Most famously known for the road-going journal On the Road, Jack Kerouac uses imagery as an effective way to describe and explain situations he experiences and people he encounters throughout his career. In several of his autobigraphical novels, Kerouac explores his “self” through the eyes of fictionalized protagonists; for example, in On the Road he is Sal Paradise. Jack Kerouac wrote about his life from an objective vantage point to utilize the imagery his stories are filled with, capturing the moments on ever page.

With On the Road, Kerouac introduces a new stylistic manner of creation: spontaneous prose. With previous works, Kerouac mirrors the style of Thomas Wolfe’s writing; however he progressed, from that, into the style of spontaneous prose with On the Road and continued in the same with Big Sur. The reader may find the progression interesting, because Kerouac writes Big Sur after the onslaught of success and popularity he received after the publication of On the Road. Big Sur is the recounting of a man in the midst of becoming a reluctant cultural icon and a drunken slob. Kerouac struggles with his fame and money by using it to purchase large quantities of alcohol and turn what once planned to be a quiet “writing retreat” into a gathering of wild beatniks. Kerouac as Sal Paradise, we follow him through the motions of idealistic writer, eager to dig life and experience the world, scribbling it all down and offering true-grit tales – his way of life.

We sit with Sal Paradise during On the Road, analyzing and nodding our heads “yes” in agreement with the brilliant observations he makes. His use of imagery is profound and crystal clear – we are right there, digging life with Sal and his partner-in-crime, Dean Moriarty;

“Now we must all get out and dig the river and the people and smell the world,” said Dean, bustling with his sunglasses and cigarettes and leaping out of the car like a jack-in-the-box. On the Road, pg. 140

The imagery in this quote is used mainly to describe Dean Moriarty, a fast-paced guy with his own agenda and also lends the reader a view of how these “beatniks” stopped, quite literally, to smell the roses. This is all that matters in their lives, they have close to no money and they don’t care one bit. They dig.

In On the Road, Kerouac describes his adventures with Neal Cassady, otherwise coined as Dean Moriarty as the two venture from coast-to-coast and everywhere in between. They stop for life and take it without regret,

Where go? what do? what for? -sleep. But this foolish gang was bending onward. On the Road, pg. 167

Thus, summing up the pace of the crew, Sal shows there is never a set reason why they flit from place-to-place, because reason, to them, is not significant to their big picture. They push forward, ready to buy more and live more. We feel Sal’s mood an almost need to know what is to come and then a quiet acceptance to “sleep” – the two of both extremes, panic to surrender. We feel the atmosphere that Sal, as narrator, creates from the description ofthe group. As we read, we are enticed and want the inside story, wanting to stand beside Sal, thumbs in the air and waiting for the eventual ride;

Outside Tucson we saw another hitchhiker in the dark road. This was an Oakie from Bakersfield, California, who put down his story. “Hot damn, I left Bakersfield with the travel-bureau car and left my gui-tar in the trunk of another one…” On the Road, pg. 167

second half of essay later.

Here is the ISU Essay I wrote comparing Jack Kerouac’s On the Road to Big Sur for my grade 12 advanced english class just before i graduated from charm school and fucked off to nyc. Feel free to email and totally ‘dis the shit out of it because i left it to the very, very last minute and i didn’t even read Big Sur, i read the first 1/4 of it and i was like SHUT UP and then that fucking poem at the end about the waves, i think you have to be on speed to get that sort of thing. anyway, also feel free to plagiarise it yourself, steal the words, make it better.

i found this kid in a beatnik messageboard and got him to help me word it all the nite before i handed it in, go internet! i was like durr yeh i am related to this dude and he was all impressed and younger. pfft. oh and if you go to the charm school i graduated from you can get the copy of On the Road that i read, dog-eared, underlined, and was this close to stealing but didn’t because i didn’t ever wanna have to go back to that school again and go to library jail and not get my yearbook, which i didn’t purchase anyway and i didn’t have my photo taken for it either but there is some “poetry” they published, i have no idea why ‘cos it was all about being a vixen and sexing people and depression, and so on.

i got 33 out of 40 on it.

