Sal Paradise Theme On The Road

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Sal Paradise, main character of the book On the Road by Jack Kerouac, is a young writer living the American dream in the 1950s. Sal and his friends, all mad writers (especially Dean Moriarty that he considers as his hero), are hitchhiking from the east coast and driving back to the west coast during summer. They arrange their plans to meet up with each other in different cities of America. At the end of the book, they will even drive down to Mexico. During their journey on the road, alcohol, drugs, music and sex are highly represented. Also, it is common for them to “knock up” women and leave them to hit the road in search for other women, to whom they make promises to come visit them again to get married, knowing they will not be able to fulfil their promises.
As the book progresses, we can read that they realize that what they are doing is irresponsible and surreal. Sometimes after having fun at the expense of others, they show remorse and guilt over their actions. They leave problems in their path to run into other problems in other cities involving other people. (Consulted reviews on goodread.com)
Finally, as the budget gets tight and they are not able to pay for the car, the gas, the food and a bed, they will try to find meaningless jobs and even sometimes live in the street. These young writers represent the Beat Generation after the WW2.

In my analysis, I will mention some excerpts from the book that have particularly attracted my attention. The most shocking one is when the narrator, Sal, refers to Afro-Americans as Negros or colored people. It might be common following the events of the WW2, but it is still bringing up some anger in me when reading these words. Secondly, Sal resumes perfectly the morality and story of th...

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...k, she had worked as a nurse for wounded soldiers in the hope to meet Robbie and apologize. When he would be back from the war she tried to get in contact with her sister and Robbie, to ask for forgiveness for the biggest mistake she made years ago. In her interview she said having given them the conclusion to their lives that they deserved. But Cecilia and Robbie did not have the chance to see what it is like to meet again after the war and live together. Briony was not able to say sorry and this will haunt her for the rest of her life. She changed the end of the story to make herself feel better and less guilty. But I disagree with her point. It makes her feel maybe less responsible for their tragic end but it does not change anything for Robbie and her sister. Briony is the best example to demonstrate that the smallest act can have the biggest consequences.

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