“垮掉的一代”文化在《在路上》中的体现(英文)

We bent down and began picking cotton. It was beautiful….This was so much better than washing dishes on South Main Street. But I knew nothing about picking cotton…My back began to ache. But it was beautiful kneeling and hiding in that earth. If I felt like resting I did ... Birds sang an accompaniment, 1 thought I had found my life’s work. [8]

From these words, it can be easily noticed that Sal owns great love for nature which is also one of the Beats’ ethoses. While industrial society brings too many obstacles to civilization and its environment, their support of respect for land and indigenous people are of great significance. And their concern of environment has been a great influence on contemporary American society. Cherishing nature is a main theme of the movement in 1960s. People’s attention was called for to the deterioration of environment by their adoration of nature. This leaded foundation of many organizations which protect nature from being destroyed in order to secure the multiplying of forests, plant and animals as well as the normal life of themselves and their offspring.

2  About Jack Kerouac
The key members in the Beat Generation include Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso and some other writers. However, Jack Kerouac became the spokesman of Beat Generation after the publication of On the Road which is the most controversial American novel of the 20th century. Though he never understood what his book meant to the hordes of youngsters taking to the highways after the fashion of the characters peopling the narrative, maybe just as the author of the book which kindled longings in generations of young readers who felt stifled by the limitations of their parental homes, Jack Kerouac should be remembered and studied for ever.
2. 1 Jack Kerouac’s life
Jack Kerouac was born Jean-Louis Kerouac, a French-Canadian child in working-class in Massachusetts. His parents, French Canadian immigrants, dominated by the mother who, in keeping with her heritage, felt more comfortable at speaking to her children in her French-Canadian dialect. So, he learned English only as a second language.
When Kerouac was born, his family sunk into poverty because of economic depression of his hometown. Young Jack, brooding, introverted, hoped to save the family. So, he won a football scholarship to Columbia University and entered the insurance business. However, things went wrong in Columbia. Breaking a leg in practice, he could not establish himself as a starter on the team. With many difficulties in academic, young Kerouac, disillusioned and confused, dropped out of Columbia during his sophomore year. After various odd jobs at gas stations, he joined the army. In despite of his endeavor, he failed to fit in with the military. Then he got an honorable discharge from the Navy for an “indifferent character” and joined the Merchant Marine in 1942. While not sailing, he always hanged around New York with a group of friends: depraved Columbia students Allen Ginsberg and Lucien Carr, a strange but brilliant downtown friend William S. Burroughs, and a joyful street cowboy from Denver, New Cassady. Jack Kerouac began his brilliant life of literature.