Why Did Beats Accept Middle Class Expectations Of Conformity?
In life people often walk down the road less traveled in order to pursue their goals, seek their life’s dreams, and or to simply live. This adventure usually begins by the late teens to the mid-twenties. It appears to be initiated by the insurmountable urge to be free from one’s parents, from the responsibilities that lie ahead.
In reading and giving careful thought to Jack Kerouac’s novel, “On the Road,” it appeared to be considered the thing to do, in reference to the Beat, a label implemented to define a youthful counter-culture of the late 1940’s to the early 1960’s, that rejected middle class expectations of conformity through the characters of Sal, Carlo, Dean, and Old Bull Lee. This generation historically became known as “Beatniks.” …show more content…
On the Road established a foundation, a stage, a forum for young post-war young people to express their thoughts about life. The main character in the novel described his life as one of anguish, existing in a society changing ever so rapidly into one bent on self-destruction. The indication of this is the use of the atomic bomb, developing nation alliances to prevent the spread of Communism, and the going from World War II into the Korean War eventually ending up with the Cold War Era. Some would hypothesize that that the Beat counter-culture was exhausted by wars, racism, religious taboos, and or social norms and deviances labeling people, putting them in a box, confining them to an established role/niche by the majority of people in charge socio-politically. The Beats were determined to rebel against all that Euro American society represented. They went On the Road to find the purpose for surviving being alive this long. This could not be accomplished in the American societal confines of that era. Furthermore, the Beats desired to experience the freedom to experiment with unrestrained emotions simply to see how far they could go for no reason other than to satisfy the curiosity that they performed the action. They did it until they were
In reading and giving careful thought to Jack Kerouac’s novel, “On the Road,” it appeared to be considered the thing to do, in reference to the Beat, a label implemented to define a youthful counter-culture of the late 1940’s to the early 1960’s, that rejected middle class expectations of conformity through the characters of Sal, Carlo, Dean, and Old Bull Lee. This generation historically became known as “Beatniks.” …show more content…
On the Road established a foundation, a stage, a forum for young post-war young people to express their thoughts about life. The main character in the novel described his life as one of anguish, existing in a society changing ever so rapidly into one bent on self-destruction. The indication of this is the use of the atomic bomb, developing nation alliances to prevent the spread of Communism, and the going from World War II into the Korean War eventually ending up with the Cold War Era. Some would hypothesize that that the Beat counter-culture was exhausted by wars, racism, religious taboos, and or social norms and deviances labeling people, putting them in a box, confining them to an established role/niche by the majority of people in charge socio-politically. The Beats were determined to rebel against all that Euro American society represented. They went On the Road to find the purpose for surviving being alive this long. This could not be accomplished in the American societal confines of that era. Furthermore, the Beats desired to experience the freedom to experiment with unrestrained emotions simply to see how far they could go for no reason other than to satisfy the curiosity that they performed the action. They did it until they were