Conforming with Non-Conformity

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the concept of conformity and non-conformity through one of Jack Kerouac's greatest books "On The Road." It analyzes Kerouac's writings and relates it to the idea of conformity/non-conformity. It also discusses these ideas through the lifestyles of the beat generation which is embodied in the characters of the book.

From the Paper:

"During the early post war era, the presumed conformity in middle-class white American literature where enormous, and it should come as no surprise that a reaction against that conformity-the beat generation-should arise and attain notoriety." --Robert Holton(265-266) Jack Kerouac, a "self-proclaimed spokesman for the beat generation"(Miles 171), wrote a book that challenges the concept of conformity in a post war America. This book entitled "On The Road" takes its two main characters, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, in numerous journeys across America and to Mexico as well. These journeys, that takes them back and forth from the east coast to the west coast, illustrate the rebellious notion that Kerouac has towards rigidity and responsibility: two concepts that has embodied the idea of conformity. Through this, Kerouac is conveying the idea that living life to its fullest means the destruction of barriers to personal freedom. As Sal and Dean aptly demonstrates, life can indeed be lived to its fullest. They disregarded conformity to lead their own lives with their own rules. In many ways, they are the representations of the beat generation: they are Kerouac's tools to profess his belief in non-conformity."

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