On The Road

2 Pages 606 Words

“Mr. Kerouac has a distinctive style, part severe simplicity, part hep-cat jargon, part baroque. (Adams 2)” Phoebe Lou Adams, a columnist for The Atlantic Monthly, stated this about Jack Kerouac’s book On the Road. Kerouac did indeed have a distinctive style of writing, because it was in the format of a journal. He uses repetition, remarkable consistency, and stuck to an important theme, a man trying to find himself in society. Adams agrees with these statements and her review is relevant to someone who is interested in reading the great book On the Road.
“The inability of a young man of enormous energy, considerable intelligence, and a kind of muddled talent for absorbing experience to find any congenial place for himself in an organized society (Adams 1).” Kerouac uses this theme throughout the book but not just for Dean or Sal. For character’s Sal meets in his journey to find himself, Kerouac uses the same theme. Sal finds that there are many people going through the same problem besides Dean and himself. Even though the theme might not be exact to that of the other characters they are within the same boundaries.
Adams goes on talking about Kerouac’s style of writing and brings up an interesting point on how he uses repetition throughout the book. Kerouac describes Dean in the same way throughout the book sort of as though the reader has forgotten about him or as though Dean was a new character. Dean’s struggles with his father and some of the other crisis he has gone through are extremely relevant to the plot. Dean’s struggle to reach a sort of happiness and leads his life, On the Road, is also relevant. The fact the he uses drugs, alcohol, and girls to reach a temporary satisfaction is the cause of these struggles. These Dean facts are very important but such repetition is not needed, we received these facts in the beginning of the story.
Kerouac is very consistent in his writing. He goes about tellin...