When rock ‘n’ roll galvanized the youth into action and created a generation gap, a posse of mostly white artists who called themselves the beats highlighted a values gap in the 1950s America. The term might have come from their feeling of being beaten down by American culture. They sought to live unconventional lives as fugitives from a culture they despised. The Beats as a subculture group rebelled against their role in family as a breadwinner in the ideal nuclear American family. Both family and job were rejected to avoid a traditional role as homeowner and consumer in the suburbs. The Beats “criss-crossed the continent [and] . . . hopped freight trains” (Ehrenreich 53). Sex was available for the Beats without committing to the conservative