On the Road; Jack Kerouac

On the Road is a true travel story, written in just three weeks time by Jack Kerouac in 1951. The book takes place during 1949 and tells the story of Sal, the narrator of the story and the character inspired by the author himself, and his friends, family, and people he meets along his journeys across the country. The book was later characterized as a story of the Beatnik Generation. The theme that develops throughout the story is the idea of being young, traveling and learning about yourself and others along the way. "'I want to marry a girl,' I told them, 'so I can rest my soul with her till we both get old. This can't go on all the time--all this franticness and jumping around. We've got to go someplace, find something.'" (Page 108).

Dean was Sal's friend, though they did have a rocky and interesting friendship throughout the course of the story. In the very beginning of the book, Sal says, "with the coming of Dean Moriarty began the part of my life you could call my life on the road." For Sal, Dean brought a new wave of excitement; new and different experiences. This brings up one of the devices Kerouac uses so well throughout the book--characterization. He does focus on Sal as the main character, however, he intertwines the personal stories of each other character and their affect on Sal and his experiences. Another way the Kerouac displayed the use of characterization was by showing Sal without Dean. Near the middle of the book, when Sal left Terry in California and went home back to New York, he felt lost--"Can you picture me walking those last miles through the Lincoln Tunnel or over the Washington Bridge and into New Jersey? It was dusk. Where was Hassel? I dug the square for Hassel; he wasn't there, he was in Riker's Island, behind bars. Where Dean? Where everybody? Where life? I had my home to go to, my place to lay my head down and figure the losses and figure the gain that I knew was in there somewhere too." (Pages 98-99). Kerouac also uses characterization as a literary device to show how Sal felt about Dean. Certain parts of the book showed how Sal appreciated the sense of adventure and excitement that Dean brought to his life. "I had been spending a quiet Christmas in the country, as I realized when we got back into the house and I saw the Christmas tree, the presents, and smelled the roasting turkey and listened to the talk of the relatives, but now the bug was on me again, and the bug's name was Dean Moriarty and I was off on another spurt around the road." (Page 106). Kerouac also uses the other characters in the book to show Sal’s emotion and his emotion and sentiment towards others. Like when he spent time with Terry in California. “I wished I was on her bus. A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world.” (Page 74). Through Sal meeting Terry, you could see a more sentimental, compassionate side of him. In the pages following, you could tell that he really did care for her. All of these experiences with other characters helped to shape the theme of the book because Sal was learning about himself as he learned about others.

Imagery was a device also used throughout the book. “The greatest ride in my life was about to come up, a truck, with a flatboard at the back, with about six or seven boys sprawled out on it, and the drivers, two young blond farmers from Minnesota, were picking up every single soul they found on that road—the most smiling, cheerful couple of handsome bumpkins you could ever wish to see.” (Page 20). He takes time to describe everything in the scene and each new character that comes into play. “And there in the blue air I saw for the first time, far off, the great snowy tops of the Rocky Mountains. I took a deep breath. I had to get to Denver at once.” (Page 31). One thing about Sal is how desperately he wanted to see Colorado, so Kerouac spent time describing the scene because it was so important to the story. Also, once Sal returned to New York for the first time, Kerouac spent time setting the scene and the tone, which was a little sad—“Suddenly I found myself on Times Square. I had traveled eight thousand miles around the American continent and I was back on Times Square; and right in the middle of a rush hour, too, seeing with my innocent road-eyes the absolute madness and fantastic hoorair of New York with its millions and millions hustling forever for a buck among themselves, the mad dream-grabbing, taking, giving, sighing, dying, just so they could be buried in those awful cemetery cities beyond Long Island City.” (Page 98). The author does a great job of using imagery to set up a scene, as well as set the tone. He uses imagery to make the idea either good or bad, sad or happy, etc.

There were also instances of symbolism being used in On the Road. For instance, one would be the fact that Sal and his friends were always drinking. There would be times in the book where he would just say that he needed a drink. For example, when he and Terry were working in California, there were many times when Sal and her brother and friend would go off to drink. This could symbolize running away from problems because every time they did it, they would say that they were having fun tonight and working tomorrow. Another form of symbolism would be the car that drove Sal, Dean, and Mary Lou (Part II). It was a symbol of them all getting away. Sal was bored with his usual routine and when Dean showed up with his car, ready to drive them anywhere, he knew something more exciting was on its way.