On the Road

Dorothea Lang, Toward Los Angeles, California. 1937 March

On the Road is one of, if not the most important book of the Beat Generation. It defines an era, an attitude, a way of life. And it is utterly annoying and frustrating. I read On the Road and Dharma Bums in high school, and I enjoyed them both, but rereading this novel was torturous. I haven’t had any experiences like some of the people in our class, although I have felt out of place in my life, but I found nothing to identify myself with Sal and his friends. They were selfish, whiney alcoholics and drug addicts, looking for something to waste time on. I think many of them may have been genuine, but this fact didn’t redeem their aimless lives. I don’t think Jack Kerouac’s value as an American novelist can be debated, because he surely embodied the aimless feeling of this generation, but I think in many ways he is seen as a role model, and many teenagers and young adults have the desire to embody his lifestyle and to go on the road as he did. I think what is missing here is what he discovers at the end. How do his journeys change him, or inspire him to change; what does he learn? I read the book before, and I remembered nothing about it. I think that says something. The novels we love the most we may forget, but when we start to read them again it comes back to us. On the Road stayed a mystery all the way through. I didn’t learn anything from Sal or his friends, except maybe what not to do.