Extreme Circumstance

Jack claims that he would not have befriended Eddie under normal conditions.

He claims Eddie reminds him of his cousin. All alone on the road, with no really lasting friendships, he befriended the criminal scumbag Eddie. The astonishing part I find is that he believes Eddie would have bored him. Eddie seems to be a fairly exciting character, trying to flee with a car at one point.

The Habituation Blues

This is the same thing I've been saying describes Jack's behavior from the start, just in the words of someone who spends more time researching why.

9. We can become bored with just about anything, but there may be a way to reverse the habituation blues. Researchers reporting in theJournal of Consumer Research think the trick is overcoming “variety amnesia”—our tendency to forget that we’ve been exposed to a variety of great things, be they people, food, music, movies, home furnishings or other—and instead focus our attention on the singular thing that no longer gives us the tingles. To shake ourselves free from this negative trap, we must “dishabituate” by forcing ourselves to remember the variety of things we’ve experienced. So, for example, let’s say that you’ve become bored with a particular musical group you once couldn’t listen to enough. This research suggests that what you need to do it recall the variety of other songs from other musical groups that you’ve listened to since the last time you listened to your once-favorite band, and by doing so you’ll revive appreciation for your fave.

WHY?!

-I'm reacting/expanding my to post made earlier.

-- Why in the world does alcohol have to be the first thing we think of to do, in order to relieve stress?! Is that really only how far our brains can stretch, to just jump to conclusion that that's the only way? What about taking a run or a walk, taking a drive, listening to music, taking a nap (only if tired of course), talking on the phone with someone, jumping up and down (believe me it helps), dancing, drawing, painting, writing it all down, going to work out. There are NUMEROUS ways to cope with bad situations, fear, and things we don't want to have to face. Alcohol isn't dealing with a problem, it's running away from it, it's a mask for what we don't want to see. The only way to actually get over a problem and move on from it looking it straight in the face and just accepting it, and figure out the mess.

Jobs

In the book, almost all the main Characters don't have a long term stable job, and all the jobs only requires physical strength and skills. I think it is because of their constantly traveling, is this sort tells us if u want a good job don't travel too much?

Are you brave enough?

Jack hit the road when he was mid 20, lot things happened, many of them are happy and many of them are sad. As i reading the book, i never felt he was regret too much on any thing, and always could stand up to keep on rolling.

here i want to say: Are you brave enough to not regret on anything in the long river of life.

The End of the Road

I knew it! It's all about Neal. The last few pages of the book prove it, although the words may be slightly altered because of the dog eating the original scroll..."I think of Neal Cassady, I think of Neal Cassady." It is clear that Jack felt some indubitable devotion and connection to Neal and now that bond is forever preserved through On the Road. 

Metaphorically Speaking

At the beginning Jack goes north to Bear Mountain. He gets there and gets very upset. He starts yelling and crying about how he hadn't even started his journey.

Given Jack was probably in his mid twenties at the time, this mirrors the thoughts of many people of our age and maybe a little older. The idea that we have not yet begun, that this is not yet our journey is widespread against people in their late teens, and proves to be nothing more than a misconception as what we do now will affect what we perceive to be "real."

Metaphorically Speaking

At the beginning Jack goes north to Bear Mountain. He gets there and gets very upset. He starts yelling and crying about how he hadn't even started his journey.

Given Jack was probably in his mid twenties at the time, this mirrors the thoughts of many people of our age and maybe a little older. The idea that we have not yet begun, that this is not yet our journey is widespread against people in their late teens, despite the fact that what we do now affects us as much as anything we would do twenty years from now.

“The script looks like a Road!”

“Neal, I finished writing about us. On the road”

This was written in the introduction part of the novel. Jack seemed very excited about finishing the script. He described the script as a road and writing it felt like he was on the road again. I always thought this story was Jack’s, but now I feel like this book was like a friendship book for Jack and Neal. It’s a story about freedom that Jack and Neal had. Jack writes “ Which I keep thinking about; about two guys hitch hiking to California in search of something they don’t find, and losing themselves on the road, and coming all the way back hopeful of something else”. I feel like to be on the road was to go on a self searching journey. They were separate people and were on a separate journey but was on the same journey. I think the journey made them grow just a little more, and made their friendship just a little more deeper.

The conversation on Women

Neal and Jack had a conversation on women at one point in the novel. They always had conversations on women but this night, Neal was more serious and was more enlightened (?) He had this expression as if he understood the world or something. Jack described what Neal was talking about as not understandable but understandable and is very pure. Neal was crying out about how women can never understand what men are thinking. He wished Louanne would believe his eternal love towards her. Jack tells him, Men doesn’t understand women too. Neal responds to this, that the relationship is not that simple. I think it is. Men can never understand women and women can never understand men. Female and male think in a different way, and I personally think it is hard to make female and male understand each other.

ps. I dislike how Neal said Louanne should understand and believe in the eternal love he gives her, when he is always flirting with other ladies.

crazy diamond

I was just listening to shine on you crazy diamond by Pink Floyd and the second the lyrics began Neal popped into my head.

 

"Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, 
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!"

The song is actually meant to be a tribute to Syd Barrett, however I think "crazy diamond" is just as appropriate a name for Neal Cassady.

Understanding where you are...

“ Undertand the country, and you will be fine. You will survive.”

My dad taught me when I was a child. I never understood it. As I grew up, his words faded away.

In page 222, Neal and Jack has a serious conversation on how one can be fine traveling anywhere in the country if one knows one part of the country well enough and the native language of that country. That is because every inch of the country are the same and the people are the same. This reminded me of what my dad taught me. I wonder what it means to be able to understand the country and to be able to speak in the language spoken in that country.

I personally think this is something someone can understand once they go on a long Journey, after experiencing being far away from their home, or someone that has been on the road once.

Age

I'm surprised that the age of the book's characters has not been brought up more often. I think it's absolutely essential to notice that Jack and his friends are acting only slightly older than teenagers, when really they are in their thirties. Even today such people would be looked upon as irresponsible. It is similar to the idea of the lost boys, the boys who never grow up. That is what makes Jack's adventures so intriguing, that they are painted in this Neverland that only exists for them. 

