Jack Kerouac
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Analytical Essay: Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac's ideas and philosophy, as characterized in his much acclaimed 1957 novel, On the Road, provided the essential crack in the dam that lead to the turbulent flood of social conflict in the 1960's that transformed our culture forever. Kerouac idolized the free-spirited nature of his close friend, Neal Cassady, and in so doing described a lifestyle that became known as "the Beat generation." Young Americans embraced and emulated the concept of living every moment to its fullest. This quickly led to other free-spirited ideas such as open vulgarity, drugs, free sex, and "hippie" life. By the mid-to-late 1960's, Kerouac's ideals gave way to a full flood of violent youth protests over Vietnam, social inequities and the "military-industrial complex".
Before Kerouac's influence, American society was driven by a huge class of war heroes who felt invincible and believed that prosperity could best come from a strict work ethic and social order. A fivestar general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was elected President to lead our nation the same way he lead the storming of the beach at Normandy. Television reflected the American ideal that a perfect family was one where "Father Knows Best". American society was depicted as exclusively white and with happy families headed by working men with stay-at-home wives and incredibly polite and respectful children...