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!
Someone has copied Jensen’s facebook in an attempt to scam people and get you to “sponsor families” in Texas affected by the flood. Be warned and spread the word.
This is NOT Jensen’s official page.
Remember that his ACTUAL page has the verified account icon:
Also, there’s another account in Facebook impersonating Mark Sheppard, which is also trying to scam you for money. As I blocked that account as soon as I saw it, I do not have screenshots.
I’m not sure if there’s other account impersonating the rest of the cast (Jared, Misha, etc), I’ve only seen these 2 cases.
I’m not even much of a fan of genderbends but goddamn am I even less of a fan of getting ordered around about what I should enjoy and how I should enjoy it and being lectured about how ‘problematic’ it is, when the real problem is that they’ve cast the thing in question in black and white and refuse to admit that there’s anything but their narrow framing.
Changing a character to the ‘opposite’ cis gender is a very different thing than making them trans or nonbinary. Insisting that people only change characters to trans is also really damn invalidating, because it implies that being trans is interchangable with being cis. Whoopsie doodle!
I think the real issue here is that a lot of people want to see more trans headcanons, but for some reason think that using sj words while being bossy and rude is the way to go about it. Dress it up in progressive language all you like; at the end of the day you’re still being bossy and rude to get what you want, regardless of anyone else’s valid feelings.
i get really irritated at kids who scream that genderbends are transphobic because they’re completely missing the context and history. they have no idea. it’s like to them, Cis People made up genderbends specifically to thumb their noses at trans people.
rule 63 was originally a guy thing, sexual objectification thing. it states ‘for every male character, there’s a female version of that character’, and not because the dudes who were into it cared about having more realistically rendered female heroes in their media. it was made popular on 4chan and porn boards and comics+gaming forums because you could reduce a manly male character into a sexy tits-and-ass pinup. there were related kinks of sissification, but mostly it was about getting to jerk it to a sexy female version of a previously unappealing, macho male character.
then women got hold of the rule and started going, okay. let’s look at the female version of this male character. let’s talk about being a woman in a man’s world. let’s talk about rorschach’s misogyny, tony stark’s womanizing, batman’s grimness, the fact there’s one girl ninja to every four or five guy ninjas, let’s talk about that in the hypothetical context of these male heroes being women instead. if there’s a girl version for every male character, what does that mean? what’s her story?
and it became this really amazing lens for female fans to interrogate stories through, to examine the effects of sexism and misogyny and masculinity, to introduce another woman into a story with very few, to identify with fully-rendered heroes of the fan’s own gender. and to interrogate the very nature of gender, which led into the development of genderbends where the character’s gender identity didn’t necessarily match their assigned sex, and from there an increasing interest in, and familiarity with, trans characters, trans people, and trans issues.
so like. people now reducing the issue to ‘cis people are gross and hate trans people’ is pretty ridiculous. it ignores basically twenty years of women questioning, confronting and then dismantling the de-facto heteronormative, exploitative male gaze in order to create the radically progressive fandom atmosphere as we know it today on tumblr.
I’d been trying to put into words my issue with the idea that genderbent versions of characters are somehow automatically, innately transphobic, and I think you pretty well nailed it.
Originally, it was called ‘genderswap’ or ‘genderswitch’, which was rightfully criticized for reinforcing a binary view of gender. Hence why it is now ‘genderbend‘. Things can bend in many directions.
Yeah basically.
Rule 63s can be transphobic and gender essentialist, no question, just as m/m slash can be misogynistic, but it’s not inherent to the genre.
The way I see it, rule 63 and trans/nb headcanons are two subsets of what I call “gender AUs”, and they’re not mutually exclusive. Girl!Sherlock Holmes is an example of one, trans!Holmes is the other, and trans woman Holmes is both. All those would be worthwhile explorations.
Yes! And all sorts have their place because all of them are exploring the experience of an under-represented group (or two) in a different way.
Thank you for writing this 🙂 I never want to tell people that their feelings are invalid, but sometimes I think those feelings come from gut negative reactions that deserve to be re-examined. Like in this case, trans people have every right to be wary of something that could – and admittedly, sometimes does – re-enforce difficult gender stereotypes, and they also have every right to say genderbent art/fic isn’t to their taste or ask people to tag it.
But there’s nothing inherently transphobic about art that explores gender – quite the opposite, I think – and that’s what genderbends are about. It can be hugelybeneficial to imagine male characters as female in order to explore roles that aren’t traditionally given to women (I would really love to see a genderbent take on, say, Stacker Pentecost for that exact reason).