The meaning....

What does it mean to be on the road?

To be on the road means to be free from everything.

It doesn’t mean Jack became free, because he was on the road or just a while he was on the road. To be on the road at least once in a life, opens up the door to freedom. To be “On The Road” is an idea of freedom. The way one thinks after being on the road is freedom. Like Jack, his thoughts are free, more then he himself is physically free.

Emotionless

In the novel On The Road, Jack interacts with a lot of people while he is on the road. He likes and has fun interacting with others, but there is something strange about him. Jack never stays with one person (friends/ girl friends). Most of the time, he leaves when the relationship with that person becomes a little awkward/ uncomfortable. Jack is a man that seems excited and interested in anything, but he actually doesn’t really care about anyone he interacts with. This makes me think that he interacts with others just to have a story to talk about, and there are no meanings in the relationship he sort of builds up while he is on the road.

The Difference

Jack is a man. A human just like any other. But there is a special fact that makes him different from us. He has “Freedom”. Or at least he is very close to Freedom compared to people that goes to school six days a week, and being restricted by time/ schedule. Jack is free because he is not restricted by time. Being on the road makes that possible. Then does Jack have fun with his freedom? Of course he does. Jack is always happy to be on the road and is always excited to be on the road again. He probably likes the feeling of being free from relationships with others, being restricted by time and being able to move under no pressure.

lesson

When On the Road was published people saw it to be a brave piece of literature that revealed the wicked ways of the degenerates that took to the road. The coverage of drug and alcohol abuse in Kerouac's writing gave the book an authentic yet deplorable nature. It seems that the pure philosophy that is presented in On the Road is often overshadowed by the scandalous accounts. Kerouac clearly understands that there is something to be learned from the life he chose and by reading On the Road one can find what that is.

Whiskey and Wine

-Why in the world does it seem to come up with almost every single person, including Jack, in the book, that the solution to their stress or uncertainty comes to be whiskey or wine (or many other alcoholic beverages)? Is there any other way to solve or moan over a problem? I know it's all part of the 'great' adventure, but really...

-Not saying it's happening all the time, but it's getting there.

Goals

What do you think Jack's goals are for this part of his life, other than his writing? What is it that he truly wants, and what is he looking for? He displays interest in so many things, but it all seems pretty short-lived. How does this translate into Jack's true feelings?

Old Age

What is going through Jack's mind in terms of his age? He was so upset when Neal called him old, but before that there was little mention of his age. Throughout the book, there is an obvious franticness, which can tie in with the feeling of running out of time through the aging process. Is Jack at the end of his youth and does he realize it?

views of women

Many of the adults I've talked to (particularly female) call On the Road "A boys book". Throughout the book, Jack and his friends perceive women as objects. Look at Neal, for example who has had several girlfriends/fiances/wives/ex-wives in the book, but none of them are of any value to him. If he truly respected any of them, he would care about his unfaithfulness.

These men clearly see women and either objects or mother figures which is still a completely unfortunate perception that is constantly present in our society then and now. These men never describe women as anything but "pretty" or "gone"( Whatever that means). There is never any mention of a woman's personality and in almost all of the relationships, the men rule. If, by some chance there is even an inkling of a woman having any power, all the men think she's a bad person and are afraid of her.

Women are totally subordinate in this book and this is almost surprising to me. Wasn't beat culture supposed to be open, with meshing of the black and white cultures and the acceptance of others? It seems that women were not involved in this equation.

"You've got brown in you ears."

Jack Kerouac-Cassady. That name sounds good. Their simple dialogue is so philosophical and it's not even to seem like intellectuals anymore. We've seen Jack and Neal grow in this book, their relationship flourish and thrive off of each other and it is utterly magnificent. The little things that they say to each other have meanings that no one but them could understand. I think we all need a friend like that. A true "Camerado."

: (

I'm in love with Jack Kerouac. I'm upset that the story is ending because it is like I am living in this world that is slowly fading away. Jack is starting to give details that portray such a fun life that's complicated and dysfunctional but absolutely fascinating. He took me on this journey that made me feel as if it was just him and I with a few other people but what struck me was that the journey was actually focused on Neal Cassady. I just don't want this story to end.

Drugs

Jack never really talks about his addiction, only other peoples. When he stays with Bill, (who if i might add, is off the wall crazy!) he talks alot about his addiction maybe it is because Bills addiction out weighs his own, maybe it was because Bills was just more interesting, or maybe it is kind like he is covering up his own spill by showing us a bigger spill if you know what I mean. I found it verry odd how Jack put the light on Bill. I almost feel like Jack was a narator to Bills life.

$Money

Money. A green little piece of paper that can somehow be spent so quickly that you wonder how it happened. Jack even says he wishes he could spend his money in a more logical and just plainly better way. Then why wouldn't he? Just don't buy whiskey for one day, or something. I understand the need of food of course, but besides that, if your wanted to hitchhike all the way to New York why would you even think about spending another penny?

A Greater Understanding

As a girl, and I hope I can speak for a lot of girls when I say we often think about what guys are thinking. And sometimes, why in the world would they say or think that?! On The Road is a very graphic book in all areas of Jack's journey. Often, that includes women. Well reading sentences that include sexual suggestions is fine by all means, but you wonder how Jack comes up with the things he thinks and writes about. Is it just the desire to have sex?(Duh) Or do they, meaning men/boys, think and say certain things because they can, and because, well lets be honest, women and what makes them women, is on their minds all the time?

The Fuuuuture

What do you think it would be like if Kerouac was still alive? Would we all be a lot cooler? I think he would fit in perfectly now that there is this whole hipster movement. Just something that was on my mind.

Two snaps and a drumroll

So, I was doing my history project on 'Common Teenage Stereotypes of the 1950's" and the beatniks really caught my attention. These kids rebelled by saying what they felt no matter how hard the truth was to hear and sat back and relaxed with tight clothing and cigarettes knowing that the world is not this perfect suburbia that most people wanted to make it out to be. I became so involved in this topic of the beat generation that I truly began to understand Jack Kerouac, why he wanted this trip in the first place, why his 120 foot scroll had such an impact, and why his style of writing reached out to so many people. He was the innovator of all the innovators of today and I think he gets a few snaps for that.

