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Conformity And Consumerism In Jack Kerouac's On The Road

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Similarly explainable, are the adverse effects inspired by America’s push for conformity and consumerism following 1945. Regarding these years, historical statistics suggest a triumphant American atmosphere due to a victorious war outcome and economic affluence, but these positives quickly turned to negatives for certain societal sectors. Most notably, the unit that would grow to be labeled as the Beatniks. Within this crew, alongside Burroughs, was fellow writer Jack Kerouac. Kerouac’s most publicized text, On the Road, has been saluted as the quintessential novel of the 1950s and is beneficial in the fact that it conveys something that the aforementioned historical statistics cannot, emotion. Specifically, the dissenting emotions that pervaded the suburbs. Of course, some of the more mundane housewives were enthralled with their new dishwashers, and their husbands were content with their vapid routines, but many were left dissatisfied by the staleness of their suburban schedule. The Beat writers were especially influenced by this …show more content…

In Scotland’s case, the population was largely disheartened following the aforementioned 1979 devolution referendum and appointment of Thatcher. Regarding the “1979 devolution debacle”, Scotland had momentarily surrendered their fight for a national identity and accepted to remain part of the United Kingdom, which cultivated a feeling within Scotland that the citizens “had no voice.” (Welsh and Peddie 133) Although the “exasperation with politics” was evident, there was a greater issue with identity as reflected in Welsh’s text, Trainspotting (Welsh and Peddie 132). Specifically, Renton’s preceding colonization rant is enough to corroborate this phenomenon, however he also remarks, “Ah’ve never felt British, because ah’m not… Ah’ve never really felt Scottish either.” (Welsh

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The main ideas of the Beat Generation, the longing for belief and meaning in life, are reflected in On the Road. The novel gave voice to a rising, dissatisfied fringe of the young generation of the late forties and early fifties. It was after the Great Depression and World War II and more than a decade before the Civil Rights movement and the turmoil of the '60s. He also wrote the Duluoz legend, filled with a sense of

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246 Words | 1 Pages

By the eve of the American Revolution, colonists had embraced a new identity, completely different from their English roots. From Document B, the speech shows how the distance from Britain, will prevent colonists from maintaining a British identity. Nonetheless they hold onto some British legal traditions, which means they will develop their own identity but will be influenced by Britain, like a child becomes their own person but is influenced in some ways by a parent’s beliefs. [Political] By the eve of the American Revolution, colonists had incorporated a changed identity. From Document B, the speech shows how the detachment from Britain, will avoid colonists from maintaining a British identity.

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Stayin’ Alive by Jefferson Cowie was a historical narrative of the political and labor movement in America. Politics and values aligned. With final words from Cowie, it is recognized that the political ideologies changed during the 1970s but just as influential was the “music, television, and film turned the hopeful crosscurrents of the early years toward a rather unified message: save yourself or face irrelevance” (Cowie

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This decade was the beginning for many of the things we use today. In the novel “In Cold Blood” , Truman Capote gives us a good look and understanding of what life was like back then for the rising middle class in the United States, by using an average American family led to an unfortunate and devastating

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A social economist views the 1950s as the social classes being defined. The time boasted an image of successfulness during a time of peace and conformity. However, the 1950s do not deserve its reputation as a time of peaceful conformity. The harmonic image of the 1950s was an over-generalization that ignores the realities of what was going on in the country. The peaceful conformity was a false image that showed it’s true colors through gender/ethnic relations and the beginning of the Rock and Roll era.

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During his speech addressed to the UN general Assembly given on September 25,1961, John F. Kennedy stated, “Conformity is the Jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” In other words, if we all accept the circumstances and go with the flow like dead fish, how can we know what we are capable of accomplishing-how much we can grow, especially as a nation? Conformity can be defined as the compliance with standards, rules, or laws or the moment you willingly chose to fit in when you’re meant to stand out. In the 1950s, a flood of social conformity washed over the country and had people leading similar and stereotypical lives. Many, at the time, strived for the comfort and simplicity depicted in TV shows such as “Father Knows Best” and “Leave it

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To Change is to Grow Through the book “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy the boy and the father show a great amount of change and maturity, while also learning to adapt and love. The story has a good balance of how different events can affect and impact someone's life in either a good or bad way. There are many events that change the mind and heart of the boy and father, but change can only be helpful if you learn from it and mature out of being afraid for things to happen. The stories main idea is very tragic in a dark, grey world where nothing ever good happens and instead of learning to live your preparing to die.

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Social Conformity in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest “He Who Marches Out Of Step Hears Another Drum” (Kesey 154). In this modern world, to come to terms with society is to conform to its standards. When a person does not fit the standard mold of a society, they are scrutinized for their divergence.

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The Father’s Sun Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road is known as one of the best books written in the last 25 years. McCarthy uses several linguistic and literary devices to illustrate the character’s feelings in the reader’s brain.

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Rebels Without a Cause: Alienation in The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar When most people think of the 1950s, they think of things like drive-in movies, poodle skirts, bobby socks, I Love Lucy, and Buddy Holly. But beneath the era’s conformist and highly materialist facade lay a largely overlooked underground world of racism, McCarthyism, and anxiety. This so-called Silent Generation was born too late to fight in World War II but still had to deal with its repercussions. People like Jack Kerouac, Malcolm X, Arthur Miller, Ralph Ellison, and yes, Sylvia Plath and J.D. Salinger struggled with the alienation that was typical of their generation. Nowhere is this alienation better portrayed than in Salinger’s

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Carly Herrin American counterculture of the 1960s was one of the most powerful movements that had a lasting influence on American society in the following decades. The counterculture movement is strongly associated with the hippies, sexual revolution, and the protests against Vietnam War. The movement was shaped up by the rejection of the social norms of hippies’ parents but evolved to embrace more specific political and societal goals, including the withdrawal from Vietnam, environmentalism, gender equality, and the expansion of civil liberties. “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” by Tom Wolfe is an excellent non-fiction work that allows to see the movement from the inside and in the specific details of the daily hippie life. Even though the

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The 1920s were affected by WWII in several ways, which are shown in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The 1920s was a time period of a great change in people’s behavior and social class. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel The Great Gatsby reflects on the 1920s can help summarize the 1920s into three main characteristics, Disillusionment, the Rise in New Money, and Business Replacing Religion. Disillusionment, which is the loss of faith in one’s values and ideals, is a main characteristic of the 1920s because, during and after WWII many of the American citizens beliefs and ideals were being undermined by horrible acts committed during the war.

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Moreover, in the poem Homesick, it utters, “That there 's a ghetto here, a place of evil and of fear. There 's little to eat and much to want, where bit by bit, it 's horror to live. But no one must give up! The world turns and times change” (stanza 5). In other

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596 Words | 3 Pages

In The Road, Cormac McCarthy uses figurative language, to demonstrate the difference in the people’s decisions and values when compared to the real world. The survivors of the apocalypse, including the father all had to undergo a series of radical changes in order to adapt and survive in the new world. When the father enters the house, where the people are kept for food, not only does he see naked people both male and female but also a man with his leg cut off. McCarthy writes, “On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and stumps of them blackened and burnt” (McCarthy 110).

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Her article, Britishness, and Otherness: An Argument, uses ethnohistory, nationalism and cultural methodologies to express how those in the British Empire rattle and are protective of their identity. In her article, she discusses how British identity waves since identity exists in a ven diagram and not in the black and white roles of the past. Religion, gender, race, ethnicity and many other identities exist in various combination depending on the individual. She asks why little attention has been focused on how or why the British population defines themselves against both real and imaginary enemies. That identity seems most important when being threatened.

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