Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’ and a general
introduction to The Beats
Jack Kerouac travelled across the USA with
his friend Neal Cassady in the 1950s, and wrote about his travels in the book ‘On
The Road’. Along with his friends William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and
others, this group of friends (all of which were writers) declared themselves
as The Beats – a play on words of both to be ‘beat down’ and also the more
positive ‘beatific’. Along with Allen Ginsberg’s most known poem ‘Howl’, this
work and ‘On the Road’ cemented this small group of writers in the American
literary canon.
The Beats were inspired by Modernist poets
such as William Carlos Williams, as well as the booming jazz musicians of the
1940s and 1950s, and Transcendentalist writers such as Thoreau, Whitman, and
Emerson. ‘On the Road’ combines the sounds of scat singing in jazz, with
transcendentalist philosophies, and tropes of American road literature. ‘On the
Road’ is cool, in tune with nature, and details the philosophical and literal
freedom of speeding down the highway across American.
Both Sal Paradise (Jack Kerouac) and Dean
Moriarty (Neal Cassady) in On The Road travel across the states in search of
something, whether that is something physical like human connection, or more
importantly something spiritual.
Neal Cassady
In the winter of 1946 Neal Cassady drove
into New York and met Jack Kerouac and his friends.
Cassady was born in Salt Lake City in 1926
and spent his childhood travelling around the western states with his father
who was a chronic alcoholic which resulted in him being unemployed for long
periods and thus hoboing around the States. This resulted in Cassady being both
independent and irresponsible. Although he was very intelligent, he never
stayed in one place long enough to attend school regularly and spent much of
his time in Denver pool halls, stealing cars for fun, and going to reform
school. He was good looking and a highly sexual person with a huge sexual
appetite which he tried to satiate at every opportunity. When he arrived in New
York he was married to LuAnne Henderson (with whom he cheated on continuously).
In the late 1940s he started sleeping with Allen Ginsberg, who wrote Howl in
which Neal is written in as the hero of the poem. In 1966 he died by the side
of a railroad track after walking home drunk after a wedding. (The Beat
Generation, Christopher Gair)
Cassady was energetic, drove fast (some
friends of his were scared to be in the same car as him), stole cars, hustled
people at pool, drank to excess, got into trouble with the police, and had a
lot of sex with both genders. Whilst Kerouac was more bookish and quiet, Neal
was an energetic and outgoing character who was ‘sharp, witty, gregarious, and
lived for excitement and sexual conquests.’ (I Celebrate Myself, 81).
(Neal Cassady)
Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg
In 1947, Allen reveled in a wild sexual
weekend with Neal. Allen hoped that he could teach Neal about literature, and
Neal could teach him about sex. Whilst other people simply saw Neal as a con
man, Allen knew there was more to him. Allen fell in love with him instantly
but Neal quickly got bored and always needed to be on the move as he could
never stay in one place for too long. They continuously wrote to each other,
however whilst Allen poured his heart out to Neal and in the early years hoped
to be his partner, Neal tried to impress upon Allen that he was not interested
in a long term homosexual affair. They both slept together in 1947, and
certainly until 1955 (possibly later) they continued to sleep together sporadically.
Supernatural and On The Road
Eric Kripke has stated that Sam and Dean are
based off the characters from On The Road (Sal and Dean). In the episode in S4
where Chuck is introduced and they go into a comic book store where the owner
asks if they are larping, at one point asking if their names are ‘Sal and Dane’.
So, it is quite clear that their names are based off On The Road.
Also, On the Road is a
semi-fictional/semi-autobiographical work. The characters in the book are based
off real life people, much like how the Supernatural books are based off the lives
of Sam and Dean.
On The Road is a foremost example of
American Road fiction – two guys driving across the states in a car searching
for something – sounds pretty much the same as the premise for Supernatural.
Take away the ghosts and hunting and Supernatural is about two guys driving
across the states, with no place they’re really heading, meeting people,
listening to music, hustling pool, and getting into trouble with the police.
That could also be a great summary of On The Road.
Specifically in the early seasons,
Supernatural sets itself up as a Road movie, but on TV. It is cool, the guys
are cool, the music used is cool, they drink, steal cars, and live a free life on
the road.
