Era of Inequality
The women in Jack Kerouac's On the Road were, it seems, not afforded the same depth in character which the author gave the men. The treatment of the women characters in both word and action by Sal and Dean seems to show that women could only be an Eve figure or a Lilith referring to Biblical analogies. Throughout the novel there are many instances in which women and their feelings or actions are either referred to flippantly or blatantly degraded. It can be said, however, that Sal (Kerouac) did not necessarily agree with this narrow female identity, and there is evidence to support this claim. The novel also shows, though, that Sal did participate in this male forced female stereotyping whether he wanted to or not. This is not to say that Sal (Kerouac) is necessarily malicious in his treatment of women but more possibly he is merely acting in accordance with the way he was raised and the way in which society treated women at the time. In effect while Sal and the novel may try to make points against the poor treatment of women, the novel tends to reinforce the sexist male domination at the time. The novel, on a certain level endorses the narrow female identity and the femme fatale dichotomy contained therein, whi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Terry Sal, Sal Kerouac, Sal Women, Sal Dean, Dean Sal's, Virginia Sal's, Sal's Aunt, Neal Kerouac, Taking Road, Sal Sal's, female identity, treatment women, sal's aunt, sal dean, identity seen, women novel, identities women, mother figure, narrow female identity, central claim, little family, limited female identity, female identity evidence, female identity seen, identities women allowed,
Approximate Word count = 2232
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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