Summer Reading Blog -On the Road Jack Kerouac

Writers Craft Summer Reading Blog


This novel is a reckless and endearing story about Dean Moriarty who is a bad boy fresh out of jail in Colorado and , who happens to run into Sal Paradise, the narrator of this and a young writer. He is a very intellectual man who runs with a bright crowd, and a poet named Carlo. The three of them travel across the country, and along the way they had many stories of hitchhiking, drinking, sex, poems, and music. Its all on a path that leads straight to the Big Apple where no one knows what can happen.


Dean shows that he is a womanizer and a type of lone wolf until he runs into Sal. The fact that they show aspects of mutual respect and regard for each other proves to be a great start point. Dean is a man that loves to continue on the road and never stay too long in one place.
“ Staying too long in one place gives me the creeps, theres something uneasy about being so obvious to your surroundings, it isn’t practical.” pg. 116

The fact of being on the road at all times is a interesting field in life, and definitely has its perks. On one hand you could have someone who travels all the time and is friendly and familiar with social scenes. One the other hand what do you do if you never repeat places and things, life could feel empty and non-void. No matter what everyone needs some kind of fulfilment to have some kind of peace within themselves. This life is for only some people who have different standards and different ideals.

The continuous moving from city to city gives Dean a side of life he's always wanted, and with people that will change him into a entirely new person.

Sal Paradise is a young writer who joins Dean on his journeys across the states to the eastern coast. While he’s in New York he finds something he can really do, and that people really appreciate up in New York: Write! Even though things seem to be able to go the right ways for him in the big city, he’s depressed, lonely, and sad, that he can’t seem to have what Dean has.
“ I could tell that there was something he had, that I certainly couldn’t produce, in my body or brain.” pg. 93
They adventure from Denver all the way up through the central United States that included Pittsburgh and Chicago.


The entire view of the novel comes from the narrator who is Sal. On the basing of the novel it shows how they were able to over come all problems despite anything, and work past everything. In the end it showed that it would work out, and that there shouldn’t be any doubts as to whether who ended up being or acting or even sounding like the better character. Because throughout the whole novel you find out that both of these characters vibe of each other, and that creates a friendship that lasts them a lifetime.



This novel shows how what people call the American Dream can actually indeed happen to some people. The powerful visualization through the word on the paper shows how these characters really show how they come to life and portray a time and generation, that needed to fend for themselves just after the Second World War. The jealousy and depression, are all gone at the end of the novel with Sal being able to find someone he truly loves. It also completes the story that sometimes the American Dream is really possible !