escape. In examining the novel one might wonder what is Kerouac escaping and by what means does he do so? Kerouac used two means of escape through out the novel and through out his life. His first means of escape was his constant travel. He traveled from east to west, New York to San Francisco and stopped everywhere in between. He made this trip over and over, constantly on the road. The simple title of the novel exemplifies Kerouac’s ongoing need to travel. When he and his friends got tried of traveling east to west they traveled north to south, driving all the way down to Mexico City. His travels gave him the opportunity to be an outsider with no worries. He was able to witness and observe all that there was to offer throughout the country. While journeying across the states, staying in small towns for no more than a few nights, Kerouac was able to obtain a life with no commitment or responsibility. Even if he was to make some sort of commitment to one of his many girls along the way, it wasn’t unlike him to just pick up and leave. After all the only thing people around seemed to know about him was that he liked to drink. This leads to the other form of escape Kerouac used, the alteration of reality. Kerouac would mentally alter his perception of reality through the use of drugs and alcohol. “I was getting drunk and didn’t care; everything was fine”(Kerouac 35). To him everything in life was fine as long as he was drunk. “He was beginning to drink heavily, and to drink whiskey and g

Some topics in this essay:
Mexico City, Allen Ginsberg, Sampas Kerouac, Sal Paradise, War II, San Francisco, Book Encyclopedia, Kerouac Cassady, Haverty Kerouac, Beats Beatniks, road novel, world war ii, trying escape, book encyclopedia, world book, east west, jack kerouac’s, means escape, jack obviously, world book encyclopedia, world war, war ii,