The Transformation Of Women In Jack Kerouac's On The Road

In the 1960s the views of women were not as they are today. For centuries women have been objectified and not treated as equals, only being viewed as property or looked at for their physical features. Ken Kesey the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with the character McMurphy, learned towards the superiority of the male sexuality over female authority (123 Helpme). The women in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are portrayed as weak, sex objects, and domineering.

F. Scott Fitzgerald tackles numerous grave themes in his renowned novel The Great Gatsby, one of the most prominent being sexism and the disparities of gender equality in the 1920s. The novel tells the story of several upper class men and women navigating prohibition and their own personal drama in their otherwise almost wholly uneventful lives. Every character, regardless of their gender, ends up dead, alone, unhappy, or some combination of the three by the end of the story. But as with most literature, the journey is paramount in comparison to the destination. The way Fitzgerald frames the outcomes of each character varies significantly based on their gender. It is not as simple as “all of the men continue without consequences and get the girl while all the women are either hit by a car or stay in unfaithful marriages” or vice versa. No one gets an entirely, or even mostly, favorable ending. It is instead the reason why one’s finale is inauspicious that must be examined. Men are nearly exclusively characterized in older fiction as being aggressive doers; they are the ones that the story is about and they drive their stories forward. Women, on the other hand, are passive reactors; they are the secondary plot devices to be used to propel the story forward. The men of the novel end up miserable because of things that happen to them, while the women of the story have cheerless conclusions because of actions they took that actively landed them in that place. The Great Gatsby

The setting of both stories reinforces the notion of women's dependence on men. The late 1800's were a turbulent time for women's roles. The turn of the century

Women are primarily objects of sexual pleasure for the male protagonists. Their characters are always filtered through the men's perspective, with the exception of the maid Bertha, Charlie’s maid, who at times makes fun at either of the brothers. (Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard, Year Unknown).

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, explores the complex worlds of masculinity, friendship, freedom and the delusions of the American dream. It was extremely influential to American culture and it spoke to young Americans of that generation as well as the generations that followed. On the Road is an exploration of the world of the traveler, and from it Kerouac was able to create a world in his book that illustrates the lives as well as the motivations of a counterculture he named the ‘Beats’. Kerouac saw the counterculture he created as a people who wanted to escape the restrictions, repressions and conformities of American culture, particularly white middle class culture. Kerouac was able to describe this

Connie has a tendency to daydream, so she daydreams about Eddie and thinks about “how sweet he always was, not the way someone like June would suppose but sweet, gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs” (625). She is soon snapped out of this fairy tale when a man named Arnold Friend confronts her. He actually treats her like she is the grown woman that she wants to be and this aspect is very scary for Connie. He pulls up driving a car and his car is a symbol for an underlying theme in the story. It is evident that only men drive in the story, never women. The only time a woman drove in the story is the dent in Arnold’s car and written in it was “done by a crazy woman driver”(627). Not only is Connie young, but also she is a woman and the car represents the mobility and freedom that women do not tend to have during this time period. Arnold says things to her that mirror her search for independence. He knows so much about her, from her name to her family’s name, to the fact that her whole family was gone at the time. He was the perfect package representing independence in a way that Connie was familiar with. He stood in a relaxed way, he wore clothes that she recognized, his smile was friendly and dreamy, and her talked in a “singsong way”(629). Despite all of these factors, something was still not right about him in Connie’s eyes. These factors

Lastly the dependence of men plays an extremely large role in this book. Williams uses Blanche’s and Stella’s dependence on men to expose and critique the treatment of women during the transition from the old to the new South. Both Blanche and Stella see male companions as their only means to achieve happiness, and they depend on men for both their sustenance and their self-image. Blanche recognizes that Stella could be happier without her physically abusive husband, Stanley. Yet, the alternative Blanche

