Saturday, December 2, 2006
Welcome to our travel diary, of sorts. As we travel with Kerouac across America, you will be responsible for posting your musings and ruminations in responses here. Pose a question- receive an answer. The only requirements are as follows: you must post once a day, and your posts must be made by 11pm. Make sure to check the blog before class in the morning! We'll make note of some interesting topics to generate discussion.
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33 comments:
Is this where we post the entries?
yup
i dont quite understand the whole "carlo-dean talking" thing. i find it hard to believe that Dean is skirting visits with his bride-to-be so he can have "deep" conversations with another dude. i think im missing something...?
Is the Carlo Marx / Carl Marx bothering anybody else? Its seriously ticking me off.
I think the whole thing with Carl/Carlo Marx is some sort of symbolism, showing that Carlo is trying to become a new, revolutionary intellectual which is clear by the strange "talks" that he and Dean have. I'm guessing that this will be fleshed out more later in the book.
I agree with Evan. Do you guys think that this novel incoporates a possible travel or something that Jack Kerouac had?
Also, in remark to the Carlo Marx/Carl Marx comment. I read somewhere that Kerouac based characters on friends and writers in his life. For instance Carl Marx was really a popular author of the beat generation known as Allen Ginsberg. I found it on wikipedia when I was looking for info on Kerouac, and I know that wikipedia is not that reliable so believe what you want.
Isnt it weird how times have changed? While reading i was thinking about how Sal can just go hitchhiking wherever he wants, meet up with random people, and find rides to wherever. He gets in trucks with strangers and has no problem interacting with people he doesnt even know. I find it highly unlikely that anyone would be able to do that in todays world.
I agree, our society today is so warped around terrorism and crime (i.e. kidnapping, murder and rape) that no one would hitchhike out of fear. Similarly, I think people would be afraid of picking up hitchkers out of the same fear.
It's interesting, it seems like there isn't much of a sense of time in the story. I mean, in terms of days there is, but Sal and his friends visit each other in the middle of the night, etc-I guess that's part of life on the road.
Also, I see a connection to transcendentalism here, with the learning & living by experience.
yeah jane is absolutely right about the transcendentalism connection here.
Something I found to be extremely odd and sligtly irritating was that the begnning of the book was all long long long sentences that were purely discriptive, and now everything became shorter and more dialogue occurring by page 50 I'd say. Does anyone think Kerouac has a reason for doing this? Or is just his acid high talking?
Does anyone else feel that everything in the story is going incredibly fast? I feel like the characters are constantly zipping from one place to another for little reason and without thinking too much about it. I guess this is just part of the life on the road?
I agree, this story is moving rather fast. Kerouac sometimes less than a page talking about Sal's adventure in each city.
I also agree about how much times have changed. It really interesting to think that someone traveled from NY to Denver like this; no hotel rooms or specific plan about where he is going.
I can definitely already see why this book is compared to Huckleberry Finn. Sal is cruising across the country meeting characters that ultimately reflect a piece of America itself.
I'm also wondering if in a way this represents anything in kerouac's life, and where he got his inspiration for this.
To go back to what christina said, about the novel reflecting Kerouac's life: when you even look at the composition of the chapters- he has page-and-a-half paragraphs, all comprised of simplistic sentences.
Could this "stream of consciousness" style reflect the way he sees his own life? A bunch of insignificant moments, packed together?
Or could this just be the result of his drug trip? Or both?
I think Zoe was the one who mentioned this before but I looked up Kerouacs life and this is an the autobiographical novel. It says that he took a drug-filled trip accross the country with friends whom the characters in the story are based upon.
Since he decided to write this as a work of fiction, I wonder how much of the book are actual events or how much he fabricated in the end.
This is a sensible thing that he did- remember James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces?" Inspired by true events, but twisted so much that he lost so much credit for his accomplishments.
Kerouac probably didn't want to lose credibility for his works.
I don't think that Kerouac decided the book should be fiction so that he wouldn't lose credibility. He probably fictionalized it so that he would be free to write what he wanted, without being restricted.
So far, this book seems to lack the flow that many novels will have. The story starts with a forward flow of Sal's trip on the road to Denver, and this adventure alone seems to have a beginning, middle and end. Once he gets to Denver, the writing style seems to change, with more attention to minor details and dialogue.
I also noticed he seems to pay particular attention to what hats people are wearing...
Well...in regards to the way that our society has changed and how it would be impossible to travel the country the way the characters do, I think it is important to note that hitchhiking is illegal in much of our country now. Go to this website for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchhiking#Legal_status. Hitchhiking would be near impossible today not only because it would hard to find people willing to give a hitchhiker a ride, but also because the law interferes with peoples ability to hitchhike. As a side note, if you scroll down that webpage, you can see that Jack Kerouac and his use of hitchhiking in On the Road are noted.
I know that we have only read a little bit of the book, so this might be too early to say, but I think that an important theme in the book may be trust. So far, the narrator has been hitchhiking for almost the entire book, and seeing how important trust is when hitchhiking, i think that it may be a major element of the book.
