An Existentialist Reading Of On The Road

On The Road, hailed as the portraiture of the Beat Generation (BG, or Beats), is a masterpiece by an American writer—Jack Kerouac."On the road"refers to a journey without starting and terminal points; it is a suspending condition before arriving at destination. Traditional criticism of On The Road shows more interest in the themes of hedonism, nihilism, rebellion, in which, car-driving, jazz-craze, love-making and drug addiction are the major concerns. However, recent criticism begins to turn some attention to the protagonists'quest for their existential essence.Taking into consideration of the social background of America in 1950s, the impact of existentialism, especially Sartrean existentialism, on American intellectuals and the spontaneous writing style of On The Road, is very prevalent. The Columbia History of American Novel labels the Beats as"existential heroes"and remarks that their"life on the existential edge approached the degree of authenticity."[David Van Leer, 2005:493] Based on this situation, the thesis intends to apply existentialism, especially Sartrean existentialism, to the thematic exploration of the Beats in On The Road. The layout of the thesis focuses on Sartre's existential doctrine of"the world is absurd and the life is agony", and"free choice".Besides Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis consists of two chapters. The introductive part introduces some background knowledge concerning BG, Kerouac, On The Road, the current study of the work, Sartrean existentialism as well as the basic matters of the thesis itself. Moreover, the third section of this part expounds the first principle of Sartrean philosophy,"existence precedes essence", which is the most fundamental element in Sartre's philosophy, and serves as the foundation of his philosophical system, and thus cannot be avoided. The terms of"Dasein","being in itself", and"being for itself"are of great complication and profundity,which, however, well explain absurdity of the world and agony of the life, and then justify a way out—free choice. In short, this section is mainly concerned with theoretical discussion with the evidence from BG's life inside and outside On The Road. The first chapter is one of the major parts of the thesis. It depicts the absurdity of the world as well as the agony of life involving anguish caused by bad faith, being for others, as well as death in On The Road on the ground of Sartrean and Heidegger's existentialism. The plight of survival pushes the"existential heroes"to action. Although a little more of abstraction, this part is a transitional one, which, offers more specific evidence for the former chapter on the one hand, and, logically paves the way to the next chapter—escaping from inauthenticity and seeking for self-authenticity.The second chapter is the core of the thesis. It justifies the third principle of Sartrean philosophy—free choice by BG in On The Road in distinctive manners. The first is to escape from the inauthenticity and self-banishment. The specific inauthenticity lies in soullessness or dehumanization caused by conformity, industrial civilization and political suppression. Sartre's existentialism is a philosophy of practice or action. The self-authenticity lies in action, or the forceful intervention into life of BG by means of returning to nature, sexual release, transcendental perception and spontaneous writing.The conclusive part discusses some other elements,such as responsibilities, which should be considered to complement or strengthen the arguments concerned. Besides, the strong points as well as the realistic significance are also presented in this part.