Finale

Final Questions

Is Neal actually mental insane?

WHy does Louane come with Neal?

Where they ever happy on the Road?

Did Jack find himself?

Bill

Bill seems to have such skill and talent. I finally understood after further reading why Jack was so enthralled by him. Bill can work with his hands extremely well. He built a sturdy fence which he was unable to complete. Bill the character at first repelled me, then I saw the beauty of his character. Here was a man who could have been so much more. If it were not for the drug Bill could have turned out to be an average Joe with hidden talents. Or maybe a teacher or philosopher. His mind is sharp and his attitude on life is so captivating. He is aware of what Jack and his buddies are dong and he senses their restlessness and he tries to make them see it too. I think Bill is a wonderfully crafted character.

Even though it may be thrilling to drop everything and go on a road trip, wouldn't it be terrifying as well? Think of all the strangers you would have be ok with. All the places you wouldnt know how to get around. Now would you still want this trip to happen? 

Does Jack miss his mother at all? He never talks about his family, and family is extremely important in anyones life. True, when he is home he lives with his mother, but when he is on the road, which is a huge some of his life in this book he never gets to see her. 

 Why Neal would want Jack to have sex with Louanne? 

What is a relationship?

Why does a relationship have to endure a certain amount of time and loyalty before it can be called one? Before the fact that Jack did not seem to make an emotional attachments to the people around him made me wonder. If one shares an experience with somebody else is that not enough. The need for emotions to be presented so clearly to using writing is a thing of habit. As a society we so are used to thinking and reading one way. One does not need to mention the way the feel about someone for the reader to be able to deduce the meaning. If one shares the experience and describes the person during that adventure in such vivid detail that should be enough. The connection is right in front us but it is not displayed out nicely for us. Never does Jack says how he feels about someone and he does not need to say because the way he talks about these experiences as a reader one can feel that he treasures them and the experience is nothing without the person.

Genre

Whenever analyzing this book I start to realize that I bring my emotions into the equation. This is interesting because I tend to be very mental in my thinking and I pride myself heavily on being able to dissect a piece of work on its own without bringing in my own viewpoint. This book makes you connect to it on such an emotional basis that I enjoy the challenge of having to think am I imposing my personal opinions into my dissection. I have never found as challenging to with hold judgment.

Can you hear the "Beat"

For history class we read short piece on, the Beat Generation. It got me thinking. The chapter was on the '50s and '60s. It was a time of great prosperity in America. The great depression had ended, there was no war, production rates were at an all time high, and just about everyone went to collage. Then out of this prosperity there was a group of anxiety poets and authors who bum around the country in search of what? What was their purpose? Why were they so non conformist? What do they want, and why r they called, the "Beat Generation?"

Dear Neal

Here we are, hello frisco

This is Marketstreet, darling

This is goodbye

And I watch you drive away

It's what you want and I have no say

Anything to get your kicks

Anyway to just come clean

There's no way to cage your heart in

There's no way to stop the machine

Darling, you know and I know that everything is straight between us

TALLY 3

Tally.

Hope everyone had a good Long Spring!!

Lisa

Jack's Lack of a Backround

Though this subject has been discussed many times, I am still kind of hung up about it. One thing I was thinking about is how maybe Jack's own self-image is not strong. Sometimes, it can be so difficult to see oneself, and I know that at times I will either get a compliment or someone will say something about my character that surprises me. Maybe Jack's vagueness is to demonstrate that he is unsure of who he is, and he has difficulty seeing himself. This trip is in a time of loss, so maybe he just feels that he has been left alone, and is unsure of who he is without his wife.

Jack's Fears

What is Jack truly afraid of? He seems to think that everything will work out always. For instance, when he doesn't have enough money, he just thinks he'll figure it out further down the line. Though it's not good to obsess over issues of this sort, there should be a certain type of fear brought to light in these situations. Fear rules many people's lives; it is their guide in decision-making. Has there been much portrayal of fear in this book, because I'm not picking up on it.

Suddenly!!

Something changed in Jack's writing, (or maybe I read more thoroughly). Pg. 270 Jack begins describing San Francisco and the next 10 pages of the book are so serenely beautiful. Did anyone else notice this?
Through out the book there are poetic moments and stagnant moments through. No matter how well his ideas move together, everything is exciting to read because it's so raw.
Makes me wonder, how much does re-editing detract from an author's real voice/experience? How much are they faking in hopes of getting the publishers attention?

No future no past (an observation)

What we know from Jacks past is very limited. He was married, his dad died and he is from North Carolina. But Jack doesn't live in the past or at least he never writes about it. Jack lives in the moment. His past is almost nonexistent. Most authors I have read go off on anecdotes of their child hood or what happened the previous week but Jack never does things like that. Sometimes Jack will discuss things in his future like where he will travel next, but he mainly stays in the present. We never really know what is going to happen next and we don't really know what happened. The story just continues on, and on, and on...

Women and Jack again

We've been talking about how Jack views women a lot and at the beginning i sided with the people who said that Jack had no respect for women. It just dawned on me though that it is not Jack who the problem lies in it is us. Why did we assume that these women wanted Jack to stay? It's as if by assuming this we take away any intelligence these women might have. Jack looks dirty and disheveled. He is obviously a road traveler and one can tell by the fact he has dirty clothes and practically no money plus he's probably covered in dirt. Maybe these women not talking about the virgin) wanted a quick session of sex. I realized I made this argument while seeing these women as weak and unable to protector fight for themselves. I failed to perhaps think of the idea that maybe these women had the same agenda Jack had. Bea was still married and she could see how Jack failed miserably with money she was not expecting anything from a man she met on the bus. Maybe it's not Jack's ways that need fixing maybe we just need to adjust our perspective.

One Big Red Line

I just got incredibly hung up on one line, that I believe is entirely characteristic of life in general.

"It was my dream that screwed up, the hearthside idea that it would be wonderful to follow one great line across American instead of trying various roads and routes."

