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Jack Kerouac and the beat generation
Jack kerouac on the road who was dean moriarty
Jack Kerouac and the beat generation
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Importance of Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac’s On The Road
It is Dean Moriarty, in Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, who represents the eternal flame of youth that was adopted by the rebellious youth culture of the Beat Generation. He is free from responsibility, “simply a youth tremendously excited with life…want[ing] so much to live and to get involved with people who would otherwise pay no attention to him” (Kerouac 4). Just as the Greek of the Olympics, “with [the] torch…[that] ignites the pagan dream of immortality” (Rodriguez 1), Dean embodies the almost immortal flame of youth, the eternal “sideburned hero of the snowy West” (Kerouac 2). As “He was the BEAT—the root, the soul of Beatific” (Kerouac 195), Dean embodied and still embodies the spirit of the immortal Beat Generation.
Post-World War Two, the fifties saw the arrival of “juvenile delinquents, motorcycles, and leather jackets…[and the hipsters, who] adopted an ethic at odds with most Americans, and his values and view of the world soon became the Beats’” (Foster 8). The character of Dean Moriarty is literally and figuratively the firebrand of the invincible youth culture known as the Beat Generation, as he was one of “a youth tremendously excited with life…the holy con-man with the shining mind” (Kerouac 5).
The passionate madness of life and rebellious con-man life-styles evinced in the character of Dean Moriarty are symbolic of the generation. Tim Hunt proposes that Sal Paradise, the protagonist or perhaps the conventional man, chooses “his [Dean’s] romanticized version of Denver slum life…[this] represents the New World at its most anarchistic and individualistic apex” (Hunt 39). Because Dean Moriarty holds this carefree and enthusiastic nature of the unconq...
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... be immortal himself, his actions and Beat are enduring, that is, living within On the Road eternally. As James Dean became a symbol and inspiration for the Rebel, Dean Moriarty became the literary representation of the rebellious Beat Generation, holding onto that eternal flame—the passionate recklessness, the easygoing charisma that can ultimately found in youth.
Works Cited
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Foster, Edward Halsey. “Kerouac.” Understanding the Beats. Columbia: U of South Carolina, 1992.
Holstad, Scott C. “Kerouac: A look.” Kerouac’s On The Road and the American Quest. 1999. 04 Jan 2002.
Hunt, Tim. “An American Education.” Kerouac’s Crooked Road. Los Angeles: U of California Press, 1996.
Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: Penguin Books, 1976.
In The Dharma Bums, Kerouac strengthens his argument for the Zen ideal of poverty and freedom by this criticism of the conformity practiced by the middle-class:
Chimpanzees make tools and use them to procure foods and for social exhibitions; they have refined hunting tactics requiring collaboration, influence and rank; they are status cognizant, calculating and capable of trickery; they can learn to use symbols and understand facets of human language including some interpersonal composition, concepts of number and numerical sequence and they are proficient in spontaneous preparation for a future state or event.
Tallman, Warren. "Kerouac's Sound." Casebook on the Beat. Thomas Parkinson, ed. New York: Thomas Y. Cromwell Company, 1961. 220-221.
The article shortly summarizes new findings of a study published in the scholarly journal Social Science & Medicine, conducted by Assistant Professor of sociology at the Ohio State University Cynthia Colen. The Times Magazine article describes the research done by Colen as a longitudinal study using three populations of 8,237 children, 7,319 siblings and 1,773 paired siblings as its sample where one sibling was breast-fed while the other was not. Sifferlin stated there were eleven outcomes during the study used to determine the impact breast feeding had on the population. The eleven outcomes derived from prior research. The author of the article interpreted the findings of the study and the findings of previous studies of related topics.
...n American Literature. By Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 387-452. Print.
One of the most famous of the generation was Jack Kerouac. Kerouac, a writer who was fascinated with jazz, drugs and philosophy embodied this counter culture lifestyle, even taking on the title, “king of the beats.” Wildly passionate for new experiences, Kerouac saw himself as a spy in someone else's body, an observer in/of the world recording through the keyhole of his eye living in such a way that he would eventually document and compose into his masterpiece. Kerouac opened the eyes...
Almost everyone in the world has heard of James Dean. Some know of him while others have just heard the name. Not many know that he died at the age of 24. James Dean himself told more than one of his friend that he did not expect to live past the age of thirty. He said, "What better way to die? It's fast and clean and you go out in a blaze of glory" (80 Things You Didn't Know About James Dean). Little did they know, he turned out to be right. However, before passing away at the young age of 24, James Dean lived a life in which he was certain people would remember him long after he was gone.
Gustainis, Justin. “Serial Killers.” Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th- Century America. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast.
“Everett was strange, “Sleight concedes. “kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” (67) John Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, briefly makes a comparison between two young boys Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess and fills the reader with different perspectives about them and their experiences. While the author wrote about McCandless he is reminded of Ruess and his book Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty written by W.L. Rusho and it sparked an interesting comparison between the two. The use of storytelling and letters about McCandless and the use of Artwork, letters,
Table 3 The age of mothers who did and did not choose to breastfeed [6]
To wrap up, researchers have found that there is a very clear difference in the behavior of observed chimps and those who are observed naturally. The presence of observers clearly changes the behavior and using a human made environment to house them for research is sure to cause abnormal behavior within the chimpanzee communities. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that the future advancement of our understanding of chimpanzees, our closest animal counterparts, is going to be just as dependent on our direct, lab research as it will be on our naturalistic research of the animals.
Breastfeeding rates are continually increasing. The nutritional benefit of breast over formula is a long established fact. “According to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breastfeeding rates improved nationwide in 2000-2008, and some of the greatest improvement was among black women. However, only about 59 percent of black mothers breastfed in 2008, compared to 80 percent of Hispanic mothers and about 75 percent of white mothers. For 2008 rates of breastfeeding at a baby’s first birthday, the number was about 23 percent overall but only 12.5 percent for black mothers. That low rate still marks a near doubling of rates among black mothers compared to the year 2000” (Currie, 2013).It is the recommended method of feeding an infant for at least the first six months of life. Breastfeeding has benefits to both mothers and their babies. The baby receives immunity to protect it from disease. Financially, breastfeeding can significantly reduce the burden of having a new child. Many mothers initiate breastfeeding in the hospital; however, the number of women who breastfeed until six months is very low (Guyer, Millward, & Berger, 2012). Breastfeeding is highly favored over bottle feeding. Yet, mothers still do not choose to continually breastfeed their infants. Do mothers who breastfeed during hospitalization have limitations or no desire to continue versus mothers who breastfeed for the recommended six months or longer at home?
Vergano, D. Scientist scratch the surface of chimp communication. USA Today. April 6. 2006. Retrieve Mar 20 from
Phillips, K. (2011). First-time breastfeeding mothers: Perceptions and lived experiences with breastfeeding. International Journal of Childbirth Education, 26, 17-20. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/895978498?accountid=14694
via, Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience. Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Pearson, 2010. 1126-233. Print.