Final Paper

Juan Pino

Period 5

May 5, 2014

Kafka Pillars and On the Road

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, how the Beat Generation bent and altered it, and the general relationship between the two.

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.

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. One of the ways Dean finds spirituality, or anything remotely close to a religion for that matter, is through sex. As can be seen in this quote, “Dean had dispatched the occupant of the apartment to the kitchen, probably to make coffee, while he proceeded with his love problems, 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,” (Part 1, Ch. 1, P. 4) Dean prioritizes sex above everything else. In other words, his moral code and everyday choices revolve around sex.

In Dean’s particular situation, his religious pillar dictates essentially that he must seek sex perpetually. In consequence, this contradicts the state and family pillars. Dean at one point has multiple wives, which in the United States is illegal. Furthermore, despite the fact that socially it is frowned upon to have mistresses, it is not illegal and thus technically pillars do not contradict in that respect. The technicality of it comes in the moment Dean obtains multiple wives, putting Kafka’s theory into play with respect to the state pillar. As for the family pillar, which is constituted by friends in Dean’s case, Dean constantly ditches his friends (and thus his family) for sex. As a result, the family and church pillar’s interests gainsay.

Subsequently, the family pillar also makes its presence felt in On the Road. The traditional definition of family is: a group of people related to one another by blood or marriage. Of course On the Road, being the epitome of the Beat Generation, cannot be analyzed in a traditional sense. In On the Road, a family can be taken to be any group of people who spend an inordinate amount of time with one another for the pleasure of their company. As a result, with the relationship Dean and Sal have they could be considered family. Other examples of family include Terry and Remi Boncoeur, whom Sal lived with for some time. The tangible differences in the traditional definition of family and the modern version established by the Beat Generation is a perfect example of how the Beat Generation has shifted and affected Kafka’s pillars.

The contradictive aspect of Kafka’s family pillar in On the Road is most visible when Sal is with Terry and Remi. With Terry, Sal’s feelings were incredibly strong, to the point where he was even compelled to establish a traditional family with her. In the end, the road called to him, and thus church and family conflicted. Sal’s natural tendency to go and be on the road as part of the Beat Generation overpowered his feelings for Terry, which were pulling his very being into a more traditional state.

The last Kafka pillar, whose presence is felt much less in On the Road when compared to the other pillars, is that of the state. The characters that represent the Beat Generation in On the Road do not necessarily revolt directly against the government for they are not trying to overthrow it. Their motives revolve around not wanting to be controlled by anyone or anything in anyway, and governments do exactly that. Essentially, the Beat Generation in On the Road is comprised of anarchists in the sense that they are for an absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual. This particular quality can especially be seen in Dean who absolutely despises being tied down. Furthermore, in the novel the government hardly interferes with the plot or anything at all for that matter, portraying the Beat Generation’s adamancy to being subjugated. On another note, historically, once all of society shifted from a traditional position to a more liberal one, the government could be seen taking more effect as Kafka’s pillars reasserted themselves. Until that occurred, the state pillar of Kafka’s theory was rendered ineffective. This goes to show how both society and the pillars affect each other.

Ultimately, the relationship between Kafka’s pillars and the Beat Generation is a complex one. In On the Road, one is privileged with insight to what the Beat Generation was like and as a result, one can see the way all three pillars of Kafka’s theory function and behave in and outside of the context of On the Road. With this I conclude my term paper, and so, “Ha ha charade you are.”

Citations

Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Penguin, 1991. Print.