First, I'd like to acknowledge the immaturity at the very beginning of the sentence, blaming the dream for his problems. He tries to hide the realization that someone had to dream the dream and implement it in reality.

However, the rest of the quote plays to life experience. As one might try at first, there is no red line from birth to death, or rather, no desirable one. Everyone tries to carve one themselves at some point, but are quickly pushed off by unforeseen difficulties. Hopefully, one might come to the realization, whether out of enlightenment, frustration, or a combination of the two, that by trying to carve a straight line is boring, and allows one to miss out on some of the finer points of life.

Conflicting Accounts

Lilly pointed out to me how one of my arguments was very incorrect. As a result, I realized my post creating a parallel to The Hurt Locker and Sophie's World are in direct contradiction with one another. The Hurt Locker post states that Jack's behavior is due to the fact that he has jaded himself by contact with a reality much different, with greater potential for adrenaline or other chemical rushes. The post from Sophie's world claims almost the polar opposite; that his behavior is due to a lens of youth, having maintained an appreciation for all things, that is usually seen in lack of experience. To clarify, I believe The Hurt Locker reference to be more accurate, as his eccentricity does seem to angle towards the extraordinary, finding the ordinary to be tedious.

The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics

http://www.naropa.edu/academics/graduate/writingpoetics/

A Generation Lost In Space

I tried looking at Jack through the larger context of his era. Jack Kerouac was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Navy. World War II was fought on three continents, and by countries positioned across six. It catalyzed one of the greatest leaps of technology in centuries, over the span of six years, (resulting in less than proportional, but still horrific casualties) culminating in the production and deployment of the atom bomb. This war shook the foundations of our entire planet to the point of altering the very nature of the warring, militaristic, imperialistic West, calming the previously almost perpetual battlefield of Western Europe (even if an uneasy truce), an affect that still stands true to today. But the price of such a revolutionary affect was the slaughter, maiming, and emotional scarring of almost an entire generation.
Through the lens of this book, one sees those who fought the war in the years following. The effect is twofold, both stemming from the ever infamous post-traumatic stress disorder. First, these young men had seen many other men their age, and no less capable than themselves, gunned down in their prime. Many had been allies. Many had been friends. Many had perished at one's own trigger finger, with no real difference between life or death other than luck. The blood of both one's friends and enemies can be almost unbearable. The need sets in to forget such atrocities, and many of them turned to smoking, drinking, and hard drugs. William Burroughs, a character in the book, was a famous heroin addict.
War forces people to mature much faster than they normally would. Many of those who came into contact with this particularly grizzly example were only 18. Many even lied about their age to enlist early. Forced to act older due to extreme circumstances, they could have either felt that they had been robbed of their childhood, and try to return and cling to their past, or could subconsciously associate the sense of maturity and responsibility to the senseless killing found on the desert, forest, and naval slaughter fields of the second World War.

(Note: These are my own thoughts on the psychology of this phenomenon. The post war lives of soldiers is not something I generally read into as much as I should.)

In reply to Kayla's idea

Does the book have a genre?

I don't think the book has a genre, suffice to say: it's all genres.

Jack is constantly unclear about his identity as a writer, therefore he embodies every tone, and literary idea. The road is the main focus, but everything that he perceives transcends those of other writers. He notices the fantastical elements, as well as the romantic, and dramatic tid-bits.

Save Jack

I am a little sick of everyone bashing Jack. Yes he has some problems, he is immature, a possible drug addict/alcoholic, and he can't keep a relationship for more than a month but he has such an amazing mind. The way he sees and talks about the world is unmatched. I don't understand why people can't over look his problems to see the beauty of his words.

what are women for Jack?

I feel like Jack sees women to be just a tool to make himself look better.

In one of the party Jack goes with Neal, after coming home to NY, he brings Pouline and his sister with him. I think this was to make him self look good in front of others, since they are beautiful ladies. At the same time, he plays with Pouline's jealousy by playing with Neal's girl Louanne. Then he ends up sleeping on the couch with a defferent girl. I wonder if he was doing this just to observe people's emotions for fun, or was doing this because he saw women as moving object he can play with?

Jack and his personality.

Jack seems to be changing his personality, depending on who he is interacting with.

He is very crazy when he is with Neal, a typical son when he is with his mother and a sexual guy when he is with his girls. I wonder which is the real him, but all of them are parts of him. Still I feel like he is making up all the personalities to write his story. None of it is Jack Kerouac, everything is made up just for this novel. Perhaps he thought he himself as it is isn't interesting enough, and to interact with Mad people, he had to become one of them?

Getting Groceries 2

- The point is, when you get at that point in your life when your scrambling around for food, or anything for that matter, don't you get tired from it? Maybe Jack like the excitement and the race for survival. And maybe he finds this thrilling and will for his whole life, because this is just him. The thing is, it's not like he's not capable of providing for himself.

Getting Groceries

- So you would think at the point of having to steal groceries that Jack would be like, "oh, maybe I should try to find a way to make more money." It's not like he can't get another job, or just different job, right? He doesn't like to do manual labor, but I'm sure he can do many other things. Is Jack just lazy, or does he just find another way of getting things, like crawling through windows and getting another persons groceries? If your at that point, doesn't anything click, doesn't anything register in the mind, like "maybe there is another way to get food."

the 6th post!!!!!!!!

ok i'm tired....
but for Lisa!!!!!!
Time is not a big figure in Jack's or his friends'(mostly Neal's) lives. They go somewhere when they want to go, they leave when they want to leave. In general they don't have real control or a plan for their time. So, it brings us back to the point: they live completely as possible in the moment.Neal always lives in his own "schedule"

what will happen next

"He was simply a youth tremendously excited with life, and though he was a con man, he was only conning because he wanted so much to live and to get involved with people who would otherwise pay no attention to him."
this is some description about Neal by Jack.
from Jack's description about Neal, that Neal is a quick thinker, he can come up ideas fast, and that made him a con man. And same thing can apply to Neal's life style: reckless and live in present.And those are the ideas that Jack learned from Neal, they were trying to have every kind experience that they could possibly get. Jack's friendship with Neal is at first so strong that he is willing to follow Neal anywhere without a second thought. As they travel back and forth across the country, they share each other's life stories, dreams, philosophies, and visions.Jack wants to be with Neal just to see what will happen next.