I agree with ashley's comment from the other day about dean and carlo's relationship, is it platonic... or something more? i also agree with Lauren and Jane about the parallel between the story and transcendentalism. It seems as though the characters often refer to their friends as intellectuals, which is similar to the elite scholars, and Sal speaks of Dean as though he is the one friend who is 'non-conformist' to the rest of his "intellectual friends", which goes along with thoughts of emerson and thoreau
In reference to the comments made about times changing and Atid's notion about hitchhiking, I completely agree. Obviously hitchhiking is illegal these days however back then it seems to have been poplular and Sal's basic way of transportation. I also think that the hitchhiking has a symbolic reference to it though... anyone care to elaborate about what that could be...? because im not esactly sure i'm thinking it has something to do with his constant search for life as well as transportation...
Dean Moriarty's name may or may not be an allusion to Professor Moriarty, the criminal mastermind who is Sherlock Holmes's nemesis.
There may be a relation between that and the fact that Sal refers to him as a "holy con-man"(5).
Also, Sal definitely seems to be much more of an observer among his friends. He says "If you keep this up you'll both go crazy, but let me know what happens as you go along"(50). I think this implies both the distance he keeps himself from his friends' actions, and the fact that he seems to be just along for the ride with his friends.
i defintely think that Atid has credibility to his assumption, trust probably is a major theme. As for hitchhiking, I find the concept itself to be extremely interesting. Can you imagine how many different people you get to meet? I almost hitchhiked once, in Short Hills, but then there was that voice of my mom's that just said, YOU MORON NO!
imagine all the things you could learn though, about humanity. i don't think that Sal will learn anything from anyone, cause he's too focused on himself, but nevertheless, i have a feeling it will come into play later, otherwise Kerouac wouldn't have spent almost 50 pages babbling on about travelling, unless he had a point to it. that or he was so high that the breathing floor told him to do it or else it would swallow him, or something equally as messed up
This book is moving rather fast, but then again some ppl's lives are always on the go and moving all the time. Sal is a very interesting character. Sometimes I feel like he is the type of person who can get away with anything. In regards to the similarities between this and transcendentalism, I definitely see them. Sal is truly living through experience by throwing himself in the real world by hitchhiking and interacting with other ppl. In order to get to HIS destination (Denver), he will need the help of OTHERS to get there.
P.S. In reference to Walden with 'railroads' (a class discussion), they are mentioned when Sal sleeps near one and wakes up forgetting who he is and his location. Do you think there is a connection or related message?
I agree with Lauren to an extent. I think this hitch-hiking trip across America will expose Sal to various different people, and what Kerouac is probably trying to express in his writing is the vast diversity of traditions and the way of life that differs drastically from the east to west coast. America is a "melting pot" of different races, classes, and cultures, so I think Sal will learn something significant from the people he meets on his trip.
I agree with Atid and Lauren that the trust factor is going to be very important throughout this book. But also, I think that curiosity is another theme or concept to look at. Do you guys agree? Sal is curious and wants to explore in Denver with old friends and just travel across the country in general. He is excited and is thrilled by some of the people he has met, for example, the two guys from minnesota with a truck full of hitchhikers as well as Eddie, a fellow hitchhiker. I think it is interesting how much this story is reflecting transcendentalism. If you asked me at first if I thought this would show Emerson, Thoreau or Whitman's ideas I would have doubted it. While reading I noticed that Sal is very comfortable with himself and trusts himself and others enough to hitchhike. Also he believes in himself and that this trip is really worth it and he will benefit from it. As others have mentioned above, experience is a major link to transcendentalism within this novel. Through his experiences he plans to learn more about himself and his country.
In response to sarah's comment...i thought of carl marx the second i saw that name...but i couldn't really find a connection. there must be something there...any other ideas?
I also agree with alot of other people about how times have changed. Imagine picking up some drunk with no money on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere? I'd be so creeped out...i hope that doesn't still happen today!
When I first started the book, I kept reading it and analyzing everything based on the idea that he wrote it during an acid high, because it's so interesting. but i think we should accept him as a reliable narrator, because it is a work of fiction.
and about what jamie said (ages ago) about how hitchiking might be symbolic for something else, I think it might be symbolic for him searching for something, without really knowing what. I think more than anything, he likes the idea of the west and that's what he left for. I also think the hitchiking part of it is that he (and anyone else who hitches rides with others) is looking to other people to get him to whatever his destination is, meaning away from whatever he's running from.
I'm not sure, if anyone else has any ideas about what it might mean.....
i think it does have another meaning though, because it is such an important part of the story and is the basis for many of the people he meets as he travels. If he had started out with a set plan and everything, the whole experience would be totally different.
About railroads, in response to Chels' comment: I think my 8th grade English teacher once told us that railroads were often associated with rites of passage, much like water has to do with cleansing and epiphanies. Does this help answer anything?
i definitely agree with liz about how she says that if Sal had a set plan that the story would be completely different! in life though even if someone has a well developed life plan, there are bumps that desctructs that plan. however there are other ways to get there which ppl learn from, but it is more intriguing if he has no idea where he is going because it adds suspense and wonder to where he ends up.
just so you guys know we decided that we're suppposed to be posting new posts when we write comments...not keep commenting on this one thing
just so u know
oops! wait so we post on the black page with the road?
yep
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