The Selfish Men of The Beats

Being someone who has never read On The Road or ever even heard of Jack Kerouac and the Beats, it has been very difficult to read the controversial story. I have sat here mulling over different scenes and themes trying to sort through my thoughts and feelings about the controversial story. The aspect of On the Road that has been most criticized in the decades following the novel's release has been Kerouac's portrayal of the relationships between men and women. This aspect is also the most interesting to me. I strive in every novel that I read to find a love story that I can relate to or even look up to, so it was no different when reading Kerouac’s book to hope to encounter a love like no other. Though there were a few relationships between a man and a woman seen in the book, it was short of anything that I was expecting. Instead of finding a man praising a woman and thinking she is the most important thing in the world, I find a novel full of womanizing men who use women to their advantage without a thought or care about how they feel or what they deserve.

It is very clearly seen from the beginning of the book to the end that Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and their acquaintances are selfish men who are out to get what they want. They are so self absorbed and interesting in living their life their way that they forget to appreciate the people around them, especially the women who give themselves to the men without a second thought. They use the women in this book to no extent. From sex to accompaniment to even a place to stay the night, the men in this novel have no respect for the women around them.

Being family or even having a marriage doesn’t matter to these young men. It ate me up inside to see how many times Kerouac asked his mother to send him money. Instead of being a real man and getting a job, he always relied on his mother to get him out of a tough situation. But what killed me the most was the way that Neal Cassady treated the women in his life. He had no sense of commitment or faithfulness in him. The way that he treated Carolyn was heartbreaking. I hated seeing him just walk away from her and their child without even a fight. Though his defense is that she “kicked him out,” it is a little ridiculous that he would walk away from his family without even a second look back. The self-centeredness seen from this man is incredible.

The relationships between men and women in this novel are extremely interesting to anyone that is able to get through the story. All the men care about in this novel is themselves and living their lives the way that they want. There are no gentlemen in this novel, but little boys who need to grow up and learn how to treat a lady.