Abstract
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jean Louis Lebris de Kerouacwere both born near Boston, one hundred and twenty years apart. The paper shows however, that the similarities in their regard to literary history, as well as the connection between the two in regards to their lives and early writing, is sufficient enough to draw many parallels between them. It shows that both men, as writers and as citizens of America, felt compelled by their discontent and discouragement at the state of affairs in their country, to stake out new ground and develop a new relation to their society and the world at large.

From the Paper
"How does the Beat Generation and the America of the 1950's compare with the social, political, and religious turmoil of the early America Emerson lived in? Both times in our country's history were marked, to a large degree, by an unusual level of conformity. The youth generation's reaction was to, not only fight against it, but to develop a completely alternate mode of consciousness with its own laws, its own set of values, and its own search for a "new and original relation" to the universe. However, my argument is not to so much compare these two times in American history, but rather to show how the conditions of America in the 1950's led to similar questions and similar quests among the youth generation. These questions and quests, when stripped down to a common denominator are essentially spiritual. "By a generation," wrote F.Scott Fitzgerald, "I mean that reaction against fathers which seems to occur about three times a century. It is distinguished by a set ideas,[and] inherited in moderated form from the madmen and outlaws of the generation before."

For Kerouac, and other writers of the Beat Generation, the uncertainty, the provincialism, and social disintegration of Post World War II America, led to a feeling of shiftlessness, indifference, aversion to conformity, and the need to extract all that life had to offer. The green lawns and white picket fences of Middle Class America, the sense of security many people looked for in the aftermath of World War II, held no allure to Jack and his friends. Norman Mailer's essay "The White Negro" describes the Beat Generation as characterized by a quest "to explore that domain of experience where security is boredom and therefore sickness."2"

Tags:Thoreau, Whitman, Transcendentalism, Beat, Generation

Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses the Beat Generation focusing on the works of Jack Kerouac 'On the Road' and 'The Subterraneans'. The writer looks at the impact these two novels had on future generations.

From the Paper
"The Beat Generation consisting of those poets and novelists who came to prominence in the United States during the .... and who were essentially rebelling against the post-World War II complacency of the Eisenhower years included Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. At issue in this report is an assessment of how the work of one major voice in the Beat Generation that of Jack Kerouac has influenced writing to the present day. Kerouac's influence rests upon the fact that in ..."

Tags:Jack Kerouac, Beat Generation, On the Road, The Subterraneans

Abstract
An exploration of Jack Kerouac's and the beats' socio-political beliefs, as expressed in his books, "On the Road" and the "Dharma Bums."

From the Paper
"Jack Kerouac was the founding father of the Beat movement. The Beat movement, according to Kerouac, was shorthand for beatific. Kerouac believed that he was speaking out for those who were marginalized by the society of the ...s (Prothero). While much has been written about the literary revolution that the Beats engendered, comparatively little attention has been paid to the inherently political nature of their writing. The Beats emerged from the stolidity of the ...s and challenged some of the fundamental tenets...."

Tags:kerouac, beats, revolution, social, moral, red scare, on the road, dharma bums

Abstract
This paper describe the beat generation, a close group of American writers of the 1950s of whom Jack Kerouac is associated. This group rejected materialism and consumer society and put forth a new set of values. The paper relates that Jack Kerouac in his 1957 novel "On the Road" speaks about this dissatisfaction with contemporary society by presenting a moral and psychological portrait . The paper also points out that Kerouac uses the stream of consciousness technique to recreate his and his friends' deeply philosophical and spiritual cross-country road trips across America. The paper highlights the two main characters of the novel, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, who in reality are Jack Kerouac and his closest friend Neal Cassady.

From the Paper
"The Beats were intellectuals, writers who experimented with Zen Buddhism and drugs; the spiritually enlightening experiences that came as a result of the experimentation are described in the novel by characters such as Carlo Marx - real life Beat icon, Allen Ginsberg - and Dean Moriarty. What is interesting to mention here is that Sal Paradise, the main character and narrator of the novel, does not participate in his friends' experiments with Benzedrine. Moreover, he expresses his reluctance as to the possibility of finding one's soul i.e. what the other members of his entourage were looking for."

Tags:intellectuals, dissatisfaction, rediscovery, resistance, friendship

Abstract
Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac

This paper is an analysis of On the Road, the most famous literary product of the Beat generation. The author looks at the life of the book's creator, Jack Kerouac, and his philosophies on life, and restless spirit as he wandered and searched for meaning in all Kerouac encountered.

From the paper:

"Though it is not the only work of his art, On the Road, for better or worse, has become Kerouac's most famous novel. This book has performed as a means to meet the desires for a number of other people who feel to be having a restless and curious soul. The book itself initiated a cultural revolution, hence diverting about millions of people on new ideological channels. At the same time it arched Kerouac to a fame that he was never expecting and for which his calm, sacred soul was not prepared to deal with."

Tags:road, on, beat, generation, paradise, sal, moriarty, dean

Abstract
This paper discusses the life and writing of Jack Kerouac, the 1950s American author whose novel "On the Road" is considered a classic. The paper traces Kerouac's childhood in Massachusetts, including watershed events such as the death of his older brother. Then the paper analyzes the influence of the Beat Generation and other social phenomena on Kerouac's writing. The paper concludes with Kerouac's tragic demise from alcohol.

