Blog Entries 1-3

#1

I’m very interested by the character of Sal Paradise. His style of narration seems to leave a lot of work to the imagination, at least this early in the story. His way of describing people tends to lean towards giving factual details about the character. He then continues to let the character unfold by describing their actual actions. Although this is an honest way to describe characters, it only makes me curious about the qualities of Sal (Kerouac) himself. Surely as the story continues to unfold, I will be able to see more about Sal.

#2

The way that Kerouac narrates the story is intriguing. I can find refuge in his words. The way he describes events and his feelings about people is very relatable to the way I think about those things. In this way, I find I can understand his story more than other narrations. When he was leaving town on a bus, he described himself observing passing by landmarks in such a way that I could imagine myself there, feeling what Sal was. I’m not sure if Sal is such a relatable character to everybody, but I myself can say the story is much easier to follow when I can see myself in Kerouac’s words.

#3

I’m interested in the actual connection between Jack Kerouac’s “beat” journey and the generation that was inspired by his writing. There seems to be a stark difference in the idea of purpose between Kerouac’s story and the generation that soon followed in his footsteps. By this, I mean that Jack found himself in his place because he ended up there, because it became his desire to live “on the road” and put himself where he knew he belonged. The contrast between this and the Beat Generation is the ostensible illegitimacy strewn throughout the culture of beat. Supposedly Kerouac had a dislike of the culture he had spawned. I’d like to introduce a quote from an article regarding misinterpreted literature. Keep in mind the article was written in an intended humorous fashion, but the point raised remains valid:

“…he thought they were a bunch of posers. Anyone who wanted to be a part of "The Beat Generation" completely missed the point. In his mind, those who were "Beat" were beaten down by society's demands and struggled to find their place in the world. It was not something you chose to be because it would help you meet chicks”

A link to the article, if anyone’s curious: http://www.cracked.com/article_18787_6-books-everyone-including-your-english-teacher-got-wrong_p2.html#ixzz1bH8p8jTN