Book

I love this book a lot. It has this raw emotions and these details that are so precise and exact. At first it seems as he just wrote down everything without any thought to what he was writing. But if you look closer at the way he describes everything. I can feel him in the hot sun or I can feel his instant connection with a girl. The way he carefully chooses words to exude these feelings. While I completely am against what the character does and what he stands for I can sympathize with Jack. Kerouac wrote this so no matter if you agree with or oppose his philosophy you appreciate it.

It's not an autobiography

I recently came to the conclusion that the reason On the Road often confuses me is because I have been thinking about it as an autobiography by Jack Kerouac. It is impossible to know the difference between Jack as a character and Kerouac as an author. It seems that Jack shouldn't be the main character of the book because he doesn't share enough personal information. Kerouac write more about Neal Cassady's childhood than about his own. I'm unsure about what genre this book is categorized under. Any ideas?

To: Mr. Kerouac, Love: Willie Nelson.

One, two
One, two, three, four

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again

On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again

On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world keep turning our way and our way

Is on the road again
I just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again

On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world keep turning our way and our way

Is on the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
And I can't wait to get on the road again

And then there is Neal

I don't care for Neal at all, I think that he is just some punk kid who is trying to be cool by being around Jack. Neal is just like most kids from the 50's, he just wants to get laid get drunk and rip his clothes off. He thinks that he is cool by association, he thinks that he is always right and he thinks that everyone is at his disposal. He is a greedy selfish poser who gets wants what he wants when he wants it, and doesn't care about anyone else but himself. I hate to say this but I have no idea what Jack sees in him.

Girls, Girls, Girls

What is Jack's viewpoint on women? He seems to objectify them yet fall in love with them at the same time. Bea is the closest relationship he has in the book and he simply throws her away in order to stick to the purpose of the trip. Then, as mere sport, he decides to take on Louanne, knowing the consequences yet still doing it. Why?

Friends

Does Jack value these friends he has made? It feels as if he is just using them to better his experience. His attraction to mad people is not to better understand them in a way its to better himself. It does not seem as if they is any level of trust in between them. Jack decided that this was the group of people that would go with him on this journey and he stuck with them because they enriched the journey. Nowhere in the book is it mentioned that Jack disclosed any information to them. While he writes about Big Slim and Bea there is never mention of him talking to Neal, Allen, or Hank about this.

post war and Jack

The book was written during the 1950s, right after WWII. During this period the Cold War started, it had a huge influence on both the US and USSR, but in this book, I never see any mention about his political views. I think this showed that he lives in his own personal value which is really far away from the general American society.

Part 1: A different point of view

Being one of few males in a class with a majority of females I would like to say a few words on the insight in to Jacks character and intentions. I will start with saying that there are many differences between men and women and that is not a bad thing in any way, I just feel like it should be stated. First off, Jack could not have stayed with her. They met on a bus had a lot of sex lived together for a little while and then had to break up, but honestly what did you think was going happen? They would get married, Jack gets a steady job and buys house? That is not going to happen at least not at that juncture in his life. Jack had to have his mother send him money all the time. He is not going to be able to provide for Bea and her son. I think that they always knew that it was temporary and I don't see anything wrong with that. Please comment!

The Jailkid

Neal had had a rough childhood. The first thing we learn about him is that he was keeping correspondence with Hal Chase from a reform school in Colorado. He married a sixteen year old, who eventually called the cops on him. Jack keeps making references to the fact that he is a "con-man" He is a criminal, and what Jack Kerouac refers to as a "jailkid." But there is something unmistakably and genuinely interesting about him. He talks with great authority and large words when he really doesn't have a clue. He goes to Jack to learn to write, and later to Neal for poetry. He doesn't seem like the average criminal.

When an infant enters the world, they are greeted by a range of stimuli so great that the lack of sensory overload is remarkable. Everything is new, and nothing is boring or common place. Nothing is too ordinary to fail to spark excitement. As we grow older, we shed this outlook, object by object. But on occasion, a door is opened to a new range of concepts. (I learned three programming languages in three weeks when I learned what each one was capable of.) And in one of these doorways, we find Neal, who has seen the door to intellectualism, and looking for the key to the locked complex.

ati-hero

In this book, Jack used Neal as an example of Anti-hero. Although Neal is really smart, bold and “likeable” that made him a bit hero-like, but with all the things that he had gone through, his total rejection of responsibility made him an anti-hero.

Rebellion is the way to go!!!

Rebellion is one of the most important elements in the book. The rebellion in the book is not a violent or political rebellion; it is a rebellion of mind and spirit. They just won't buy the common aspect of dreams or so called “American dream,” they have their own way to pursue and that way is to hit the road, and have really different ways of thinking than others.

friendship in the book

The nature of friendship was explored through the entire book. Jack went to all these places because there was a friend waiting for him or willing to accompany him on the trip. Soon after Neal arrived in New York City, Jack was addicted to his effervescent personality, and this started their friendship.

Addiction

A quick popular culture reference for consideration.

A movie came out in recent history about an effect Jack seems to suffer from. The Hurt Locker is about a man who enlists and is deployed to a bomb squad in Iraq, leaving behind his wife and young child. He becomes the leader of his bomb team when his predecessor is terminated by a radio activated improvised explosive. He comes close to death very, very many times, and survives to return home to his family. He eventually confesses to his son (please pardon the excessively long quote)

"You love playing with that. You love playing with all your stuffed animals. You love your Mommy, your Daddy. You love your pajamas. You love everything, don't ya? Yea. But you know what, buddy? As you get older... some of the things you love might not seem so special anymore. Like your Jack-in-a-Box. Maybe you'll realize it's just a piece of tin and a stuffed animal. And the older you get, the fewer things you really love. And by the time you get to my age, maybe it's only one or two things. With me, I think it's one."

He then proceeds to reenlist in the armed forces, with the same position he previously held.

