Sal Paradise On The Road
In Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Sal Paradise, the narrator and representative of Jack Kerouac, begins to identify himself with the with the Beat Generation, formed after World War II. The Beats were a group of young men who protested against the mainstream life. They found the lack of culture in America’s middle-class lifestyle to be bland; the concerns of marriage, life in the suburbs, children, wealth, and possessions did not interest the Beats. In opposition towards most people of their age, Sal Paradise and his friends, make it their concern to reject conformity and stability in their lives, instead, looking for personal fulfillment elsewhere. They view the middle-class lifestyle as a prison, and as the pioneers of a new counter-culture, these nonconformists want to be free. All Beats wish …show more content…
Jack Kerouac gives a voice to this new true meaning of life in the novel On the Road as he suggests that in order for one to be able to live his or her own life authentically and freely one must “live in the moment”; Sal believes he can do this by rejecting the white, middle-class American dream and experiencing life on the road as he discovers the meaning of “it”, he supports the new form of jazz called bebop, and he interacts with migrant farm workers.
Sal Paradise’s is able to experience life on the road by pursuing a series of journeys by car across the United States and ending in Mexico. The entire novel emphasizes a feeling of constant motion, considering the adventures on the road are frantic searches for the true meaning in life. Sal Paradise begins to offer his new visions of America only after meeting his eccentric idol and travelling companion, Dean Moriarty, the reckless womanizer who, to Sal, transcends existential uncertainty and is the physical representation of freedom. Sal
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