8/10 for style

9/10 for unity and coherence

9/10 for evidence

7/10 for technical precision

and my teacher even wrote “Well done, Lauren.”

focker.

for research i got 8/10

process 7/10

organization 7/10

ME!

the red loser-idiot markings say }awk. which means this sentence you just wrote is awkward you are a fucking moron but if you tried a bit harder this might even be japanese. All the other mistakes are places where i was too jewish to make the title italics and some other crap about open paragraphs i don’t even know. essays are for people who write books and people who write books with essays in them are the same people who want to be friends with rush limbaugh and ps i got his book for a dollar from the library i can’t wait to critique the hell out of it.

i will transcribe the essay a little bit later because i am gay, right now.

my lower lip is all dried-up and out and i am too much of a faggot to put lip balm on it so i am sucking at it and biting it and making it look all fat lower lipesque because i get punched in the lip because i am fantastic.

anyhow.

i have a new counsellor and he reminds me of curb your enthusiasm dude and he talks with his hands and he makes great analogies and i tell him i don’t wanna work for the man and he is like, awesome.

i took a picture of the schizophrenia digest that i know you will all appreciate.

doctor dude says i have to make a 5 year plan and i said i can’t even make a five second plan and i told aimee this and she laughed in that way she laughed because she is aimee and fil says, hmmph, “doctor” he is a counsellor I am a doctor and then we talked about the movie we are going to make, and then play it at my art show, one day this century.

and that is my five year plan.

i have a friggin’ earache, i think i am getting sick again AND i hate smoking cigarettes AND i got the lay-away shoes courtesy of GK.

old people

when they walk around they are not very observant

because they care ten times less than the youth of today

they don’t fuckin’ care if they look pretty

or if i am looking at them

or if i want to smile at them

and say hi hello let me take your picture

they just wanna fuckin’ walk if they can

and they want to be bitter

and sour

and go RAWRR YOUTH OF TODAY ARRRRRRRRRG WHERE IS MY HOT DOG!?!

but the youth

they care a lot

about everything

and good for them though some of ‘em are pretty fucked up

because that old guy screaming about his hot dog

is their uncle

blogging and then not blogging for awhile then blogging again, off and on is really fucking irritating because you forget things like the name of a photo you thought you posted and then there is no frigging way you have the time to sort through the file manager of the server that hosts all the crap for you for that one totally awesome photo you thought you posted and that, my friends, is why blogging and then not blogging and then blogging again, is, really. fucking. irritating.

i love the pool but these days it makes me sad to look at it because it is full of dingy leaves and the liner has done and got itself all faded because it wasn’t emptied before they left for France and the tomato pot fell over ‘cos of the wind and i righted it but i know that when i go out there for a cig i will have to pick it up again.

i just ate mcdonald’s and i feel great about myself now because i know my system will crash very soon and i’ll snarl at the world until i take a huge crap and change the cd.

i’m going to have an art show by christmas time and you are all invited and i might even convince my dad and company to play at it while i hand out fuzzy peaches and sing about the 1960’s so anyone who wants to give me some advice and/or help, $$$ for supplies, or no help whatsoever so i can go on being bitter and create art and then you can all show up and expect to buy it for just 3 dollars….

i am pre-menstrual for the rest of my life. ps this crap will not be at the art show though it should be.

today we got fil new shoes because fil learned that raymi got new shoes but raymi does not actually have the new shoes in her posession so fil wearing new shoes and raymi not wearing new shoes equals gay and not fair.

before that fil and raymi ate at the diner place and raymi was a bitch, again, and fil said i am never fucking coming here with you again and raymi said fine, but that obviously was a lie because they went there again three seconds later.

even before that they woke up earlyish and watched the teen choice awards and raymi said willheim made that music and fil said yes i know you tell me everything and raymi said let us drink beer.

i find that these days i’ve been progressively intoxicating the shit out of myself and yelling in people’s faces because they skew things that are said in their brains and i am all, um, that is not the overall meaning of what was just said and they are all, BLARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH, and i am all, SHUT UP and then i tell some dicknose that he is just a pawn ‘cos he is a bass player and has absolutely no right to dictate anything in my band and i just talked to my dad and he is like we don’t want a bass player and i am like good that solves everything.

so i am all kerouac sans the writing just the tappa tappa drinking talking artfag except i’m one-hundred per cent more bitter and obnoxious. i bet jack was really nice but then again he was a serial drunk, so whatever.

i’m gonna watch nat. lamp’s. euro vacation because i am rock and roll.