ON THE

by Jack Kerouac

ROAD
 Background of the Work
• On the Road, novel by Jack Kerouac, written over the
course of three weeks in 1951 and published in 1957.
• The free-form book describes a series of frenetic
trips across the United States by a number of
penniless young people who are in love with life,
beauty, jazz, sex, drugs, speed, and mysticism and
who have absolute contempt for alarm clocks,
timetables, road maps, mortgages, pensions, and all
traditional American rewards for industry.
• The book was one of the first novels associated with
the Beat movement of the 1950s.
Author’s Background
Jack Kerouac, original name Jean-Louis
Lebris de Kerouac (born March 12,
1922, Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.—died
October 21, 1969, St. Petersburg, Florida),
American novelist, poet, and leader of the Beat
movement whose most famous book, On the
Road (1957), had broad cultural influence before
it was recognized for its literary merits. 
 Characterization
Salvatore “Sal” Paradise
- The protagonist and narrator of the
novel. Sal is a young writer living with
his aunt in New Jersey, who gets swept
up by the mad eccentricity and
excitement of Dean.
Chad King
Dean Moriarty
- a wild, charismatic man who
embraces life on the road with the
same exuberance that he embraces
drugs, alcohol, and women.
Marylou
- Dean's first wife, who understands him
better than most people, even as a toxic
relationship develops between them.

Carlo Marx - the intellectual Camille Inez

- A good friend of Sal friend who - Dean's - Dean's
and Dean's, a introduces Sal and second wife, third wife,
who offers
brooding poet who is Dean after Dean who bears
him stability. him a child.
sensual and wrote letters to him
energetic. from reform school.
Remi Boncoeur Ed Dunkel
- Sal's French friend from prep school  - an intellectual companion who
who works with him as a security guard accompanies Dean and Sal on
in the barracks near Mill City. their second adventure.

Lee Ann Galatea Dunkel

- Remi's money-
Terry
 -the wealthy wife of Ed
obsessed girlfriend -Sal’s girlfriend
for a little while Dunkel who claims to love
with whom he fights him despite his poor
regularly. in the West.
treatment of her.
Old Bull Lee Jane Lee
Laura
- a drug addict and mentor  - Old Bull Lee's
to the young intellectuals wife and -Sal’s girlfriend
in the novel companion. who accompanies
him in the final
chapter.
Stan Shephard Victor
- is the friend who accompanies Sal and
Dean to Mexico, leaving behind an - Is a young man in Gregoria,
emotional grandfather. Mexico, who sells Sal, Dean, and
Stan drugs.
 PLOT

1.) On the Road begins in the winter of 1947 when the young

writer Sal Paradise is introduced to young rebel Dean Moriarty.

2.) After taking several buses and hitchhiking along the way, he
finally arrives in Denver.

3.) Sal arrives at Remi's house.

4.) In the station he sees "the cutest little Mexican girl" he's ever
seen.

5.) Sal sees Dean again.

6.) Then they leave for New Orleans where they stay with Old Bull Lee.
7.) A few months later, Sal takes a bus from New York to Denver.

8.) From Chicago, they move to Detroit where Dean expresses his
hope to find his homeless father, Old Dean Moriarty.
9.) Sal leaves Dean in New York and sets on his fourth and final trip
alone. 

10.) Sal meets Laura and plan to move with her to San Francisco.
Themes
• Poverty is a lens through which we can view their friendship.
• Freedom and a sense of possibility.
• Restless wandering finds an equivalent form and way of
discovering.
• The bonds of friendship.
 Styles of the Author
Conflict Man vs. Man
Man vs. Himself
Man vs. Society

Flashback
• Sal’s journey across America was
actually the author’s real experiences
during the Beat Generation.
 Cultural Implication
● Beatnik Culture
● Hitchhiking

Implication of the Title

On the surface, the title describes exactly what’s going
on, but if you want to get all English-majory (which
we feel like doing about once a week), you could say it
also describes Sal’s ethos and the ethos of the whole
Beat Generation that Kerouac represents with this
book: their restlessness, dissatisfaction, longing for
something and somewhere else.
References:

• https://www.coursehero.com/lit/On-the-Road/plot-summary/

• https://
www.litcharts.com/lit/on-the-road/themes/freedom-travel-and-wandering

• https://www.supersummary.com/on-the-road/themes/

• https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/ontheroad/characters/

•https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/on-the-road/analysis/title#:
~:text=On%20the%20surface%2C%20the%20title,%
3A%20their%20restlessness%2C%20dissatisfaction%2C%20longing