| Jack Kerouac is a brilliant writer in America in the mid of the 20th century.He is a well-known representative of“the Beat Generation”.His three famous works The Sea Is My Brother（1943）,On the Road（1957）and The Dharma Bums（1958）demonstrate the pursuit of“the Beat Generation”on their spiritual road.The famous existentialist philosophy pays attention to the fundamental issues of human nature,existence and value.Kerouac’s unique literary creation and the deviant way of his life are unique manifestations of“the Beat Generation”to pursue the meaning of life.Taking The Sea is My Brother,On the Road and The Dharma Bums as the research objects and three of Sartre’s and Heidegger’s existentialist philosophical views“the world is absurd and life is anguish”,“existence precedes essence”and“freedom and responsibility”as the theoretical background,this research probes into the existentialism in the three novels.Firstly,it discusses Bill and Wesley’s nausea and anguish,Sal and Dean’s anxiety,and Ray’s nothingness to the absurd American society.Secondly,it analyzes the different approaches of the protagonists’free choice to escape.Specifically,in The Sea Is My Brother,Bill and Wesley blindly pursue their ideal life by escaping the routine and family troubles on land.In On the Road,Sal and Dean escape the dark American society to seek their hope by integrating with the marginalized people and behaving crazily.In The Dharma Bums,Japhy and Ray escape the materialism to pursue freedom and true self by means of Zen.Thirdly,the thesis explores the protagonists’responsibilities.In the initial stage,Bill and Wesley do not bear any responsibility.However,as the protagonists mature finally,they come to realize the necessity of being responsible for themselves and the society.By perusing the texts,it can be concluded that Kerouac’s works are filled with existentialist thoughts like existence,pursuit and value of human beings,which reflect the hard spiritual road of Kerouac’s searching for the meaning of life. |
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