I am still fairly early on in the book. So pardon me for getting what I've heard about what is ahead wrong, or reiterating what you already know. But at one point in the opening, Jack says

"I was beginning to get the bug like Neal. In all, what Neal was, simply, was tremendously excited with life, and though he was a con-man, he was only conning because he wanted so much to live and also to get involved with people who would otherwise pay no attention to him."

As Jack had said he had caught the bug.

"I shambled after as usual as I've been doing all my life after people that interest me, because the only people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing.. but burn, burn, bur like roman candles across the night."

The problems these two characters face seem completely different in nature. One believes that he can only abide by one life, and the other decides he cannot choose. But the nature of the problem is the same. Each has experienced a situation nearly surreal in nature, the character from The Hurt Locker, experienced war, a location so different than anything else imaginable, and Jack Kerouac "caught the bug" from Neal, went out on the road, and most likely made drug use a norm. (At one point Jack says he had collected 50 from his veteran benefits, suggesting a tour in World War II.) Whatever the experience, they have come into contact with a reality so entirely different than that of an average citizen.

With this contact, civilian life suddenly seems mundane, routine, and quite harshly pointless. They lose all connections to it, when they find a reality that they deem for better or worse "more exciting", than the life they experience at home, and therefore cannot abide by it. Therefore they find the only option to keep searching for that rush they have become so addicted to. The reason Jack Kerouac moves so frequently, I would argue, is because of an addiction to the rush that he can only find On The Road.

Tally 2

Yo, VIP, Let's kick it.

I just tallied posts and comments. I'll have chart for you in class tomorrow. It's 1:55pm, Sunday, April 25.

Keep going!

Lisa

Reality

I wonder what is more real- going out into the world and experiencing new things or staying at home and just living within a routine. Often, travel can feel unreal. But on the other hand, getting lost in one's own routine is totally unreal. Jack seems to think that everything is real and exciting, but I wonder if he ever has moments where he questions reality.

Pressure

Is Jack under more or less pressure than the average person? Though he has no real deadlines and is just spending time with friends, he has to deal with the issue of survival. He is lucky to be able to escape from his own world and just focus on living, but if just living is difficult, that may bring more stress.

On the Road Alone

My parents have informed me that they will not be picking me up after graduation, so I will have to find my own way home. YES! I will be on the road. Not as long or as epic as Jack's on the road but I'm still very happy. This is such an amazing coincidence that I am reading On the Road and then I get to have my own adventure. I have already started thinking about my rucksack. What an exhilarating feeling it must be to have everything you need on your back. I can't wait to feel the straps of my life on my digging in to my shoulders.

home

Why does Jack decide to go home now of all times? Does he really have a sense of freedom that we may think he does? 

Jack

Why doesn't Jack fight to stay with Bea? He seems totally happy with her, however when Bea says he has to leave he just leaves. 

How many roads must a man walk down

I've been thinking about how the reader never learns anything about Jack's relationship with his father. Since Jack seems to not be very connected to his father it is fair to assume that he may be searching for what it means to be a man. This is almost always an issue with young men in America, especially at the time Jack was writing On the Road. The experiences that a person has shapes that person into who they are, perhaps Jack is searching for the experiences that will make him into the man he wants to be.

Veiwpoint

I sometimes question Jacks legitimacy. I don't like to think about this but I couldn't help myself. I wonder if, because Jack is the writer and narrator he makes the people around him seem like posers to make himself look legitimate.

Can I go as far to say....

So, I find Jack to be a pretty normal guy. He is into the beat culture which sets him apart from most people. His writing is good, don't get me wrong, it just seems he's not really making his mark, or adding that extra quirk that memoirs usually have. He's just a narrator at times documenting his observations, not really embodying the spirit of his experiences.

Did it make it into the final cut?

@Katherine (oooohh ya, just did a little twitter move there)


On pg. 244 Jack writes about the couple drug habit, did descriptions like this pass the sensors, making it into the actual published edition?

Who is Jack?

One thing that continues to intrigue me is the way that Jack can change his personality based on the people that he is surrounded by. For example when he is driving with the country boys he talks like he is from the south and does shots. When he is with Ginsberg he is an intellectual and a poet. If I were to meet Jack what would he be like? I think that who ever reads this book will know Jack better than any of his friends knew him.

The Purity of the Road

pg. 234 "...all ready for the purity of the road again...the purity of moving and getting somewhere, no matter where, and as fast as possible and with as much excitement and digging of all things as possible."

I was struck by this quote, it's poetic. And further emphasizes Jack's sentiments from the beginning of the book. He's constantly searching for that clean slate running away from his depression.
I'm starting to feel that Jack was never truly happy, he never lived in the moment, though [mind you,] not many people can, but I'm starting to get frustrated with his itchy feet, and excessive internalization. Arrgghh...so thoughts?

Food will do you good...

Jack has this thing about food, in this book and in some of his other books. (Dharma Bums) He writes about what he ate that day why he chose that, how much he payed, and how it made him feel. He is very selective of what he eats. One day he will eat nothing but coffee and a doughnut somedays he will only eat peanuts and raisins, other days he will go to a diner and order pancakes maple syrup and bacon and eggs and juice. And right before the meal when he is thinking about what to eat he will often say something like,"(insert food) will do me good." I like this way of looking at food so much that I have found myself saying, (In my head) "Some (Insert food) will do me good.

Vagueness around Jack's character

Jack's character is someone who simply records what is going on, and rarely shows much personality. Does this style help the book as a whole? Sometimes, it is surprising to me when Jack shows emotion or does something wild on his own without following anyone, since he seems like this passive follower. I think I wish I knew a little more about Jack.

Jack's friends' perceptions of him

How does Henri and Jack's past affect their current relationship? Why is Henri so interested in this man who is admittedly the least wild of all of his friends? Is it shallow for Jack to just look for the craziness in life and in the people around him? What is it about the mysterious narrator that these people who live so wildly find interesting?

MARKING PERIOD 5 END

Hi All,

At this point on the blog I have tallied all previous posts and comments.

Keep posting, commenting and intellectualizing Jack's experiences. I am so happy this book is leading us into the good weather.

REMEMBER, you will create a formal assignment based on your blog posts and journal entries, so the better your posts are, the less work you'll have to do later!