Sexuality has an inherent connection to human nature. Yet, even in regards to something so natural, societies throughout times have imposed expectations and gender roles upon it. Ultimately, these come to oppress women, and confine them within the limits that the world has set for them. However, society is constantly evolving, and within the past 200 years, the role of women has changed. These changes in society can be seen within the intricacies of literature in each era. Specifically, through analyzing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, one can observe the dynamics of society in regards to the role of women through the lens of the theme of sexuality. In both novels, the confinement and oppression of women can be visibly seen as a result of these gender roles. Yet, from the time The Scarlet Letter was published to the time The Bell Jar was written, the place of women in society ultimately changed as well. Hence when evaluating the gender roles that are derived from sexuality, the difference between the portrayals of women’s oppression in each novel becomes apparent, and shows how the subjugation of women has evolved. The guiding question of this investigation is to what extent does the theme of sexuality reflect the expectations for women in society at the time each novel was written. The essay will explore how the literary elements that form each novel demonstrate each author’s independent vision which questions the

In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Alice Munro’s Lives of Girls and Women, Esther and Del try to take control of their sexuality and their sexual lives. These two female protagonists attempt to gain sexual confidence by quietly rejecting the societal images of women. They are able to seduce men and pilot their own sexual lives. These women are also able to ignore the popular beliefs about marriage and motherhood, thus freeing them from the traditional, restrictive female sexual roles. By rejecting the popular notions of womanhood, sexuality, and marriage, Esther and Del become the mistresses of their sexuality and sexual

An example of this notion is shown in Hope Leslie when Governor Winthrop, the landlord, reacts to Hope, the tenant, coming home late and refuses to reveal her reason why: “...Winthrop was not accustomed to have his inquisitorial rights resisted by those in his own household, and he was more struck than pleased by Hope’s moral courage” (184). Evidently, Winthrop’s reaction proves that women with “moral courage” are unladylike because moral courage is a manly trait. On the other hand, Esther Downing, another character in Hope Leslie, embodies the cult of true womanhood. Esther’s mere look at her love interest Everell is described as “a look of...pleased dependence, which is natural... and which men like to inspire, because --perhaps -- it seems to them an instinctive tribute to their natural superiority” (219). So, “Esther’s look … of dependence” confirms that the expectation that all women are supposed to have the same behavior, gestures and personality is meant to not only please men but to also hide their true form. Therefore, the cult of true womanhood presents an internal battle in female writers and Sedgwick presents this womanly struggle through the contrast between Hope and Esther. Society wants women to be quaint housewives but publishing a book defies the cult of true womanhood. Thus, defying the qualities rooted in the cult of true womanhood causes high risk of

       The women in Jack Kerouac's On The Road were, it seems, not afforded the same depth in character which the author gave the men. The treatment of the women characters in both word and action by Sal and Dean seems to show that women could only be a virgin/mother figure or a whore. Throughout the novel there are many instances in which women and their feelings or actions are either referred to flippantly or blatantly degraded. It can be said, however, that Sal (Kerouac) did not necessarily agree with this narrow female identity, and there is evidence to support this claim. The novel also shows though that Sal did participate in this male forced female stereotyping whether he

In the end, each character has played a role based on the expectations society creates. The men and women all have their own ways of manipulating one another. “The woman is judged by society under the man’s law (Rosefeldt).” Society’s expectations of woman back

All characters in the novel are living in a man’s world; nevertheless, the author has tried to change this world by the help of her characters. She shows a myriad of opportunities and different paths of life that woman can take, and more importantly she does not show a perfect world, where women get everything they want, she shows a world where woman do make mistakes, but at the same time they are the ones that pay for these mistakes and correct them.

     A disillusioned youth roams the country without truly establishing himself in one of the many cities he falls in love with. In doing so, he manages with the thought or presence of his best friend. What is he searching for? While journeying on the road, Sal Paradise is not searching for a home, a job, or a wife. Instead, he longs for a mental utopia offered by Dean Moriarty. This object of his brotherly love grew up in the streets of America. Through the hardships of continuously being shuffled from city to city, Dean has encompassed what is and what is not important in life. While driving back to Testament in the '49 Hudson, Dean propositions Sal through an appeal to emotion. In passing