Comparing On the Road and Easy Rider :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Parallels in On the Road  and Easy Rider  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Released more than a decade apart, Kerouac's On the Road and Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider are replete with parallels. Both depict characters whose beliefs are not quite uniform with those of society; in both cases these characters set out in search of "kicks" but become part of something larger along the way. More importantly, these two texts each comment insightfully on the culture of their respective times. But all these similarities become superficial in the face of the inherent differences between the two. In pre-Beat Generation America, anyone who looked could find a whole society of people who, for the most part, were afraid to do the things they dreamed, unable to break from conformity. Kerouac saw this all around him, and with On the Road, he responds. He presents a tale of those who flee conformity successfully and without any significant negative consequences. Clearly, his audience consists of members of society who remain content with conventional societal norms, who are too squeamish to do what they want. To them he argues that they ought to assert their personal identity rather than be bound by an imposed social one, that they ought to follow their own desires rather than succumb to society's. This argument comes in multiple forms; criticisms by Dean are such a form. At one point he cries: "the moment it comes time to act, this paralysis, scared, hysterical, nothing frightens em more than what they want" (Kerouac 215). He also complains: "offer them what they secretly want and they of course immediately become panic- stricken" (Kerouac 209). These statements are part of Kerouac's argument in their critique of society's fearful attitude toward achieving desires. Sal reiterates the argument to disregard social identity when he accuses a girl he meets of an "emptiness. . .that reached back generations and generations in her blood from not having done what was crying to be done. . .'What do you want out of life?' I wanted to take her and wring it out of her" (Kerouac 243). But Kerouac's strongest argument of all for individual freedom seems to come from example. In On the Road, Sal and Dean live an amazing adventure together. Sure, they get pulled over a few times, but no real harm comes to them from any of their wild escapades. Apparently they are untouchable.