Such experience of Dean is very typical of those who are addicted to drugs. It not only destroys their physical health but also threatens mental systems. And among all the destruction, that to nervous systems and respiratory system is particularly fearful. With the passing days, it may be a fatal factor for one’s life. Besides, drugs do great harm to the social systems and the traditional great moral heritage which is completely threw back to the dark corner in their mind. It is obvious in every chapter through the whole novel.
4. 1. 5 Enthusiasm in jazz and pop music in On the Road
Beats are fond of jazz and pop music. With the integration of the jazz scene, hipster and the boundary between the hipster and the Beats blur, the Beats embrace the hipster values and view of the world. They regard the performance of jazz as the instantaneous enjoyment. On the road, they are fond of listening to various pop music on the radio. In bar, they are excited at the performance of jazz. For Kerouac, jazz is the best model for spontaneity. The actions of blowing by the jazz musician and conscious thinking are incompatible. The jazz performance is completely out of spontaneity and improvisation. In On the Road, jazz and jazz musicians occupy a glorified role in the Beats’ worldview. Whether from the characters’ unceremonious behavior, or from Sal’s casual decision to travel with Dean or even from Dean’s haphazard relationship with any women, we can find that the jazz music witnesses their each moment of spontaneity. At most situations, they react to the outer stimuli just out of instinct. Jazz scene, as a vital source of the Beats’ spontaneity, occurs frequently in the novel and the jazz performance is attractive to them. “Rollo didn’t give a damn about anything. He is a great scholar who goes reeling down the New York waterfront with original seventeenth-century musical manuscripts under his arm, shouting. He crawls like a big spider through the streets. His excitement blew out of his eyes in stabs of fiendish light. He rolled his neck in spastic ecstasy. He lisped, he writhed, he flopped, he moaned, he howled, he fell back in despair.” [8] And passion and craziness significantly enlightens Beats’ writing, particularly their writing style of spontaneity. The spontaneous writing is so similar to good jazz improvisation that both are created without any interruption in the process of creators’ thinking. This is why it is not coincidental that Kerouac calls his writing jazz writing. And On the Road, which is typed just in three weeks, must be the foremost one to represent the jazz writing.
4. 1. 6 Sexual promiscuity in On the Road
One of the outstanding features of the Beats is their sexual promiscuity. As far as Beats are concerned, sexuality is not only carnal, but also spiritual. In the conservative fifties, sexuality is still a topic endowed with strong moral colors. So, it is no wonder the Beats choose such a way to rebel against the traditional values. They removed the moral elements in sexuality, beautifying and romanticizing sexuality as a way to realize individual freedom. In Beats’ opinion, sexuality, as a human instinct, is the most active factor in men’s consciousness. It serves as an approach to eliminate physical weariness and tension. It helps men move towards freedom and get rid of oppression and bondage in any forms. Therefore, it proclaims a passion for fighting and a freedom for choosing. In On the Road, if Dean takes the second seat for the sexual addiction, no one can occupy the first one. As for Dean, “sex was the one and only holy and important thing in life.” [8] “When he gets warmed up he takes off his shirt and undershirt and really goes. He does and says anything that comes into his head…You think he’ll do this for a minute or so, but he goes right on, for as long as an hour. Then he slowly gets up and takes the mike and says, very slowly... He slugs in his big forefinger on the string and the big booming beat begins and everybody starts rocking... then Slim goes mad and grabs the bongos and plays tremendous rapid Cubana beats and yells crazy things in Spanish, in Arabic, in Peruvian dialect, in Egyptian, in very language he knows...” [8] He is indulged in primal joys of life through body. On the way, Dean deliberately drives out of his mind the ideas which cause anxieties and unhappiness and is wild about the “kicks”. Throughout his whole life, Dean keeps on pursuing women one after anther. However, his real interest is not in women themselves. It is just because in his sexuality with women, he is able to realize his self-fulfillment that he is enchanted with it.
Just as other young people in the postwar era, Beats are led to assertiveness about their ability to make their own choices. But sex promiscuity is too harmful. When some sex is found to be dehumanized, homosexuality draws wide attention from society during the 1950s and 1960s. Cultural radicalism insists on toleration and acceptance of varieties of personal behavior, and contributes to a significant modification of one form of bigotry. Social stereotype of sexual orientation stamps homosexuals as emotionally ill. Gays have fought these stereotypes and have achieved some notable acceptance. Though the formation of homosexuality bears social and psychological reasons, it is by no means right to go to extremes. This is especial outstanding among Beats. It is said that Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg are gays. And their relationship is written in the novel On the Road. This may a reason for Dean’s voluntaries in sexuality.
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