On the Road Essay: The Motif of Inadequacy of the Language

The Motif of Inadequacy of the Language in On the Road hydrogen Glass, a kid fresh out of a penitentiary in Indiana who confines a bus to Denver with Sal Paradise, tells him about his brush with the ledger in jail, and then explains the dangers of the phenomenon of signification (I firmly believe that Kerouac intended no deconstructionist subtext in the passage nor is it likely to be an neo-Marxist attempt to acquire the class conflict between the signifiers and the signified) Anybody thats leaving jail soon and starts lecture about his release date is signifying to the other fellas that have to stay. We will take him by the neck and say, Dont signify with me Bad thing, to signify--yhear me? (256) The use of the learned discourse by an eighteen year old jail-bird is truly funny. The comic act here is based on the discrepancy between the standard center and contextual use of the word to signify. There is a number of episodes in the novel with the same kind of humor in the opening chapter of the novel, which describes his eldest visit to hot York, dean comes up with some absolutely moronic tirades. E.g., talk to Marilou, he mentions the necessity to postpone all those leftover things concerning our in-person lovethings and at once begin thinking of specific workplans. . . (Kerouac 5). Or, when asked directly by Sal, whether he needed to con him for a place to stay, he starts talking about Shopenhauers dichotomy inwardly realized (ibid.). Deans (mis)use of language can be somewhat redeemed by his intellectual virginity and his genuine desire to be like his high-browed friend indeed, being earnest is important, and can excuse nigh anything. But what should one think about the way Carl... ...rist--the heroes of the generation--never published (Krupat 407). neither did Neil Cassidy, the silent genius behind the movement but he by the example of his life provided the ideal which made Kerouacs gospel true. Works Cited Ashida, Margaret E. Frogs a nd rigid Zen. Prairie Schooner 34 (1960) 199-206. Blackburn, William. Han Shan Gets Drunk with the Butchers Kerouacs Buddhism in On the Road, The Dharma Bums, and Desolation Angels. Literature eastside and West 21.1-4 (1977) 9-22. Suzuki, D.T. An introduction to Zen Buddhism. Ed. Christmas Humphreys fwd. C.G. Jung. London Rider, 1983. Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. Ed. Scott Donaldson. New York Penguin, 1979. Krupat, Arnold. Dean Moriarty as Saintly Hero. On the Road. Text and Criticism. By Jack Kerouac. Ed.Scott Donaldson. New York Penguin, 1979. 397-411.