing more than a vehicle of convenience, always available to fulfill his physical needs.

Alexa Ferrer 2nd 500 post

This rejection of the law ties into the rejection of the fundamental pillar of society, further proving the beat movement’s rebellious generation shift. In addition to negative light casted upon law enforcements, the actual characters from On The Road do their best to avoid run-ins with the law at all costs. Their paranoia is evident in several scenes in the book and can be analyzed as more than just anxiety towards police. “A tall, lanky fellow in a gallon hat stopped his car on the wrong side of the road and came over to us; he looked like a sheriff. We prepared our stories secretly. He took his time coming over. "You boys going to get somewhere, or just going?" We didn’t understand his question, and it was a damned good question.” (I.3.18) In this scene it becomes clear that although they dislike authority, their paranoia comes from something else. The fact that they do not have an answer to where they are going shows that it gives them anxiety to be confronted by an authoritative figure that represents society because they are trying to escape society all together. 

The characters seem almost incapable of functioning in society. There is no sense of stability in terms of settling down and getting a job. Throughout the majority of the book the characters are unemployed and live off of the money they borrow or beg for. Although Remy gets Sal a job for a brief period of time, it proves to be a waste of time and adds on to the negative light casted on any type of authority. Remy and Sal were constantly drunk on the job as security guards, which invalidated the legitimacy of authoritative figures. There is no respect for the law, as Remy would steal food and justify it by saying, “You know what President Truman said, “We must cut down the cost of living.” (I.11.62) The state is constantly mocked and rejected as a means of pushing away that part of society and avoiding any sense of order or continuity.

The second part of society rejected by the characters of On The Road is family. Family is a vital part of society because family is what provides shelter and safety until one is able to work on his or her own in society and then form his or her own family to restart the cycle. Family and state go hand in hand and it is evident that by rejecting one, the other will also be rejected. Because Dean is always on the road, it is nearly impossible for him to maintain a relationship. There is a focus on Dean’s relationships in the book and how he always goes back and forth between marriages. Although it is true that divorce is a common and accepted part of society, what is not as common and as accepted is going back and forth between people one has been married to, which is exactly what Dean does. Dean is the most interesting character when it comes to dealing with a family because he is completely incapable with following the accepted norms of having a family and treating a family. 

Ciara's First 500 Words

When we look back at our history, it is self-evident that men take the throne while women sit on the backburner.  Humans are the superior species, but men are treated as the superior class.  Though modern times have seen an improvement in terms of women’s place and regard in society, modern literature shows us that we still have a long way to go, highlighting the injustice and inequality still experienced by women in the last half- century. On the Road, written in 1957,is a novel about the life of Jack Kerouac, a renowned member of the beat generation.  Told from a phallocentric point of view, On the Road leaves the women it introduces to be portrayed solely as objects of disposable pleasure and entertainment. This objectification of women is only further reinforced by the hedonistic approach on life encapsulated by the beatnik generation.  This inferior treatment of women can be analyzed in the characters of Camille, Marylou, Terry, and Walter’s Wife.

Camille, being one of the main female characters in the novel, is victim to a large part of the abuse directed towards women in On the Road.  In one instance, Camille was crying in her room over her dire situation and Dean’s lack of care for her.  Sal was hesitant to enter the only bathroom in the house, located in her room, for fear of intruding on her privacy, but Dean responded by saying, “Go right ahead, she does that all the time.”  Dean shows a lack of empathy for Camille, disregarding her feelings and treating her more like an unwanted object possession than a human in need.  Sal said that it was “horrible to hear Camille sobbing” and they “couldn’t stand it” so they “went out to buy a beer.  Rather than trying to console her or make up for the agony he caused her, Dean chooses to disregard her.  Her crying and whining is not a part of his dream of having a happy-go-lucky, constantly horny woman at his disposal, and he makes this clear when he disregards her pitiful state.

Though Sal is slightly more respectful than Dean, he is still oblivious to the way Camille is being treated.  When Sal meets Marylou for the first time, he says “Camille was such a relief after Marylou; a well-bred, polite young woman”, and when the group of girls is criticizing Dean for his treatment of Camille, Sal defends Dean by saying that Dean “never left her, she kicked him out.”  Sal is insensitive to the fact that Camille has gone to hell and back dealing with Dean’s maniacal antics: not being able to hold a job, neglecting to support his child, and refusing to acknowledge her humanity.  Like many men in this time period, Sal sees Camille as being at fault for her actions, he too exhibiting a lack of understanding and compassion when it came to Camille’s state of mind.

