IOP+Jack+Kerouac+and+Rivers

= IOP on Jack Kerouac and Rivers = ** Part 1  **  "I'm right there, swimming the river of hardships but I know how to swim..." — [|Jack Kerouac] ( [|Desolation Angels] ) “If you drop a rose in the Hudson river at its mysterious source in the Adirondacks, think of all the places it journeys by as it goes out to sea forever- think of that wonderful Hudson valley.” – Sal Paradise (pg 11, On The Road) Sal projects the anticipation of his trip into the rose, a symbol of growth, and into the river, which will propel his journey. The river becomes a significant motif for the epic tale of America. Sal is anticipating his venture towards life, he believes the best teacher is experience which is what the river possesses when it narrows down to traveling thorough the core of a country towards a sea of wisdom. “And here for the first time in my life I saw my beloved Mississippi River, dry in the summer haze, low water, with it’s big rank smell which smells like the raw body of America itself because it washes it up” – Sal Paradise (pg13, On The Road) This quote is from the first time Sal crosses his “beloved” Mississippi River. For the first time, Sal is crossing “ ** the  ****  dividing line between the East of his youth and the West of his future  ** ”. He describes the smell as being foul like the body of America because its pure water washes away the rotting of the country. He believes that the essence of morality in the country is lost, and the great Mississippi keeps it’s purity. “We got a brief ride form a wealthy rancher in a ten-gallon hat, who said the valley of the Platte was as great as the Nile Valley of Egypt, and as he sais so I saw the great trees in the distance that snaked with the river-bed and the great verdant fields around it, and almost agreed with him.” – Sal Paradise (pg17, On The Road) I believe this quote foreshadows how Sal will end up looking at the rivers. When he is referring to wealthy rancher, he could be referring to him as wealthy in experience, as he has apparently traveled or has seen the world, and the rancher sais that the valley resembles the Nile Valley of Egypt, which is home to the great Nile River ( the river, which turned to blood in the bible as the first plague inflected upon Egypt ). The word snaked could possibly refer to the snake in the Garden of Eden, which represents the devil and the original sin, the bloodied water, is from the cleansing of the sins of the nation. As stated before, Sal believes the essence of morality in the country is forgotten. “I took a walk down by the Mississippi River and watched the logs that came floating from Montana in the north- grand Odyssean logs of our continental dream. Great clouds of afternoon overtopped the Mississippi Valley.” – Sal Paradise (pg93, On The Road) The logs symbolize the industrialization that has made America a powerful nation and, at the same time, corrupted the values of its people through commercialism and materialism. The logs floating downstream represent the life and blood of the nation and the epic journey on which America set out years before in the form of industrialization and capitalism. We can see how Sal point of view towards America and rivers is starting to build, he has gone from imagining roses floating down the Hudson to odyssean logs, full of the great American dream; industrialization, power, capitalism. What I believe is that he is know getting closer to the sea of wisdom he has been searching for. “We Walked seven miles along the mournful Susquehanna. It is a terrifying river. It has bushy cliffs on both sides that lean like hairy ghosts over the unknown waters. Inky night covers all. Sometimes from the railyards across the river rises a great red locomotive flare that illuminates the horrid cliffs.” – Sal Paradise (pg94, On The Road) Sal is know walking around the beat down Susquehanna. He is know describing the river as terrifying, a great change form what we have previously observed in his thoughts upon rivers. There are cliffs leaning towards this river, deadly drops than lean upon what he thought was the soul of America. Worst of all is that know he is talking about these waters as being unknown, murky waters which one can not see through. The essence of purity is now lost. There are no longer great clouds or verdant valleys, but a tainted night which covers all. The only light to be seen is from a red locomotive flare which embraces the horrid cliffs. The red locomotive flare, is again the essence of industrialization. The placing of cliffs alongside the river, could represent how we have left at the bottom of our world, morality. “There were not great Arizona spaces for the little man, just the bushy wilderness of eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, the back-roads, the black-tar roads that curve among the mournful rivers like Susquehanna, Monongahela, old Potomac and Monocacy.” – Sal Paradise (pg95, On The Road) Sal is know beginning to channel his beat soul emotions through the river, he is worn out by the world wars and the constant call for progress, searching for values that have been left behind, abandoned by society, yet dearly needed…just as the logs floating down the Hudson river. Instead of listing the rivers first, he has left them behind with “back roads” as in these are places where people do not often go too. Places hid by society. ** "The best teacher is experience and not through someone's distorted point of view" – Jack Kerouac (On The Road)   ** We must learn from the pureness of rivers, as they are streams of experience that flow into a sea of wisdom. Someone’s distorted point of view is referring to societies point of view. "My whole wretched life swam before my weary eyes, and I realized no matter what you do it's bound to be a waste of time in the end so you might as well go mad." – Jack Kerouac (On The Road) Sal hands himself to destiny, he is watching how his life flows away in the stream, his dream of recovering moral values is lost, it is drifting away and he will never be able to save it, he says he might as well go mad. “So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievably huge bulge over to the west coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh Bear? The evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old…” At the end of the book, we encounter Sal’s deepest feelings. He is sat down in a broken-down river pier, which is interpreted as his broken down dreams. Looking at the eternal skies and infinite land which joins to form the morally broken down America, and he thinks of how people are still dreaming and admiring the immensity of it. Referring to the land, as the land where children cry, and dropping his hopes in the salvation of God. He thinks of the falling stars crying their sparkles of sadness upon the plains, as the night blackens their only form of purity left, rivers. He has final reached the sea of wisdom he has longed for, and he does not know what to do, because nobody besides the rivers of growing old do. **Part 2** Sal almost always measures in distance instead of time, this is a connection he shares with rivers. This can relate to rivers gaining experience as they flow through the continent, just as Sal travels the road. The river stopping, would be the stopping of time, just as Sal believes that he does not live his life when he is settled. He needs to sail to the sea of wisdom he has been searching for, time is not relevant, only distance matters. “But it was a good hundred miles into Nebraska, and of course we jumped for it.” – Sal Paradise (pg18, On The Road) “I had three hundred and sixty-five miles yet to hitchhike to New York, and a dime in my pocket” – Sal Paradise (pg95, On The Road) “After a hundred miles he grew lenient and took out bread-and-butter sandwiches from the back of the car” – Sal Paradise (pg96, On The Road) “I had traveled eight thousand miles around the American continent and I was back on Times Square…” – Sal Paradise (pg96, On The Road) ** Conclusion  ** In Kerouac’s philosophy is that interference from society hinders inner growth because it places value upon material objects that obscure spiritual needs. He uses rivers because he can relate to them in many aspects, including; purity, innocence, travels, seeking for experience and taking the harm inflicted upon him by society. His everlasting journey to find salvation is as the rivers everlasting flowing towards seas of wisdom. He seeks a symbolic father to replace the one who favors industrial growth over spiritual growth. Jack Kerouac uses rivers as a form of channeling his emotions and thoughts towards life and society. Ultimately, Jack is one with the river.