Bohemians, Vagabonds, and Wanderers of the “Ragged Promised Land” in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road
Journal Title: Kultura Popularna - Year 2018, Vol 4, Issue 58
Abstract
The article focuses on the journey into the “ragged promised land” (80) in On the Road. It can be seen as an escape of the main protagonist Sal Paradise from his roots and from the conformity of American society. Kerouac, having a Franco-Canadian heritage, presents a marginal possibility of heterogeneity in a homogenous postwar America. The author depicts additional mentors and heroes met along the way. They are, among others, tramps and hoboes, ragged wanderers and the Fellahin of Mexico, as well as Sal’s travel companion Dean Moriarty. Sal experiences something true and meaningful among those living on the margin of society. He travels considerable distances: from coast to coast across the United States, from boarder to boarder and to Mexico. The real journey, though, is inward, a passage through the wilderness of the self, the true “ragged promised land”.<br/><br/>
Authors and Affiliations
Daria Anna Urbańska
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP423014
- DOI 10.5604/01.3001.0012.8084
- Views 47
- Downloads 0
The Uncanny Tapestry of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lovely House”
The essay discusses Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lovely House” (1952), in which uncanny architecture and supernatural elements combine to express the writer’s concerns about very real horrors of domesticity and fem...
Kanibalizm jako metafora w komunikacji masowej
Recenzja "Gdzie czai się zło?"
The book we are reviewing is focused on the side of the Internet we would rather not think about. Internet Złych Rzeczy (pl The Internet of Bad Things) is not only the so-called darknet. First and foremost it shows how m...
Dzika strona Ulicy. Lou Reed i Walk on the Wild Side
The article discusses Lou Reed's "Walk On the Wild Side" - one of the most important songs in rock music history. Out of ethnographic insight on New York Lou Reed creates a story of the '60s, where - in opposition to a h...
Zasiedlenie polskiej blogosfery przez digital imigrants. O cyfrowych aktywnościach popkulturowych