Sharon's First 500 Words

            Published in the late 1950’s, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road explores the whirlwind era of the jazzy Beat Generation. Countering the established, mainstream way of doing things, the younger generation rebelled to create their own freer, meandering way of exploring and living life. This deep search for the meaning of life and one’s place in society is exemplified in the novel’s protagonist, Sal Paradise, and his constant reliance on friend Dean Moriarty; their intense quest for enjoyment of, and perspective about, life brings them around various cities in the United States into countless predicaments and experiences over the course of several years. Despite various personal problems at home, both never turn down an offer to take a trip ‘on the road’, excitedly leaving without any reservations, worries or preparation for the road ahead. Such behavior, while impulsive, is easily explainable through Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s analysis of the human nature in his novel, Notes from the Underground; his outline of human behavior explore inherent characteristics that define a person and differentiate them from each other and other animals. While these traits all manifest in Sal and Dean, several form the core elements to which their carefree outlook and exuberant behavior stem from.

            The underlying topic throughout Dostoyevsky’s novel is that man is only self-interested in himself to the point that everything he does is solely to further his own status and experience. This resonates in the relationship between Dean and Sal, and why the two are always together. It is clear from the start that Dean does not consider Sal his equal socially, while Sal does not regard Dean as his equal intellectually; the reason for their connection is thus because both need each other to cover up the area he is respectively lacking. Having recently divorced, Sal is searching for a new, refreshing experience, one that helps him leave his structured, tedious life behind –Dean gives this to him on a silver platter, “Somewhere along the lines, I knew there’d be girls, visions, everything…would be handed to me…” (7). Sal knows that he himself cannot survive on the road alone or ever come in close contact with the more impulsive ones without Dean’s help. For all that he is searching for a new life, Sal also remains true to his roots in starting another book, one that he finds inspiration for through Dean’s life. In sticking with Dean, Sal joins in, in an almost ‘leeching’ manner, on his rambunctious lifestyle, both learning to enjoy life himself and taking notes on Dean’s interactions with his other friends. However, this relationship goes both ways; Dean allows the socially inferior Sal to stay by his side because he needs Sal’s resources. As the educated one, Sal is more endowed financially to fund their trips, and intellectually to obtain a job. In fact, the first time Dean scouted out Sal was because the former had no other place to live, and wanted Sal to teach him how to write. There have also been countless times where the pair stop by Sal’s friends’ houses just to pick up money and then continue on the road again. 

Juan Pino comment on Alexa's 500 words

I think you have done a good job so far in regards to getting out what you want to discuss. I also liked how you defined a generation shift and discussed it in your second paragraph. I believe it was a good build up for the meat of your paper that will lie in the middle paragraphs. One thing that I do think you should rephrase is when you say that in Kafka’s work his pillars pull characters back. I believe that stating that Kafka’s pillars confine the characters is a more accurate statement.  

Juan Pino first 500 words

            Franz Kafka introduced the idea that our society revolves around three pillars: State, Church, and Family. These three pillars of society were greatly affected by the Beat Generation in the 1950’s, and that is a fact. Evidence of this is visible in how the culture changed from the 40’s to the 50’s to the 60’s and so on. The so-called “Beat Generation” who began this social revolution is comprised of mavericks that in essence rejected all conventional society. On the Road, by Jack Kerouac, provides insight to the Beat Generation, thus illustrating the presence of Kafka’s pillars in our society, as well as how the Beat Generation bent and altered it.

            Through his work Kafka meticulously developed his concept of how our society works. By way of his works Kafka is able to boil everything down to the three separate institutions: church, state, and family. In his analysis Kafka argues that the institutions are all linked and work together to corral and guide our society down a certain path; to behave in a certain manner. In exchange for abiding by each of the institutions’ regulations, the individual is rewarded. The state provides protection, though we are punished if we fail to obey laws. Family provides love, shelter, and money, but we are disowned and cut off should we disrespect any rules our families may have set. The church promises paradise if we live according to its commandments, and eternal damnation if we fail to do so.

            Simultaneously, Kafka believes that, despite their connections to each other and having mutual goals, the institutions that constitute our every day lives contradict each other. In consequence, the system we live in is a flawed one and although it has been designed to set our moral standards and maintain order, ultimately we are only doomed to fail. By choosing to abide by one of the institutions’ rules, Kafka argues that we are bound to infringe upon rules set by the other institutions. His work clearly reflects this idea. For example, in “A Country Doctor”, the protagonist is confronted with a situation that forces him to pick a single institutions’ rules to follow because if he does not do his job he is disobeying the state, but if he leaves the woman there to be harmed he is breaking family and church rules. Furthermore, after electing to go aid the boy, the boy asks him to let him die, putting him in another situation where he must elect to follow one of the pillars while disregarding another.