The Beat Generation essays

The Beat Generation essays When Sal began his journey on the road, he was a young writer with nothing to lose. He had no plans set for the future of his life and could do whatever he wanted to. Life had been extremely dull for him in the past and it wasnt until he met Dean Moriarty when anything drastically changed in his life. Sal begins a journey in which he attempts to become more and more in tune with himself and tries to discover his inner soul. He says, Somewhere along the line I knew thered be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me. (Kerouac, 8) Through his endeavor, Sal was able to gain a better perspective on his life, and turn his life into something positive that had much promise for the future. In the beginning of the novel, Sal seems somewhat weakened and depressed. Hes a grown man but continues to reside in his aunts house, spending much of his time writing at home. Him and his wife had just split up and he says, I had just gotten over a serious illness that I wont bother to talk about, except that it had something to do with the miserably weary split-up and my feeling that everything was dead. (Kerouac, 1) He never actually discloses what this illness that he speaks of actually is, but it is obvious that life has not been going to well for Sal up until this point. Whether the illness was drug addiction or depression, it was clear Sal needed change in his life and this would come from Dean. Dean lived a very different lifestyle than Sal had, living a very fast paced, rebellious life that intrigued Sal greatly. Sal was at such a low in his life that Dean was easily able to take advantage of Sal. Claiming he wanted to further develop his writing skills, Dean asked Sal if he could stay at Sals aunts house and Sal graciously agreed. At first Sal was intrigued by Dean because he seemed to have this active, impulsive passion that Sal lacked, but ...