On The Road presents its reader with a detailed
account of a generation shift known as the beat movement. The beat movement can
be characterized by a generation trying to detach themselves from the
constructed norms of society and free themselves from responsibility. Their
desire to stray away from society can be compared to Kafka’s work where there
is a constant reoccurrence of characters trying to move away from society but
always getting pulled back by the three pillars that make up society: state, church,
and family. In an attempt to escape the reality
of society, the Beat Generation found it most effective to reject Kafka's 3
institutions by staying on the road. The only worries the characters of On the
Road faced went back to one or more of the institutions, and their solution was
always to run away and keep running.
Generation shifts occur when a large enough
part of society, typically the young and upcoming generation, rejects certain
standards of society and starts creating new accepted standards. Once enough people
join the new movement, it becomes an accepted part of society and the norms of
society typically shift. For this reason, it is impossible to ever fully escape
society, which is evident in On The Road because even though the characters keep
running, they are never free. Even while traveling cross-country, there are
constant run ins with the law and constant family drama. The beat generation,
kids who just want to run and be care free, are the perfect example of how
trapped people are in society because of how impossible it is to fully escape because many of the things they did on the road that defied society is now an accepted part of society because of the power of the generation shift.
The
most prominent example of the characters of On The Road rejecting Kafka’s
pillars of society is seen through the rejection of the State. A reoccurring
theme throughout the novel is how the police are constantly brought up in a
negative light. The main character to go off on a tangent about how much he
detests the law is Dean, considering he had spent time in jail and was on a
mission to never settle down and surrender to a typical life under the eyes of
the law. However, even other people Sal and Dean met on the road had similar
feelings towards law enforcement and one man told them “Them goddamn cops can’t
put no flies on my ass!” (Kerouac, 1.3.5) In addition to characters on the road
bad mouthing the police, there are several situations that prove some of the
corruption. At one point Remy gets Sal a job as a security job
only to further ruin the reputation of law enforcers. He never stayed sober on
the job and spoke about the police’s interests as only being to meet quota to
avoid being fired. The old cop that Sal spoke to on the job even reminisced in
his old days where all the cops used to abuse the prisoners and take advantage
of their power.
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.” (Kerouac, 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.” (Kerouac, 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.
Dean’s inability to stay committed to one woman reflects the
greater idea of breaking up the idea of what makes up the concept of “family”
in a society. Throughout the book there is a focus on Dean’s back and fourth
marriages. When Dean is first introduced to the audience he has left Marylou, a
stereotypical dumb blonde. Dean and Marylou’s relationship is interesting
considering the point in time it took place. The way they act with each other signals
a shift to the way a relationship in general has evolved. The promiscuity that
is very typical in today’s society was new when On the Road took place. Dean
and Marylou represent the pendulum shift from a traditional type of marriage
and relationship to a type of relationship that is common in today’s society
with an accepted idea of “on and off relationships”. In the context of the
novel, their relationship was reckless and in many ways ridiculous. They were
completely in love one moment and the next Dean would call Marylou a whore and
she’d be on her way. In today’s society, that type of unstable relationship is
starting to become more and more accepted. This goes to show that society will
always catch up with new trends and accept them slowly. It may have seemed like
Dean and Marylou were defying all accepted norms of what it meant to be in a
relationship, but from the time the book took place until now society has
caught up and their reckless passion has been embraced as part of our culture.
The promiscuity described throughout the novel, which seemed
dangerously scandalous considering the time it took place is now a very
prominent part of American culture. Not only have the accepted norms for
promiscuity become less strict, but people’s attitudes towards sex have changed
to slowly resemble the kind of attitude Dean had regarding sex. Traditional
values regard sex as a sacred act that is important in marriage and in the
creation of a family; however, according to Sal none of those values stuck with
Dean as seen through his description of him, “For to him
sex was the one and only holy and important thing in life, although he had to
sweat and curse to make a living and so on.” (Kerouac, I.1.4) Sal says this
about Dean to show that his main priority had nothing to do with any of the
three institutions of society. Because promiscuity failed to fit into the ideal
image of society, society eventually evolved in order to include it as part of
the culture.
The
third and final institution of society is the Church, which is almost
completely absent throughout the novel. By living life on the road there is no
order or sense of routine, therefore; the church itself is never part of the
journey. Church as a pillar of society extends to religion and how it governs
one’s life, and that concept is seen throughout the novel especially in Sal. It
is almost as if Sal has found his religion in Dean, which rejects the
traditional views on religion and signals yet another generation shift. Instead
of idolizing an instilled belief system like religion, Sal decides to idolize a
person, which is becoming more and more common in today’s modern society. Sal
often uses the word “holy” to describe things about Dean. Sal even refers to
him as a new kind of American saint. To Sal, a saint was someone who had no
sense of the three pillars that made up society. The new kind of saint was
someone who walked to their own beat and followed no rules, just like Dean. In
part 3 Dean is even referred to as a prophet, “Dean laughed. For years he had
been chief prophet of that gang and now they were learning his technique.” (III.3.6)
This quote shows how Dean took the lead of the beat generation and what he
represented became the religion that the rest followed.
In many ways the entire generation shift is
embodied through Dean. Everything he stood for and the way he acted was
completely unheard of at the time, which is primarily why Sal became so
fascinated by him. Dean represents the change that disrupts the norms in
society, while Sal represents those who follow it and eventually make it an
accepted part of society. On The Road is the story of how a generation shift
evolved out of a group of young people who simply wanted to escape from
society, yet society ended up catching up with them. In an attempt to reject
all three of Kafka’s institutions that make up society, the entire American culture
changed along with them, proving that there is no way to abandon society.
Works Cited: Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: Viking Press, Inc., 1957. Print.
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