Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1976

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Coyle, William

Abstract

In the early fiction of Jack Kerouac, the journey motif is pervasive. In On The Road, The Subterraneans, and The Dharma Bums, much of the action takes place outside on highways, streets, sidewalks, alleys, and mountain trails. For the hobos, hitchhikers, migrant workers, and religious wanderers that Kerouac describes, the road becomes a metaphorical stage upon which the drama of their lives occurs. Beginning in On The Road, Kerouac fashions a first person quest figure who takes to America's highways in innocent exuberance in search of a dream. The Subterraneans reveals the quest figure on a convoluted "inner journey'' caught up in a maze of city streets and alleyways. Finally, in The Dharma Bums, the quest figure follows the road in pursuit of religious enlightenment that leads him to the mountain trails of the Pacific Northwest where the experience creates an expression of optimistic self-knowledge.

Extent

106 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1976.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT13812

Format

pdf

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