Well, and not to mention, people do actually use genderbends as a way of figuring out their own identities. I’ve had an oc for about ten years now who started out (cis) male, was magically transformed into a woman, learned how to swap between them, and then later on, when I was older, was retconned info being a genderfluid shapeshifter from the beginning. (Surprise! I’m nonbinary!) I have a friend who was very into genderbends in high scool, and typically didn’t identify that easily with male characters (a problem when your fandoms are LotR and the empire side of Star Wars) and identifying with female versions of canonically male characters eased her dysphoria. The concept genderfucking (as I learned the term back on LJ in 09) is queer, and queer, non-cis people have been exploring gender this way just as much as cis folks have, and for just as long. So it’s been really jarring to see a lashback against it, considering how many trans people have also used genderbending to get a handle on their own identity.
I will see your Buddy Cop Movie and raise you “A retired FBI Agent and his morally grey Ex-Mercinary Husband help their Inspired and Well Trained Son through his first assignment– what was supposed to be a simple protection detail went way overboard and now its Retired Dads To The Rescue”. Also Helen Mirrin is the Vodka Aunt and Tom Holland is the brother who became a world famous dancer (his gun-happy dads were very happy and supportive and Idris Elba participated in childhood dance classes).
Featured scenes: Elba and Rooker are ducked behind a wall, getting shot at, arguing about which ammo is for which gun, no, give me that, that’s MINE you shouldnt have put your stuff in my bag!!
Rooker demanding, “it’s been years since I had to follow your rules, remind me. Is THIS a situation in which I’m allowed to KILL PEOPLE”
Elba, ducking bullets “YES”
Elba and Rooker debate over how to get to the nearest safe place, but they use domestic, arbitrary reasons for why their way is right. “Trust me, i know what I’m doing. If we go your way, its going to be like the Muffin Disaster of ‘02 all over again” “YOU SAID YOU’D NEVER MENTION THE BURNED MUFFIN THING AGAIN” “IT’S CALLED A KITCHEN TIMER”
After every bicker session, they hug it out and grumble about letting the other paint the kitchen green, if it’s really that important. John Boyega is mortified. “Dads! Not in front of the asset! I’m trying to be a professional here”
We of course get Dad Jokes amist bullets and bombs. So many dad jokes.
Helen Mirrin, the Godmother Vodka Aunt, swoops in with a sniper rifle on her fur-clad shoulder and informs the Dads that they are being stifling and overprotective, and they gotta let the kid kill people on his own some day. She hands Boyega a grenade like it’s a toy. “Here you go, kiddo, you had better to toss that at the enemy tac-team thats spying in the east window.”
At the end, the Rival Agent is stupified that the biggest name Agent and Merc from twenty years ago are Boyega’s dads. Mortified that he even tried to compete. Rooker makes ugly faces at him behind everyone’s backs.
After the debriefing and inquiry is over, Boyega meets his brother for lunch, tattered suit and dirty everything intact. Theyre eating hot dogs on a bench in the park. Boyega is detailing all the things their dads did. Tom Holland laughs. There’s a bus stop advert for his dance show behind him. He tells Boyega “you knew darn well this was going to happen when you decided to become an agent. You could have picked something tamer, but you wanted to live up to the family name. And you did. So what are you going to do now?”
Boyega sighs and sets down his hot dog. Brushes off his hands. “Well. I guess I gotta go get my next assignment.” Cut scene
The after credit bonus is Elba and Rooker standing in a half-renovated kitchen, surounded by paint-color-cards, talking over each other about which shade of green is most flattering
You can’t just tell people to ‘get a VPN (Virtual Private Network)’. Buying a VPN is like buying a house. It’s very very important. Having no VPN or having a ‘wrong’ one can seriously damage your life. Especially for Americans because their privacy laws are garbage. I am going to try explain why you should get a VPN but bare with me, I am from Germany and my English is far from perfect.
Let’s start with a simple test. Click this link here: https://whatismyipaddress.com/ It will tell your IP adres, your ISP (internet service provider), and your location. The location might not be very accurate, but then again, it’s just a simple website. Imagine what the government can do!
So basically, everyone can find out where you live. But there is more danger. Your ISP. Your ISP logs your every move online and they are required to keep it in case the government wants access to it (or if a 3rd party wants to buy your data (yikes). They have everything. What websites you visit. How long you stay on a website. What you download. Your search terms. European laws are more subtle on this but if you are from the US you are #@*#&, especially because Trump doesn’t support the open internet. It’s scary but maybe in the future you can’t get a job because the recruiter knows your searched on ‘how to deal with depression’ or anythings else that’s supposed to be private because it’s your f*cking right. Or you get a $100k fine because you pirated a movie 15 years ago. You need a VPN. You’re dumb for not using one. but what does a VPN do?
A VPN encrypts all your data so if it were be intercepted no one can ‘crack the code’ and damage your privacy.
