Main themes in On the Road

¶ … Road

Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was first published in 1957. It is a poignant story of a friendship between two young men Sal Paradise and Dean Moriary, who journey four adventures across America in the span of three years. Their journeys lead them through the process of maturity, found happiness, and personal disappointments. The central theme of the story is personal freedom and the challenges that are faced when seeking the promise of the great American dream. It is also the idealistic message of every generation of youth that discover the disillusionment of the corruption of the world. Upon its publication, Gilbert Millstein wrote that "On the Road" was "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principle avatar he is" (Pate 1997).

Sal's character acts as a narrator for the story as it is told through his eyes. As the novel begins, Sal is a starving young artist living in New Jersey with his aunt. Most of his friends are already out west, San Francisco and Denver, and Sal is itching to go. "Somewhere along the line I knew there'd be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me" (Kerouac 1972). In the winter of 1947, his friend Dean from Denver comes to New York. Dean if fresh out of jail and just married. Their journeys begin heading west by bus and hitchhiking. After Denver, Sal continues west alone, working as a fieldworker in California, among other things.

The following year, Dean again comes east to visit, and once again they head out west, this time by way of New Orleans and ending in San Francisco. Then the following winter, Sal goes to visit Dean and they are off again. Dean settles in New York for a while and the following spring, Sal returns to Denver alone. However, Dean soon joins him and this time they head south, all the way to Mexico City. Kerouac paints a canvas of color through the self-discovery by his characters. Dean has three wives and four children in the course of three years, while Sal finds love and confidence.