Lisa

The Man Jack Is

- In my mind Jack flips back and forth. One minute he's sane and the next he's doing something that obviously won't benefit him. He knows he's a good writer, and he knows he surrounds himself with people who are a lot of the time are not stable in what they do. So then why does he surround himself with these things? Well sometimes I believe he's lost, lost in what to do concerning life, writing, people, strength. And a lot of the time he knows what he should do, and what he shouldn't done, but he didn't, and often wishes he could do it over again. Jack is a complex, interesting, and free thinking man. I think as we read even more into the book, we'll get an even better grasp on who he is.

Who am I? Who are you?

Why does Kerouac get himself involved in these crazy moments with his friends when all he was looking for was an eye opening experience? He said it himself that he was ruining the purity of his trip by drinking and spending money and looking for girls. You would think he would stop by now. Is his interest in Neal's life beginning to affect his own?

Style of Writing

-I seemed to find that Jack's writing is like himself. He's free "wheelin" in a way. There's no filter in a sense, whatever he thinks, he writes. There's really, or maybe a little, not that much thought about the fact the he's writing about his close friends, and that one day they might just read this. Maybe he didn't care. But having no large spacing or paragraphs makes it more like life itself. There are no stops, not really. We might think our life may be coming to a halt but that's really just one way of looking at it. Life keeps going, no matter what happens, it keeps going, just like his writing.

Memory, All alone in the moonlight

Why is it that Kerouac remembers so many little details about this trip (ie. the boys from COLUMBUS, OHIO, what this man looked like etc.) and why does he choose to include them? Why does he choose to go into detail about other little moments?

Man-Boy

When Jack gets the guard job it starts to become very apparent that he is not as serious and responsible as the "intellectual" he tries to portray himself to be. He always gets involved in drinking and being rambunctious with his group of friends. I'm excited to see if he grows out of this as his adventure goes on.

Black, White, Grey

I have noticed that throughout the story Kerouac has made some comments that might show a hint of prejudice. The way that he describes the black man in the beginning and the mexicans towards the middle either could be their true repersentations or slightly bias observations. Thoughts?

Meanwhile..

It's interesting that Kerouac chooses to tell about what Neal is doing while somewhere else. It really emphasizes Jack's interest in Neal. Even when Neal's story doesn't include Jack's time on the road he still decides it's an important story to include. Jack doesn't really do this for any of the other character's in the book. I wonder what Jack likes so much about Neal Cassady.

Why Bea?

I wondered why it was that Jack decided to make an effort with Bea when he hadn't tried to have a relationship with anyone else while traveling. Perhaps Jack's attitude has changed since he reached California and turned back home. Jack may be trying to delay his return home and the end of his adventure. I think that now Jack is directed back East he might look for more opportunities to get side-tracked.

going back to normal after madness

MAD people are Mad people. Normal people are normal people. Normal people interacts with different types of people, but Mad people interacts with only mad people. How is this possible?

It is possible because normal people does not have a specific color. On the other hand, Mad people has strong colors of themselves. When MAD people interacts with normal people, they eventually turn the "normal people" into "Mad people". In the beginning of the journey, Jack was normal compared to others, but I think he is turning MAD slowly. I am guessing that Jack will become completely MAD by the end of the journey, and he won't be able to go back to the "Normal Society".

different point of view.

I think Jack interacts with "Mad" people, because he himself is not a very mad person compared to the others. By interacting with mad people, Jack and Jack's life becomes "Mad". His life becomes interesting. I think he wanted to see the world from a different point of view, by interacting "Mad" people.

Jack doesnt seems to be very good with his money. He is always worrying about how much he has, and how much he uses, but he isn't good at making the money that he has last.

Why is Jack attracted to crazy people? He is such a reserved man, but he chooses friends that are wild, crazy, etc. What does this do for Jack?

Do you ever wander if Jack is in love with Bea, or if she is just another girl he makes loves to and never talks to again? Is it that Jack has a commitment issue in general, or he has a problem showing his emotions that keeps him from having an actual relationship?

Henri seems to be a confused man trapped in one life, while dreaming about another. Stealing seems to not only be a task that Henri picked up at a young age, but also a way to cope with his life now.  

1) Why was Ruth with Jack, if she is scared of sex?

2) Why are Diane and Henri together if they are at each others throats all the time? 

3) What kind of a man is Jack?

4) Why does Jack need to flee every time he is at a place for to long? 

5) Even though Jack knows Henri wants his friends to make a good impression on Henri's, why does he get drunk before the dinner? 

Question?

How will Jack assimilate himself back into normal society?

Monsieur Cru

I feel like Jack messed up that meeting on purpose. It seems as if he was itching to travel again and he needed to go out with a bang. He is overdramatic and every time he leaves a place he's either drunk or high.

Pull of his own life

Jack is so focused on moving on from his past depression, and yet he never seems comfortable or satisfied. He has itchy feet, and states that "I could feel the pull of my own life calling me back."
It's exhausting reading this because he never seems relaxed, or situated.

Jack and Neal

What is it about Neal that intrigues Jack so much? Is it his past only? is it his drive? Is the rareness of character that was shown by his interest in things of an intellectual sense while in reform school?

Manana

I think that Jack could classify the period of his time spent with Bea under the tittle "Manana".

It seems that although Jack and Bea want to get to N.Y and make money, they never accomplish much. The idea of doing everything the next day finally finds Jack, while up to that point he seemed to do everything when he thought of it, he didn't often wait. I think the reason Jack and Bea couldn't make things last between them is because they were living in the future, and Jack is the kind of person who lives in the present.

I am traveling with him when I'm reading.

There is no paragraphs in this book. Everything flows like the river, and every event that happens in the book goes by very fast. There are no stops existing and no time to rest. An event is happening constantly, and Jack and his writing goes on and on forever. I think it is interesting how Kerouac's writing, reflects how life is and how his hitch hike journey is. He writes about this journey as if he had just finished his journey and was talking about it like a "Traveler's story souvenir ". His story is full of colors and the people Jack meets (they are all so weird) during his journey makes the color of Kerouac's journey more interesting.

