Part 3 of Term Paper (Meagan Adler)

In addition to the ways in which family and state interfere with the freedom of the individual, throughout On the Road, it is evident that church also interferes with it.  The institution of church implements itself within the Beat culture; for example, Sal sees Dean as his God.  Sal expresses, ““Dean completely amazed me… He passed me like the wind.  As we ran I had a mad vision of Dean running through all of life just like that- his bony face outthrust to life, his arms pumping, his brown sweating…” (pg.143).  Here, the reader is exposed to Sal’s admiration for Dean that makes Dean become Sal’s role model throughout his journey on the road.  Sal also calls Dean the “HOLY GOOF” (pg.183) and “the holy-con man” (pg.202), which shows that the institution of religion has interfered with the true freedom of the individual.  Sal expresses, “In myriad pricklings of heavenly radiation I had to struggle to see Dean’s figure, and he looked like God” (pg.272).  This illusion that Sal has throughout the novel emphasizes the institution of religion that limits his own freedom as an individual.  Lastly, he says, ““As we crossed the Colorado-Utah border I saw God in the sky in the form of huge gold sunburning clouds above the desert that seemed to point a finger at me and say, ‘Pass here and go on, you’re on the road to heaven’” (pg.171).  This furthermore emphasizes that the Beat Generation resembles a religious group that captures Sal.  This indicates that Sal cannot be an individual, for he has conformed the almost religious culture of the Beat Generation.  He explicitly states that he wants to follow and that he does not want to lead; this sacrifices the true purpose of the individual. 

Throughout Sal and Dean’s cyclical journey, the reader is able to see how society prevents the growth of the individual through the fringes of society.  The fringes are the poor, homeless, and lowlifes of society that are meant to threaten the individual and draw him/her back in.  Whenever Sal sees the fringes of society he turns back home.  This shows that his journey to become an individual ultimately fails because society wins.  Society purposefully allows these people on the fringes to exist to pull the rebellious people back. Sal dejectedly expresses, “I realized I was beginning to cross and recross towns in America as though I were a traveling salesman- raggedy travelings, bad stock, rotten beans in the bottom of my bag of tricks, nobody buying” (pg.234).  Here, he becomes dissatisfied and discouraged on his journey and wants to go back to society.  Also, he has a conversation with Dean in which Sal says, “You mean we’ll end up old bums?” and Dean responds, “Why not man? Of course we will if we want to, and all that.  There’s no harm ending that way.  You spend your whole life of noninterference with the wished of others, including politicians and the rich, and nobody bothers you, and you cut along and make your own way’” (pg.239).