4. 1. 7 Beats’ ideology in On the Road
The Beat Generation has one and only ideology which is life. The Beat Generation is a particular enlightened group, among which human’s most significant pursuit is life and the greatest fear is death. On the Road maybe the best example for Beats’ belief. In the novel, Sal Paradise says: “life is holy and every moment is precious.” [8] And this is the best reason that explains why Dean seems to be doing everything at the same time. The fear of death subconsciously followed the gang around America, as expressed by their visions of a spirit following them across the desert of life. Even though the gang feared that death will overtake us before Heaven, they do all in their power to experience as much of Heaven as they could while they are alive. They were wise enough to see that there is no point in conforming to the materialism of the American Dream that “the mad dream-grabbing, taking, giving, sighing, dying just so they could be buried in those awful cemetery cities beyond Long Island City.” [8] Because of liberation from the peril of ambition, materialism and ideology and the seeking for greater truth that life would teach them, Kerouac presents Beat Generation as a holy generation. In On the Road, Dean Moriarty is a holy con-man with a holy lighting gaze on the holy road. And even at the end of the novel, he reaches so high a level of saintliness that “he couldn’t talk any more” [8] And this novel is of experience that tells craziness which reveals all the characters’ features. But all the characters believe in the goodness in fact. What actually chains these two opposite factors? It is life.
4. 1. 8 Beats’ religious belief in On the Road
Beat Generation is a religious generation. Among those beats, the most vulgar or the vainest, all concern about the faith. Living in such depressed society, people can’t keep their character, or speak for themselves, but the beats were exploring perseveringly and painfully. It’s a miserable course, most of them fall into perplexity, contradiction and disappointed, so at this time Buddhism begin to spread among them, it’s an attitude of living without any desire, a philosophy of seizing the hour and making merry in time, all that just accord with the declaration of the generation rebel without goal, persons who agitate without slogan, revolutionary without guiding principle.
In On the Road, Kerouac tries to convey to readers that everybody is naturally dishonest and morally deceitful. Morals are defined by one’s religion, the laws of the country, or some combination of the two. One’s identity captures and plays out that individual’s moral. Although one’s own morals can change, basic things such as stealing and murder are wrong and illegal by federal law. Numerous characters performed many acts proving this point such as Montana Slim, who says in order to get money, follow a man down an alley and rob him, or Dean, who never feels remorse for beating Mary Lou after a fight. These along with other characters display such actions that show that everyone is morally deceitful.
“I know where you can get some.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere. You can always folly a man down an alley, can’t you? ...I ain’t beyond doing it when I really need some dough.” [8]
Here, Sal figures out who is and what life is on the road. Apparently, he likes a naïve schoolboy who maybe the dream of himself. Of course, Slim gets the deeper meaning of his words since he has been on the road for a while till now. He is chanted in robbing others on the road because he, in his opinion, can fulfill his desire with such experiences; though he clearly know what he does is completely wrong.
4. 1. 9 Self-contradiction in On the Road
At most time, Beats are not understood and accepted by the majority of people. Just as said in 1.1, Beats are dissatisfied with the current systems. They despise laws and regulations, send objection against American materialism and criticism against politicians and pursue their own ideal life. However, in reality, they are not courageous enough to actualize their dream. Such a self-contradiction, together with their strong objection to the dominant convention, is not likely to be accepted by most of Americans at time special time when the economic depression and the World War II brought the lack of materials in America. At time, the main goal of Americans is to get more food and materials, which is particularly outstanding after the media advertise the ideal family life. In this circumstance, any new advocation against the conventional materialism owns no possibility to be identified, let alone a self-contradictory illusion. The novel also says: “they all sat around looking at Dean with lowered and hating eyes, and he stood on the carpet in the middle of them and giggled-he just giggled…You have absolutely no regard for anybody but yourself and your damned kicks. All you think about is what's hanging between your legs and how much money or fun you can get out of people and then you just throw them aside. Not only that but you’re silly about it. It never occurs to you that life is serious and there are people trying to make something decent out of it instead of just goofing all the time.…He was alone in the doorway, digging the street. Bitterness, recriminations, advice, morality, sadness-everything was behind him, and ahead of him was the ragged and ecstatic joy of pure being.” [8]转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net
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