Comparing Beats On The Road And Ginsberg's On The Road

Sal Paradise, the young writer from Paterson, New Jersey decides to begin his lifetime adventure across the United States. Accompanied by his crazy and unpredictable friend Dean Moriarty, Sal looks for the true meaning of life. Driving stolen cars, hitchhiking, on their way to the West coast, both men look for adventures, alcohol, drugs and unbounded love. Their wild journey creates the unbreakable bond between them, which gives rise to the whole new generation. “On The Road” is an autobiographic book written by American writer Jack Kerouac. The novel is a legendary manifesto of the poet group called “Beats”, along with Boroughs’ “Naked Lunch” and Ginsberg’s “Howl”. “On the Road” was published in 1957 and tells the story of the precursors of
the new counterculture movement such as William Burroughs, Allen Ginsburg, Neal Cassady, and finally Jack Kerouac; young and wild, who will be forever remembered as Beats. Beats were the embodiment of the young, post-war, American generation, who refused to accept the surrounding reality, along with its ossified society.
Their primetime is considered to be 1950’s while the most of the influential pieces were published. Beats rejected standard American values, such as materialism, capitalism, and conservatism. During their long trips across the America, accompanied by the frantic sounds of jazz, often indulged in the drug ecstasy, they believed in the spiritual quest and the sexual liberation and exploration. “On the Road” is the autobiographic record of Jack Kerouac’s trips across the United States. The novel was written in 1951, however, it was published in 1957 due to its controversial style. It took three weeks of the creative trance of continuous writing to finish the book. Everything is written from the perspective of young Jack, who stored his memories abreast, in the notebook. The title of the novel seems to be extremely relevant to the plot of the book, and sums up the journey of the
writer. Sal Paradise, an alter-ego of Jack Kerouac friendship with Dean Moriarty, alias Neal Cassady, and the other key figures of beat generation, such as Old Bull Lee (Burroughs), and Carlo Marx (Ginsberg) is much more twisted than one would think.
The meaning of this concept is based on madness. As Sal himself admits “[...]the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time[...]". During his first trip to the West Coast, Sal quickly feels the emptiness inside caused by the lack of his comrades. He meets many temporary figures, however the closest for him is always Moriarty. Dean’s madness inspires, being at the same time the source of Sal's fascination over Dean's personality. Their friendship becomes something much more valuable; it forms the sensation of brotherhood and companionship. The bond between these two is stronger than between any others in this book, including females. Sal also realizes the destructive aspect of the relation with his friend. He knows the negative influence Dean has on him, he also finally realizes that Dean’s madness makes him impossible to be a true friend, however even the tragic parting of one with another can’t prevent Sal from thinking about
Dean.
A sense of freedom is the essence of “On the Road”; everything revolves around it. Freedom is the way of expressing for the characters; it is the driving force for their souls. It allows Sal to travel across the country, while leaving his old life behind without regrets. Freedom lights the spark of curiosity and hunger over the new experiences, and explorations. Freedom gives the promise of the better and more enjoyable life beyond the stagnation and limitations of the society. Finally, the emanation of the essence of freedom included in this novel, sparked curiosity and desire among the generations of the future.
While Dean mentions IT during his conversation with Sal it is never clear what IT actually means. The whole adventure of Sal and Dean was about searching for IT. However, this so called IT, is not the same for everyone. It was different for Dean and it was different for Sal. I think it was a kind of life purpose, and it is different for every person. The book describes in a beautiful manner how Beats tend to look for their IT, which may be the place to be, a person to love - their own sense of being.
In some aspects “On the Road” is a coming-of-age novel. Sal feels that he does not belong to the society and experiencing the constant internal monologue over the moral values and the sense of life he starts his long journey across the United States. Even though he is in his mid-twenties, he is actually searching for some kind of adult identity. Important question to ask is if he actually found it? Even though at the end he chooses Remi over Dean, the last words of the book are “I think of Dean Moriarty”.