The Life and Tragedy of Jack Kerouac

A detailed Summary of The Life and Tragedy of Jack Kerouac

The Life and Tragedy of Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac was a poet who focused on the forgotten people of the world. Wherever he traveled he found the places nobody wanted to find and turned the un-pretty into magnificent poetry. Kerouac used the people no one wanted to remember and turned them into poetic works of art.

Jack Kerouac's life was filled with adventure and self-destruction. Born on March 12, 1922, Kerouac grew up in the poor city of Lowell, Massachusetts. His life was tormented with poverty and alcoholism, first by his father, then he himself was afflicted by the deadly disease. At the age of 8, Kerouac lost his brother, Gerard to typhoid fever. Kerouac traveled hitchhike style across the country. In 1943, Kerouac was a kitchen boy on a US Navy patrol boat. He enlisted in the Navy as a reaction to Pearl Harbor; he quickly got sick of the Army life and war, but was highly amused by the bottle, which was deemed the sailor's eternal comfort. In 1957, Kerouac's book, On the Road was published. "It is disturbing and powerful, but not over done, bursting with juvenile grace, distraught depravity, serious questions and severe hangovers, cheap philosophy and smoking jalopies." (Ann Charters.) Sadly after his bought w

It is as if Kerouac is waiting for his death. He is foreshadowing on his future, the line "Make is snappy," shows that he is waiting for his death and wants to go home with the eternal mother. Most human beings are not deep enough to understand a poem like this, none-the-less write a poem on such a topic. The words that he uses are perfect, he describes what he is seeing, in very little words, but immense detail.

Even though this review is for the book, On the Road, this quote applies to all of his works of art, both poetry and novels.

Jack Kerouac started the Beat Generation, he penned the name, and he was one of the Beat poets/writers, along with Allen Ginsberg. When On the Road was published, Kerouac had found a new status as a celebrity. His sudden celebrity status was probably one of the worst things that could have happened to him, because his moral and spiritual decline in the next few years was shocking. To live up to the wild image he gave himself in On the Road, Kerouac developed a detrimental drinking habit that changed his natural brightness and aged him prematurely. Kerouac was incredibly unhappy with his new life as a celebrity. His life ended October 21, 1969 at the age of 47.

- -. The Penguin Book of The Beaters. Penguin, 1992.

Kerouac died an unfortunate death. After he got his newly acclaimed fame, he didn't know how to deal with the excitement of being loved by many people, and turned to drinking as an outlet for his emotions. After several years of this new lifestyle, Kerouac died, an unhappy man, happy with his accomplishments, but waiting for death.

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Approximate Word count = 1414
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English