Sunday, April 7, 2013

On The Road (by Jack Kerouac)


After hearing a few references to On the Road on Freaks and Geeks, and finally after seeing a movie trailer inspired by the book, I broke down and got the book out of my school's library.  I knew the book would involve traveling the U.S. and I had a feeling it was mostly fluff-- i.e. little significant plot-- so I figured it was just the book to read in order to inspire my travels for Spring Break.  I'm not sure if it inspired me to travel as much as to simply STAY AWAY FROM DRUGS because they tend to make the users babbling, incoherent fools. Nonetheless, I read it, even though it took me nearly two months.  Seriously, it's only 307 pages and I just couldn't get through it in a decent amount of time because it lacked what compels me to read: conflict and desire for knowledge. Yes, there was some beautiful language at times, but there wasn't enough of it for me to consider it poetry.  Instead, as I read I felt as if I was passively watching someone drive Nevada over and over again. While speeding, telling childhood stories, and periodically finding girls to "make it with" may be entertaining for 45 minutes, it doesn't do the trick for hours on end, at least not for me.

It's funny to me that while so many people think that the book is so deep and soulful, it's actually the exact opposite: it shows reckless twenty somethings living off of other people's money and charity and trying to claim it as a search for spirituality. It's about as much about a search for spirituality as Magic Mike (and this may actually be insulting to Magic Mike because at least Magic Mike is funny).  While the book is also lauded as the key to beat generation's soul, whoever deemed it as such obviously didn't read the last two pages-- which actually slaps the beat generation in the face for all it stands for (more on this later-- skip to the end). In fairness to Kerouac, the book does give the reader an interesting cross section of what's going on in America in the late 50s: immigration, diversity, Jazz, racial tensions, sexual tensions, and traditional families versus parent-less families. I don't hate the book, it's just that it definitely doesn't live up to the hype and those movies or people talking it up haven't read the whole thing and must have had a very selective memory.  The book could have done the job in 75-100 pages and would have left me actually thinking he was brilliant, instead of a hormone driven junkie.    

The story itself consists of Sal Paradise (Kerouac- and we never do find out why he's going by this name and/ or how much of it a fictional..?) and his buddy Dean Moriarty.  Sal has returned home after World War II and is living of his G.I. Bill.  At some point he's used it for college, but he never really tells us when and there in not mention of going to classes during the story.  Sal lives in New York and parties with a variety of acquaintances and he's always curious what everyone else is up to.  Sal just seems to hang around and seek out someone to follow around.  Dean Moriarty is the guy he follows.  Somehow or another Sal decides to head out to San Francisco so he walks and hitchhikes out, while stopping in Denver to party with some friends.  He meets various people along the way, but he mainly spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to catch a ride and how to catch some sleep, particularly because when he rides with others he feels that he must entertain them to keep them awake and earn the trust of the drivers.

Dean hooks up with a variety of friends and acquaintances in Denver, with a constant stream of names that mean little to the reader because the characters don't really get developed-- again, except for Dean, a little bit of Marylou, and then Camille. By the time Sal gets to San Fran with Dean, Dean is on-again off-again with Marylou and it's obvious that Dean is having sex with almost anyone that he can fit in his schedule. Everyone drinks and scours the city for good jazz and next big party. Sal is annoyed with how little time Dean has for him and they barely get a chance to hang out. Sal heads back to New York, again hitchhiking and walking along the way.  You'd think the story would just end there, but instead, Sal goes cross country again, and with Dean driving. Dean shows up in a drug induce euphoria, sweating and talking like a madman.  Sal and Dean drive up and down the East coast with a car full of furniture and people in order to help out Sal's aunt by moving furniture. Dean drives like a madman and talks incessantly and does benzedrine and/or "tea" (marijuana) whenever he can get his hands on it. Sal's aunt loans the boys money throughout their travels. Dean then persuades Sal to head back West with him-  with the loose guise of working and trying to find Dean's alcoholic bum of a father.  Dean takes Marylou along with him even though he's over her (but they're married).  Sal and Marylou become fond of one another and Dean seems cool with this, but Marylou and Dean still have sex periodically just because they can. At one point, Dean even tries to get Sal and Marylou to have a threesome (because Dean feels that he should experience everything possible in life), but Sal backs out during the process because he just can't get into it (because it's not natural for him).  However, Sal and Marylou decide that they'll get together in San Fran once Dean is back with his mistress Camille.

The three make it back to San Fran. with absolutely no money.  Dean drops off the two and tells them to try to find a place to stay while he drives off (probably to see Camille).  Marylou gets a room on credit and she and Sal try to find some money to eat.  Without luck and without Dean's return, the two split because Marylou finds a sugar daddy and Sal gets enough money to head back East again. Sal heads East again, hooking up with drivers wanting company (through driver's bureaus or something like that) and he makes it back home to New York. Not much after Sal returns home, continues to party until the wee-hours, and starts to become bored, Dean returns and settles down with a woman named Inez. Meantime, Dean is now married to Camille and she has his baby, but she's back in San Fran.  Dean decides to leave Camille, but he attempts at supporting her some long-distance.  Camille and Inez correspond and become friends.  Dean gets divorced to Camille, marries Inez and then decides to divorce Inez for Camille.  The moral of the story: Dean, Sal and another buddy all head out to Mexico to try to get a faster divorce for Dean.

The guys no more than make it into the Southwest and the third buddy gets a strange bug sting that they need to go to the hospital for (twice).  One of the times, the buddy is laying the hospital for the day as Sal and Dean decide to tour a Mexican city.  They load back up and Dean continues to drive through Mexico like a madman, slowing only to euphorically describe how amazing the scenery is and the people look.  This goes on for some time until they meet a man who hooks them up with prostitutes at a local brothel.  The three go crazy by blasting Mambo, buying drinks for everyone at the brothel and they have the whole town's attention for the better part of a day until they decide to push south at sunset.  The men make it to Mexico City, Sal ends up sick in a hospital with a fever and Dean gets his divorce a few days later.  While Sal is still hallucinating with a fever, Dean apologizes and heads back to the States leaving Sal and the buddy behind. Sal and the buddy eventually get money sent to them and then they fly home.

While you'd think the book would end there; it doesn't.  Instead, Kerouac includes a few more pages (and here it comes) that undermine the whole beat generation.  (At least in my opinion.)  Sal makes it home, gets re-established and has now gotten some money for his book (duh, this book).  So, one of his friends from school, Remi, who Sal even says is "fat and sad" (p. 306) shows up and wants to go see Duke Ellington at the Metropolitan Opera with Sal and Sal's girlfriend. They get a Cadillac, put on suits and head out.  Who shows up?  Dean.  And, he wants to ride with them across town so that he can be just a little closer to getting to the bus station without having to walk in the "durned cold in this here New Yawk" so that he can start another cross-country trip. What happens?  Remi tells Dean "no" and they wave goodbye to Dean, as they sit in the warm car and Dean stands in the New York cold and alone. Lastly, Sal says he thinks about Dean from time to time. The end.  That's what friends are for.

Now, I'm just curious about how the movie will interpret the story, particularly based on the trailer I've seen.  From what I can tell, it looks like the director definitely had a selective memory since it's becoming obvious that reading Kerouac is really about the illusion of the beat generation and not the actuality of it.