On the Road has two main protagonists; Sal
and Dean. Sal is more bookish and quiet, slightly in awe of Dean’s wild ways.
Whilst in Supernatural Sam is more bookish and quiet, both in awe and
disgruntled about Dean’s wilder ways.
I mean….. come ON
Neal Cassady and Dean Winchester
Lets go over again what Neal Cassady (who Dean
Moriarty was based on) was like;
– He spent his childhood
travelling around the western states with his father.
– His father was a chronic
alcoholic which resulted in him being unemployed for long periods and thus
hoboing around the States.
– Cassady (due to his upbringing)
was both independent and irresponsible.
– Although he was very intelligent,
he never stayed in one place long enough to attend school regularly.
– Although he never had a formal
education, in his 20s he started reading a great deal.
– He could never stay in one
place for too long, both as a child, teen, and adult.
– He spent much of his time in
Denver pool halls
– He stole cars, loved cars, was good at fixing cars.
– He went to reform school.
– He was good looking in a jock kind of way.
– He was a highly sexual person
with a huge sexual appetite which he tried to satiate at every opportunity.
– He drank a lot and took drugs,
but mainly drank.
– He slept with both men and
women, notably Allen Ginsberg who was friends with both Cassady and Kerouac.
– Although he slept with both men
and women, he presented himself to most people as heterosexual. It is worth
noting that he was alive during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, and being bisexual or
gay was incredibly difficult during those years. Neal was somewhat of a
celebrity and it is understandable that Neal denied his attraction to men.
– He was energetic.
– He loved cars and drove
incredibly fast
– He hustled pool.
– He got in trouble with the
police.
– He was sharp, witty, and funny.
– He was likened to a James Dean kind of person.
I don’t think there is any need for me to
go through each of these points and give evidence as to how Dean Winchester
fits every single one of these character traits as well. I would expect any
viewer of the show to look at that list and assume that one is describing Dean
Winchester. From the alcoholic father who drove with him round the States, to
his own excessive drinking, need for sex, intelligence yet lack of education, hustling
of pool, stealing cars….. you get the idea. They are highly highly highly
similar.
The bisexuality question
It is common knowledge that Neal Cassady
slept with both men and women, and the similarities between Neal and Dean
Winchester are so strong that it would be easy to argue that because Neal
Cassady sleeps with men and women, so does Dean Winchester. Every single
description of Cassady could apply to Dean Winchester, so it doesn’t make sense
to say ‘every single one applies apart from the bisexuality.’ Of course, there
are aspects of both Cassady and Dean Winchester which don’t match up, however
the core information about Cassady which readers and scholars know about does
match up.
I hope this has been a good introduction to Neal Cassady and Dean Winchester. This is my basic summary of this discussion, however if you have more questions then don’t hesitate to send in an ask! My undergraduate and postgraduate research focuses were the Beats and American Road Narratives so if you want to know more about any of this let me know 🙂
I’m also thinking of writing a bit about Allen Ginsberg and Cas, as well as some stuff on SPN and spirituality in particular transcendentalism and Buddhism, so I’ll try and get that done at some point. Any general questions about the Beats, especially Ginsberg I am more than happy to answer 🙂
so many things in my life makes sense now, wish I could tell my old English teacher thanx for paying special attention to me💕
‘yes please! I want to read the Allen/Cas! in high school my English teacher noticed I was bored&restless, she would recommend these ‘black listed from school’ books, On the Road is my fav! there is also a based on movie of it, but I can’t remember the name, oh&gotta mention its also why I became obsessed with Jim Morrison, it makes sense now why I’m so obsessed w/spn! thank you for these facts!💕’
Same! I started watching Supernatural when it first aired in my early teens and never engaged with the online fandom back then. So instead I just became obsessed with American road narratives and then read On the Road which lead to more new obsessions including the Beats and Ginsberg. After 5 years of university studying American Literature, multiple essays on The Beats and road narratives, two dissertations on Ginsberg and only a few months ago did I trace all of this back to watching that first episode of SPN!
And I am about to start researching into the Cas/Ginsberg stuff!
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