On the Road by Jack Kerouac: Ranting of a Maniac or precise interpretation of reality?On the Road by Jack Kerouac is considered the bible of the Beat Generation , illustrating the wild, wandering and reckless lifestyle chosen by many young people of the time. Despite all of Dean and Sal's parties and pleasure trips, On the Road ends up being a sad and disturbing story. Throughout all journeys, in good times and bad, there is a sense of darkness and uneasiness that follows in the wake. Kerouac's point was not to showcase the good times the Beats were having, but rather to expose their way of life as a simple escape from reality and responsibility. The sadness of this novel is due to the accumulation of consequences resulting from the characters' irresponsibility and general lack of direction. Dean and Sal, however, never quite admit this to themselves. Part of the beauty of the story is Sal's nonjudgmental narrative. To preserve it, Kerouac must carefully incorporate these views, leaving Sal somewhat unaware of them. This is done by using other characters to plant the concept of looming responsibility and reality into the story and to convey to the reader that life is indeed more serious than Sal admits in his narrative. While Dean's home base is a wife's home for most of the story, Sal has his aunt, a reliable and caring woman who voices her opinions about his lifestyle and friends. Chapter five begins with a brief discussion by Sal about his feelings. "My aunt said I was wasting my time hanging out with Dean and his gang. I also knew it was wrong. Life is life, and kind is kind. (129)" Here Kerouac uses Sal's comment to drive home the point his point. While Sal... in the center of the sheet... set aside. Charles continues his speech: "The days of wrath are yet to come. The balloon will not sustain you much longer... You will all fly to the west coast and stagger back in search of your stone. (130 )"It is about of the ranting of a maniacal typist, or of a precise interpretation of reality skillfully inserted by the author? Kerouac's method of inserting ideas through Sal's narrative allows him to incorporate an important different point of view that Sal is incapable of until the end of the story. If Kerouac had not wanted to communicate these ideas, Sal could easily have not mentioned these cases, or described them in a different light. Without the opinions of these other characters, the book would be one-sided and a little more superficial in its message. Works Cited: Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: Penguin Books, 1975.