Ciara Keane
Period 5
Women in On the Road
Term Paper
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.
Much like Camille, Dean has no respect for Marylou, treating
her like a disposable, emotionless pleasure toy that he only calls upon when
times are convenient; naturally, he has no problem being unfaithful to
her. At one p.m. 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 affection for his wife through
the ultimate act of love, only to turn around and have sex with another woman
only hours after. He took advantage of
both of them, making sure he got his daily dose of sex from each, disregarding the
idea of faithfulness. When Sal is
describing the situation, he says that Dean is “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 an
unintelligent 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 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 do these errands, he was
going to ‘have her’ do it. She was nothing more than a vehicle of convenience;
an always-available means to fulfill his physical needs.
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.
About half way through the book, we
are introduced to Walter’s wife, a character who is only spoken about for two
pages at most, but her presence and the meaning of her inclusion made a lasting
impact on me and my understanding of the beatnik generation. Walter’s wife is described by Sal as “the
Sweetest Woman in the World”, because “she never asked Walter where he’d been,
what time it was, nothing”. In other
words, Walter was so lucky because he had a wife who wouldn’t question him when
he was never around for their family, when would have affairs with other women,
or when he was not acting as a source of support and stability: all questions a
wife can and should be able to ask.
“Now, you see man, here’s real woman for you. Never a harsh word, never
a complaint, or modified; her old man can come in any hour of the night with
anybody and have talks in the kitchen and drink the beer and leave any old
time”, says Dean, providing a clear image of Dean’s view of the perfect
relationship. Dean doesn’t understand
that a real woman would be one who
worked hard to do her part in a relationship, and made sure that her partner
was doing the same. A real woman would
not put up with a poisonous, uncaring man who kept her around for convenience
and treated her with no respect. “This
is a man, and that is his castle”, says Dean as he observes the relationship
between Walter and his wife, and the desired marital relationships of this time
period could not become clearer than with this epigram. Dean does not desire a marriage in the way we
view them now: a source of mutual support, love, and respect. Dean does not want a mutual relationship; he
wants a submissive relationship, where he can do whatever he wants, even if
that includes not being unfaithful. To
Dean and the rest of the beats, a good woman is a woman with no self-respect, and
this is the woman they see in Walter’s wife.
Many have said that Kerouac’s On the Road made a lasting impression on
their lives, as it was a defining piece of literature that characterized the
emotions and proceedings of the lives of the beatniks. I would have to agree with this assertion,
however for a different reason. Reading On the Road made me realize how far
women have progressed in society to get where we are today, and how far we
still have to go. Modern relationships
are more mutual now, based on equality and respect between the two people
involved; however, there is still more that can be done until we can truly say
that men and women are equal. On the Road is still full of literary
merit, and we have so much to learn from the past.
Citations
Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: Viking Press,
Inc., 1957. Print.
Sungkar,
Najwa. "Women Objectification in The Novel "On The Road" by Jack
Kerouac." Attraversiamo.
N.p., 7 Nov. 2010. Web. 4 May 2014.<http://najwasungkaracademic.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/women-objectification-in-the-novel-“on-the-road”-by-jack-kerouac/>.
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