Jack Kerouac’s On The Road - Ranting of a Maniac or Precise Interpretation of Reality?

The Road, a post apocalyptic novel,written by Cormac McCarthy, tells the story of a father and son traveling along the cold, barren and ash ridden interstate highways of America. Pushing all their worldly possessions in a shopping cart, they struggle to survive. Faced with despair, suicide and cannibalism, the father and son show a deep loving and caring that keeps them going through unimaginable horrors. Through the setting of a post apocalyptic society, McCarthy demonstrates the psychological effects of isolation and the need to survive and how these effects affect the relationships of the last few people on Earth.

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, is an enticing, but soul-wrenching novel that perfectly conveys the precise conditions of a cold, desolate world, in which one feels utterly isolated. McCarthy does not hesitate to go into detail about powerful or foul events within the plot. He says exactly what he means, and can effectively incorporate forceful interactions between the characters and each other, as well as characters and their given environment. By using the literary devices of symbolism, imagery, and theme, McCarthy handcrafts a novel with such eloquence and grace that such a bleak and miserable world is perhaps a seemingly beautiful one.

Then Sal meets Dean; a wild, roguish character, and is so enchanted by him that he believes he can shape his own identity through being ‘like’ Dean. Hence, Sal takes to the road, planning to follow in Dean’s footsteps.

The other Wes’s mother, Mary, was dating a married man who interacted more with her son and cared to check up on him more than she would. Wes said, “When Wes got to the house his mother’s boyfriend, who was living with them when he wasn’t back home with his wife, was sitting in the living room, directly next to the front door (61).” Mary was being a bad influence by setting the example to Tony and Wes about not having standards if she was dating a married man. When a young adult is in

Sal loves her home in Bybanks, Kentucky and she is disappointed that she has to leave. This creates an external conflict when Sal and her father had to physically move to Euclid, Ohio. Creech also includes, “Everybody kept touching my hair. ‘Don’t you ever cut it?’ they said. ‘Can you sit on it?’... is it naturally black like that?’ (11). Sal is disturbed by everyone circulating her and does not like all of the attention on her, especially when it has to do with questioning her looks. This creates an internal conflict when Sal is bothered by the attention that she is receiving from her fellow classmates. This makes Sal feel uncomfortable because she never gets all of the opinions from others drawn towards her. Creech then states, “I wanted everything it was. I wanted to be back in Bybanks, Kentucky, in the hills and the trees,… (15). She realizes

Sal’s mom leaves her without warning that causes internal conflict. Sal becomes mad at herself cause she thinks it’s her fault that her mom left. “If I hadn't climbed that tree and my mom Cary me maybe the baby would still be alive and my mom would have never left”.This causes Sal to grow when she now knows it’s not her fault her mom left her and her father.

Cormack McCarthy’s novel, The Road, is set in a post apocalyptic world, where humanity is struggling to survive. Through his simplistic writing style and powerful symbolism, McCarthy tells a story about the human condition as well as what it truly means to be human. Though it is set in a wasteland this novel still manages to project hope through the love of a boy and his father. The following passages are quotes that spoke to me stylistically or symbolically while I was reading.

Notably, life on the road captivates many young adults, because it has a desirable notion of finding one’s happiness throughout the experiences they may encounter. Though life on the road provides a sensation of relief and airness by breaking away from society, it is not a permanent solution to those who want to obtain happiness by running away. In the instance of Chris McCandless, he demonstrates his unhappiness of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and instead feels asphyxiated by both his family and the society that surrounds him. It is only until McCandless decided to break away, did he feel free from his claustrophobic environment. Krakauer narrates, “At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence” (pg.22). McCandless rejected what society and his parents had to offer, because it did not situate well with his sensitive and philanthropist-like mentality. Krakauer characterizes how McCandless could not stomach the fact that there were many problems plaguing society, and yet he managed to live a privileged life while others had to suffer. In McCandless’s society, where wealth and materialistic values were the keys to happiness‒McCandless could not conform. Thus, he broke away, by chasing his own happiness abiet in an unconventional way. However, contrary to how McCandless viewed himself, it

The Road portrays the journey of the father and son across a black and white world that is analogous to my experiences of the quest of survival in Afghanistan and the refugee camp in Pakistan. Where many have abandoned their beliefs and morals to survive the hellish situation. Those who survive with their beliefs and values still in intact are constantly challenged on a day-by-day basis. Their survival must be persevered to keep the fire burning, however small for their own children. There must be some goodness that remains for their children to carry into the next generations. They must always remain

“The Road” depicts a solemn and deteriorating environment that can no longer provide the fundamentals to a society due to the nuclear disaster. The sudden depletion of the resources within their environment made it difficult for the father and the son to find sustenance. They were constantly traveling towards the South looking for safe places to situate themselves because the father knew that they would not be able to survive the nuclear winter. The genre of the novel is post-apocalyptic science fiction because it revolves around a dismantling society. Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” depicts how environmental destruction finally gave sense for people to value the world and what it had to offer.

The Road is a story where is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where the date and location is unnamed. The author of the novel Cormac McCarthy doesn 't describe why or how the disaster has demolish the earth. But after reading the novel, I can sense that the author wanted to present a case of mystery and fear to the unknown to the reader. By the author 's exclusion I think that the story gains a better understanding of what the author wanted to express to the reader. An expression of a man and his son surviving in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Langston Hughes uses beautiful symbolism and imagery in his literary work “On the Road”. Hughes offers up the idea that if one is to open ones heart; life will provide unlimited abundance. In this literary work, Langston Hughes uses nature to demonstrate and symbolize the unwillingness of his main character, Sargeant, to participate in life. Hughes also demonstrates the use of a person’s anger and instinct to survive and how they both can be used as powerful forces in breaking down racial barriers. Another more impacting symbol Hughes uses is Jesus Christ as a metaphor. Hughes uses this to show how people experience life and how the traditional church values contradict each other when it comes to the acceptance of human beings. Therefore

Imagine yourself living in a barren, desolate, cold, dreary world, with a constant fear of the future. The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy and published in 2006, is a vivid and heartwarming novel that takes us through the journey of a father and a son as they travel South in a post-apocalyptic environment facing persistent challenges and struggles. McCarthy proves that love unleashes immense strength to overcome obstacles, even in times of desperation.

Jack Kerouac is considered a legend in history as one of America's best and foremost Beat Generation authors. The term "Beat" or "Beatnic" refers to the spontaneous and wandering way of life for some people during the period of postwar America, that seemed to be induced by jazz and drug-induced visions. "On the Road" was one such experience of Beatnic lifestyle through the eyes and heart of Jack Kerouac. It was a time when America was rebuilding after WW I. Describing the complexity and prosperity of the postwar society was not Karouac's original intent. However, this book described it a way everyone could visualize. It contained examples and experiences of common people looking for new and exciting

     Jack Kerouac is the first to explore the world of the wandering hoboes in his novel, On the Road. He created a world that shows the lives and motivations of this culture he himself named the 'Beats.' Kerouac saw the beats as people who rebel against everything accepted to gain freedom and expression. Although he has been highly criticized for his lack of writing skills, he made a novel that is both realistic and enjoyable to read. He has a complete disregard for developed of plot or characters, yet his descriptions are incredible. Kerouac?s novel On the Road defined the post World War II generation known as the 'beats.'