On the Road

On the Road by Jack Kerouac has many themes. One theme that stood out was the rebellion against Corporate America. The main characters for this theme were Dean Moriarty, Sal Paradise, and Marylou. Each of them had behaviors that conflict with an ideal, working American. These characters also represent a longing for something they want, but can’t find or are incapable of getting. The first character that was the biggest cliché against the ideal, working American was Dean Moriarty. Dean was erratic, selfish, crazy, and “contagious”. Dean was “contagious” because the book showed how others always wanted to be around him since he was so over the top. Sal stated, “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.”(115) Dean was also a big cliché of an ideal American person because he showed crazy and erratic behaviors. Ideally, the perfect American isn’t crazy and corky like Dean who constantly toppled over himself and did things so quickly without really thinking. In the book, Dean showed selfishness. One example of this was when he left Sal in Mexico with a lame excuse of, “All that again, good buddy. Gotta get back to my life. Wish I could stay with you. Pray I can come back.”(301) The second character that showed rebellion against corporate America was Marylou. She was the exact opposite of a classy lady. Marylou was very vindictive and manipulative, she used people to gain whatever she wanted. An example of this would be when she left Sal in the middle of nowhere. This is talked about in the excerpt on page 172, “One night Marylou disappeared with a nightclub owner. /Now I saw what a whore she was. /She walked on little feet and got in the Cadillac and off they went. Now I had nobody, nothing.” She used Sal to get to Dean and then left him to fend for himself. Marylou was also unfaithful. This is such a contrast against the classy American wife who would typically be faithful to