Beat Movement In Relation To On The Road

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The Beat Movement started out in the late 40’s and continued for another decade, it would later evolve into the Hippie Movement. Many of the things that the Hippies believed in the Beats also held to be true. The Beats had a great lack of respect for authority and traditional American values. They would attempt to convince people that this was the way to live life and to reject the way that they used to live. The Beat Movement was mostly comprised of authors, artists, and musicians. The members would attempt to influence and enlighten other people through their writings and music, but their ideas had to come from somewhere, and this was where their greatest problem came from. Members of the Beat Movement continually abused both drugs and alcohol; Kerouac shows this through the events of On The Road.

One of the main characteristics of the Beat Movement was their way of life. They would reject traditional American values that had been upheld by their parents and the people who came before them. The Beats broke the mold and decided how they would act by themselves and not based on how someone else told them to act. Kerouac is wrote about this in his books and tried to influence people on the beats way of life; how they rejected the materialistic way of life that had come to define America as a society. They wanted to show people that this wasn’t the way to live life. The Beat Movement as a whole would go out and drink at many places. One of the most highly frequented places for their drinking were the jazz clubs that sprung up in cities across America. ...

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...bused. The lower class needed the escape however so it continued. The Beats associated themselves with the lower class because they hated the middle class and all their traditional family/American values. When the Beats used drugs consistently it was a way for them to escape, to get away. If they could all get away from reality and go to one of their own choosing when they wanted they were free and it was the ultimate form of protest to the traditional American values that they so longed to break away from. And while it was a way for them to get away it was still just a fantasy, they always had to come back and use their works to get their message across and to help reject the bonds they grew up with.

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