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Influence of Jack Kerouac to American Culture
The American culture though popular, has undergone a series of transformation. Renowned writers starred up in the post-war era and urged Americans to seek a new way of life that does not involve political fear and consumer lifestyle.
Jack Kerouac pioneered in the Beat movement, which was popular in the 1950s. This movement stood out in the post-war era. It explored and influenced American culture and politics. At this time, America was experiencing a lot of changes in the Civil Rights Movements and the feminists’ protests. The agenda of beat movements was the rejection of conformity, consumerism, and the overall American culture (“Birth Of The Cool: African American Culture And The Beat Identity”). This paper discusses how Kerouac appropriated the eastern philosophy to challenge the accepted American cultural standards of the 1950s.
America experienced tremendous economic growth, and its culture was conservative. The media and the government encourage people to the tradition of consumerism. This encouraged people to increase their expenditure on goods and services. People were directed to spend their money as much as possible in order to live a happy life. Kerouac, however, regarded this as a pretended happy life (Kerouac). To him, he believed a happy life involved searching one’s soul instead of wealth. Materialism gave people a lot of worry and anxiety instead of experiencing a peaceful life. This new culture influenced a lot of young Americans towards life in search of happiness.
Later fear of communism developed among people. The government-dominated their restrictions and rules or the life of their citizens. It structured its citizen to conform to a particular way of life. The police and government officials demonstrated political obedience. Kerouac critiqued this and encouraged people to indulge in new experiences of travel. He also championed for Buddhism and Catholicism to revolutionize the religion sector. He believed in spiritual freedom and growth. Any American ought to experience this irrespective of their religion.
Kerouac saw the boy-girl relationship of Americans as cold and distant. They had a norm of yielding to sex, and not having a genuine soul talks about how life is precious (Kerouac). This saddened Kerouac, and he encouraged people to have close and meaningful relationships. He advocated for freedom of expression in American lives and not just submit but have deep conversations.
The working class and working system were contrary to what he believed in. The workers worked under an oppressive system only to keep the economy of America at the top. It undermined the meaning of time. He urged that unless this working system is abandoned, they will not have an authentic way of experiencing time. Life is precious, and experiencing every bit of is the ultimate goal.
One lifestyle that Kerouac agreed to was the not so conservative side of Americans. These were the Americans in New York and San Francisco who partied day and night while experiencing jazz music (Kerouac). According to Kerouac, they lived in the moment. He agrees that this is the way everyone in America ought to live. He strongly disagreed with those who lived under the stipulations of the government. He advocated for people to live a politically free life and instead enjoy the experiences that came with life and personal identity in life.
References
“Birth Of The Cool: African American Culture And The Beat Identity.” 2016. Suryasa And Sons, doi:10.21744/ijllc.v2i4.293.
Kerouac, Jack. On The Road.