Jack Kerouac's On the Road
Jack Kerouac was said to have started the “Beat” generation. His novel “On the Road” epitomizes this movement. Although not published until 1957, “On the Road” was written in the mid to late 1940’s, it documents the travels of Kerouacs journeys across the country in the guise of Sal Paradise. This novel depicts the conformity across the nation and how the dissatisfied young generation of post war society yearned for something more. He sets to the roads of America to escape the repetition of every day life. His journeys become a quest for new experiences and a new way of living, crossing both moral and legal boundaries of that time, to search for true freedom. It seems as if, although each city or state he visits or passes each have different values, the theme of conformity is still evident.