Usually being online goes like this (simplified): Your computer —-> ISP (—–> keeps data —–> sells it)
But with a VPN it goes like: Your computer —–> VPN (encrypts data)—–> ISP (ISP can’t see shit)
Furthermore, a VPN hides your IP address and location by giving you another IP address located in Spain for example (you can often choose from a list and change as many times as you want).
Now that you know why you should get a VPN and what is does it is important to educate yourself because people often choose the wrong VPN. VPN providers are also businesses and have to obey the law. If you choose a VPN provider located in the US then you are throwing your money away because the laws in the US shits on your privacy. If the US gov wants the provider to give all their logs they have to obey. The ISP still can’t see what you are doing online and sell your data but the US gov can interfere with your VPN provider so NEVER CHOOSE A PROVIDER LOCATED IN THE US.
I just wanted to make that very clear so my followers don’t buy false security.
There is still more danger! Who says your VPN provider isn’t selling your data? You need to check their logging policy. Do they keep logs? If yes, what for? For how long do they keep them? Tip: Choose a provider who doesn’t keep logs
More about law The US is part of the Five Eyes program (the worst):
The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are bound by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence (source)
There is also a Nine Eyes (bit better) and Fourteen Eyes Program (better). You don’t want a VPN provider who is located in one the Five Eyes countries. If you had to choose go for a provider located in a country that’s part of the Fourteen Eyes Program or even better, go for a country that isn’t part of any program!
I know this is a shitty explanation and please pardon my english but now it’s time to do your own research. Take your privacy seriously. Maybe WWIII breaks out and you get killed for liking the ‘wrong’ FB-page.
Make sure that your future VPN provider both has green boxes for Privacy Jurisdiction and Privacy Logging.
I recommend ovpn.se and trust.zone. ovpn is located in Sweden so they are part of the 14 Eyes Program and they keep minimal logs. Their business ethics, however, are alright.
Trustzone is located in the Seychelles. No country can interfere and their privacy jurisdiction is the best you can get. The US want your data but needs to get it from Trustzone? The Seychelles will simply give them the finger and wave them goodbye. However, this makes this provider very appealing for people who torrent and criminals because they keep no logs (and that is how it shoud be) Also, there are almost no marketing efforts so this provider is one the cheapest)
Also, often providers such as ExpressVPN are being called ‘The Best’ on websites about VPNs but know that this is just marketing which also makes those provider more expensive (and they too shit on your privacy)
This must be the worst article you have ever read but please, please take your privacy very seriously.
I am also with Trustzone but I think you forgot to explain one of it’s most important features. It protects you when you are using someone else’s Wi-Fi. If you are at Starbucks and you use their Wi-Fi your privacy is at risk. Anyone with ill intentions could steal your information. Especially if you are using an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot. With a VPN your data gets encrypted so no one can steal it.
Wait, what’s going, on? Did trump destroy internet privacy with a bill or something? Where’s the news? Oh wait, why am I getting visions of Alex Jones and selling water purifiers?
He hasn’t yet but he says he wants to. And if he is serious about it it would be really easy to do. Since all our data is already recorded, as the person above explained.
Trump wants more surveillance of Muslim Americans. This in a country where internet privacy is already close to non-existent.
To all my friends in the US, please read this entire post. Making everyone aware of VPNs is going to be my mission. Your privacy matters. Please reblog this post.
Don’t tell me you just wanted to scroll past this. Stop looking at pictures of cats for a moment, okay? Don’t you realize how important this is? This is dangerous! ‘America, the best FREE country in the world’ my ass.
With this new law your ISP can sell your Internet history which could include passwords, usernames, religion, credit card numbers, race and much more to the highest bidder. So here is what I want you to do.
You are going to read the whole thing and before you think ’this is so important. Let me reblog this real quick and go back to admiring cats again-’ NO! Don’t reblog this. Take action first. Then reblog. Sign up for a free trial! Trust.Zone offers one (here). Yes. It might be difficult to set up a VPN for some people. But is that going to stop you from protecting yourself and your family? 30 minutes. 30 minutes is all that it takes. 5 if you know how to install software. The problem with some of you is that you see ‘difficult’ as something negative. I want you to see difficult differently. I need you to push through this stuff. You are going to protect yourself. There is nothing negative about that.
VPNs are fun and costsaving too! A VPN bypasses geographical restrictions so you can access websites you normally can’t or you could start Netflix’s one month free trial over and over again- forever. And it’s legal! (unless you use it to buy weapons etc.,)
Don’t tell yourself that you are too tired and that you will do this tomorrow. Because that isn’t going to happen and you know it. You have to do this right now. You only have to click on it.
Don’t let this/shit/life just happen to you. Take yourself seriously. Get a VPN.
Privacy is not a privilege, it’s a fundamental human right
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