Sexuality In Jack Kerouac's On The Road

The beat generation was one of passion, adventure, and concupiscence. On the Road, composed by renowned beat poet Jack Kerouac, has been an influence in millions of readers lives, inspiring masses to live freely while throwing caution to the wind. Indubitably, Kerouac lays instances of sexual conduct throughout his literature and acts as a touching stone for those who are unsure of their own sexuality. Although the beat generation was short lived, it carried strong connotations of promiscuity and situational sexual behavior. During the 1950’s in post-war America, a group of authors looking to break the mold took siege of traditional literature. The beats, as they became known, influenced rejection of materialism and standard American culture. Core values for the eccentric group consisted of spiritual things, they encouraged exploration of mind and body whether it be through sexual liberation or benzedrine and LSD induced spirit quests. Members of the generation became known as new bohemian
Having a licentious personality seemed common among the populace of the movement, inspiring bed-hopping tendencies and indiscriminate lovemaking. In On the Road, Neal Cassady was “screwing three girls at the same time,” and simply replies “Oh yes, oh yes, that's the way it goes.” This illustrates to commonality that sex came to be and how it was used, not just for expression, but for recreation. Kerouac is known to have kept a little black book of romances keeping track of names and how long they lasted, by looking at this one can determine that these relationships were passionate a short lived. Marriages among beats seemed to be out of spite and seldom lasted longer than a couple months time. Kerouac and Cassady each eloped three times failing to make any of the nuptials stick. This was the aesthetic of the era, beats carried shifty psyches and embodied a hitchhiker's spirit through and