From the Paper
"The Beat Generation. The Fabulous Fifties. Elvis. Rock and Roll. The Communist Menace. And then there was author Jack Kerouac. He defined a restless, dynamic and evolving generation of angst-ridden adventurers, who were desperately searching for the true meaning of life in the embodiment of this complex muse. Kerouac exuded a James Dean-like persona - in the way he wrote about, and ultimately lived, his life. Agnes Machate writes of Kerouac and his fellow writers of the Beat Generation: "They did not seem to pay too much attention to what was socially practical; in this regard they were rebels. If being non-conformist met their need for freedom and let them express themselves the way the wanted, and allowed them to be what they wanted to be, they did not have to obey any rules. They wouldn't fit in a group, but instead, stand out, so they wouldn't conform just to avoid an unpleasant treatment from society." ("The Generation of Extremes" 1)."

Tags:beat, generation, on, the, road, american, novel, alcoholism, rebel

Abstract
This paper analyzes the theme of American jazz in Jack Kerouac's emblematic novel of beat culture, "On the Road." First, the paper describes jazz, its history and its connection to American culture. Then, the paper then notes how jazz serves as a rhythmic foundation for Keruoac's novel. This is cited in reference to the use of language and its rhythm in the novel. Additionally, the jazz theme can also be applied to race and gender. The paper concludes by stating that the comparisons to jazz are most likely linked to Kerouac's own love of this musical form.

From the Paper
"This jazz theme in On The Road can also be applied to race and gender, for as Richardson points out, Kerouac utilizes the idea of "whiteness" as contrasted with "blackness," with the first being the so-called WASP or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, a person who usually shuns
anything to do with black culture, especially jazz music, and sees jazz musicians as peasants or those who wander from place to place, much like gypsies, without putting down social roots. As to "blackness,' this refers to African-Americans like Leadbelly, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk who stand in stark contrast to "White America" and find pleasure and satisfaction in playing jazz music. For Kerouac and Sal, this "whiteness" is the antithesis of jazz and is symbolized by "a suit of clothes too good to be comfortable" on the body of a jazz-loving, "on the beat" rebel more suited to non-conformity ("Peasant Dreams," Internet).
"Richardson also makes reference to the sound of "squiggling saxophones" which causes the listener, in this case Kerouac and his fellow "beat" travelers, to break into some kind of a Dionysian dance, fueled by wine, marijuana, and sexual debauchery. Also, Richardson mentions "the tenor-man's ecstasy," perhaps symbolically cast as Charlie Parker blowing his saxophone as if in some type of ecstatic musical bliss on the stage."

Tags:beat culture, Sal Paradise, American jazz, Allen Ginsberg

Abstract
This paper shows that social discomfort and distrust are heavily reflected in Jack Kerouac's works. Ray Smith from "The Dharma Bums" and Sal Paradise from "On the Road" are confused by society and why it functions as it does, and are therefore isolated from it. Leo Percepied from "The Subterraneans", on the other hand, becomes isolated from society as a result of not understanding himself and merely tries to accept his life for what it is. The paper takes a look at the links between Kerouac's characters, also in comparison to his own life.

From the Paper
"Eventually Ray comes to believe that the only way to achieve total happiness is to find "dharma," or truth. He comes to this conclusion with the help of his good friend Japhy Ryder. Ryder is an easygoing young man who is a strong follower of Buddhism. He introduces Ray to Buddhist thinking and gets him interested in pursuing dharma by telling him miraculous tales of the great Han Shan, an ancient Buddhist monk whom he grows to admire greatly. His admiration is for Han Shan's ability to "take off by himself and live purely and true to himself."3 For Han Shan the solution is to live a life of his own in the mountains of China, in retreat from society's conformity."

Tags:buddhist, african-american, criminal, Japhy, Ryder

Abstract
This paper explains that Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" captures the essence of the United States in a manner that has never been accomplished before because his disjointed and arbitrary travels mimic the complex and almost incomprehensible experience that is America, filled with the people and places, both famous and obscure. The author points out that Kerouac rolls through the countryside creating memories, connected directly his relationship with his friends; thus the theme, which pulls the novel together, is that the vast expanses of the United States are characterized by the people within them. The paper relates that the novel makes America real because, unlike other novels about this country "On the Road " does not appear to have any ideology aside from existence: "We are here. We are alive."

From the Paper
"Another symbol of beauty and pure emotion is music. Music is like America: they both are meaningless if there is not a human being there to experience them. Jazz, however, not only reflects America, but it reflects a rebellious aspect of America. In your time it remained a subculture; looked down upon by the social elite, the conservative, and the racists. Sal and Dean are unconcerned with all of these connotations. Specifically what appeals to Sal is the raw emotion; the idea that a trumpet player can most accurately express his emotion by hitting random, unplanned, and almost arbitrary notes. Dean becomes completely lost in the music. He believes he can feel exactly what the musician is feeling and at exactly the same moment."

Tags:existence, memories, relationships, music, friends

Abstract
This paper that analyzes Jack Kerouac's life experiences and his philosophy of life as mirrored in the contents of his book "On the Road." The paper does this by using examples from the book that support that thesis.