On the
first day of class I was only vaguely aware of whom the Beats were, and I had
no clue what they stood for. The last nine weeks for me has been a conversation
about morality, freedom, individuality, and spirituality that helped to put
these writers’ ideals into perspective. Without that perspective, the
predominantly male value system of the Beats could come off annoyingly
disjointed and uncomfortably misogynistic.
Freedom
The
main theme of the course for me has been the notion of freedom. The standard of
freedom that is described by Jack Kerouac in his novel On the Road is a standard of uninhibited motion and experience.
Kerouac wanted to experience every corner of the world as well as every race. And
yes, that is pretentious to believe that he can literally experience an entire
history and cultural environment of a different race but he still wanted to
feel free enough to do that. During class, the teacher poised the question if
Kerouac’s desire to experience being other races’ was authentic, even though it
was incredibly racist. I feel that his desire was authentic because of how he
discusses having the experience. Even though his words are slanted with racist
stereotypes, his tone is very rarely one of animosity.
The image that I constructed of
Kerouac ultimately clashed with the image of he created of himself in the novel
because I, for a bit, could not understand how a man could want both the road
and a family. But a better understanding of Kerouac’s notion of freedom came
from Burroughs’ pieces. Burroughs’ influence on Kerouac was visible through his
darkly masculine tone filled with curiosity. Burroughs, just like Kerouac,
insisted on experiencing everything he found interesting, especially
Burroughs’ factual and darkly themed
writings applied a very matter-of-fact notion to the idea of freedom. Burroughs
seems to expect nothing more from the world than the chance to experience.
Throughout the beginning of this course I have learned to experience the idea
of freedom as an ideal that is not limited to the typical American Dream sense
of freedom.
The American Dream
Along with expanding my opinions
about what the term freedom actually means, I have learned about the
development of the American Dream. The typical image of the American Dream is
the white picket fence, wife/kids, and a house. This version of the dream is
explored in Kerouac’s idealized future for himself in his novel. But even
though he has a desired outcome in mind, Kerouac always seems to be pulled away
by the lure of the road. In his short piece “The Vanishing American Hobo”
Kerouac delves into the disappearance of the traveler ideal in American
culture. The death of the hobo in
Kerouac’s piece can also be seen as the death of his dual American Dream.
Kerouac recognized that he could not live both as a family man and a man of the
road. This duality can also be seen in Burroughs’ work as well. Burroughs
maintains a family while still maintaining his investigative side.
Throughout the first nine weeks of
the class I have been able to formulate a clear image of what the Beats stood
for and what they fought for.
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