Working in the jail

"All kinds from all over. And knowing full well how horrible it would be to work a full year Okinawa they drank. The job of the special guards was to see that they didn't tear the barracks down."
Who else was very surprised that Jack worked in a jail? He's passive as an authoritative figure, and enjoys drinking with the inmates. Maybe he was using the profession as another way to meet "mad people."

questions by Asta and Sarah

1. How does the writing style relate to his story?

2. How does Jack view women?

3. Was Allan Temko's interruption a blessing in disguise?

Paragraphs?

What do you think paragraphs and other spaces would do to the essence of the scroll?

Max and Katherine's 3 questions

1. How did Jack know that Bea was someone that he wanted to spend more time with and get to know better? was she worth changing his travel plans for?

2. Should Jack have stayed with Beatrice in the end?

3. Where were Jack and Bea picking cotton?

Questions

Why does Jack now mentioned he is mexican, but it had never come up before?

How would one describe the relationship between Raymond and Jack? Does Jack have his own child/children with his first wife?

Why did Jack and Bea both suspect one another of being involved with hustlers?

Randomn moment.

I found it so odd how jack just fell in love with the girl he met on the bus. It's so perplexing how impulsive he is at times. They meet each other and then they decide to live together. THen they want to make enough money to go to New york. What if he had actually met a phsycopath? He seems extremely reckless.

Whitman quote

I think that Kerouac uses Walt Whitman's quote because he and Whitman both convey the same ideas in their writing. They both have this sense of urgency. When we read "Songs of Myself" the reader felt as if they were being thrown in into this piece of work there was no build up or anything. THe reader was simply forced to ingest all the ideas gettting thrown around. I feel thesame exact way with this book. Kerouac just starts going on this crazy journey there is not really any background information provided for each character. Its like you experience everything right along side Jack. The quote also talks about witholding judgement. And both writers stand for this and it is quite clear in their work.

Amazes Me...

I find it so intriguing to have a character like Eddie in the mix of things. Eddie comes in the middle of Jack's travels, and seems to stir things up a little. He drinks, tells stories, and talks like it was his chosen life long career. But as soon as borrows Jack's shirt and then later on gets the chance to get a ride closer to Denver he jumps at it, no seconds thoughts. Only seconds later leaving Jack thinking..."well there goes my shirt" and myself thinking, "how can someone just go! and run off, when traveling with someone for a good amount of time, and on on top of it all, taking another person's shirt?" If it were me, there would be a "goodbye" or at least a "see ya". But no, nothing, notta. I guess some people are so focused on something or getting somewhere that nothing else matters, and we just go! go! go! Maybe we're all going to be that focused on something at some point and nothing else would matter. Who knows.

Kerouac chose Whitman because...

Whitman cherished his ability to open himself up to others. He expressed such beliefs through poetry, and now we see Kerouac using a similar medium to do the same. Kerouac is recounting his time on the road with brutal honesty and surrender to the reader.
Whitman's quote perfectly introduces the book as an invitation to the reader. It encourages them to immerse themselves in the book, becoming equally as vulnerable as Kerouac was while writing it.

The least likely place for Neal to be born...

on pg. 162 Jack writes, "Divide at midnight at Creston, arriving Salt Lake City at dawn, a city of sprinklers, the least likely place for Neal to have been born."

I liked this quote, but don't really know what to make of it. What does it say about Neal's character? And how Jack perceives him?

Movement

The sense of movement and emotional detachment from both people and places in this book strikes me. After coming out of a difficult period of his life, I wonder if Jack's choice to go On the Road is a healthy one. I think everyone experiences a time where the only way to cope in their own life is to separate themselves from their problems by living in a way that is totally different from their own norm. For some, I think this is the right thing to do, so that they can get a break from their persistent thoughts. But for others I think it is just putting these thoughts off, and they will hit hard later.

Travelers guide

would you ever want to drop everything that you were doing and spend months on the road? The minute I started reading On The Road by Jack Kerouac, this question has been in my mind. What would it be like to drop out of school and travel? No not after high school, I mean out of college, even before finishing college. The feeling that one is going to leave school books and in a way a steady ground, and venture out into the scary yet exciting parts of the world. Its just a question.

New faces

What would it feel like to spend a year or two traveling with complete strangers? Never knowing who you will end up meeting or spending days with? That's what Jack Kerouac is doing everyday. It seems that he never gets to really know any of the people he meets due to the fact that he he leaves to find another transportation or they leave. For most of our lives we get to meet new people, however we spend a while getting to know them.

Walt Whitman's Quote

I feel that Kerouac chose this quote because not only does it speak about travel but it also emphasizes on the bond that is made between someone and their travel companion. This bond cannot be broken because this companion has been chosen because of the loyalty that one has for them and the loyalty that they have for their companion as Whitman states. I feel that this is a topic the author will begin to cover as the book goes on whether or not he has a companion(s).

Most of society remains tied to where they are by situation, environment, and people, either for necessity and not being capable of movement, or through sentimentality. Throughout the book, Jack meets many interesting people and groups, all of whom disband at some point. While he is getting to know new people, he manages to keep himself from becoming tied to them. This is inconsistent with the last line of the Whitman quote. But the theme that binds them together is the freedom of travel, where money and law become concepts strangely found in the background, and individuality and connections with those around you, for however little time, become the dominant reality.

Whitman quote

Perhaps Kerouac chose to quote Whitman at the beginning of his scroll because he admired him as a writer and hoped to write the book in a similar way. The particular quote that is chosen reminds me of the relationship between Neal and Allen that Kerouac describes. The book is also dedicated to their memory so it's not unlikely that Kerouac saw them in the quote. Another thought is that the quote describes what Kerouac once "said" to the road, when he gave himself over to it completely and wondered if he would ever part with it.

Urban Dictionary is helpful

Benny-

An amphetamine tablet taken as a stimulant.

(Kerouac on writing)..."and after all what do I really know about it except you've got to stick to it with the energy of a benny addict."



http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=benny

mmmmm...let's get intellectual

Heeehhlllo

WHAT UP GUYS ITS MEEEEMEMEMEMEEEE