on the road

I love the language used in 'On the Road', Kerouac creates such visual images with his writing that I want to try and illustrate it. But I'm also interested in the time it was set and what book meant to people at that time.

It was written during the 'Beat Generation' which Kerouac was a founder of. It was a movement just after the Cold War where the government were pushing ideas of unity and banding together to try and keep morales high but it lead to high measure of censorship and control over what people could write, do, experience - and there was a massive increase in consumerism and materialism. 

So the 'beat generation' was a rejection of this new society, they celebrated non-conformity and 'spontaneous creativity'. This young generation rejected materialism and how people should act and instead travelled, created great, innovative and racy art, literature, music etc. while also experimenting with drugs and sexuality. It was a time of rebellion and anarchy through the young generation. 

'On the Road' is a mostly autobiographical story by Jack Kerouac telling his journey across America with his friends, on a personal search for meaning and belonging in this world - looking for the answers to all of life's questions.

"how to live seems so much more crucial than why"

In the book there are so many points where the characters are taking life with such enthusiasm, never allowing themselves to be bored, not wasting this life which I think it such an important thing that people often forget. 

So I've started looking through the book for quotes that I feel represent the feeling of the book that I will be able to also involve this romantic, nostalgic feeling but also quite anarchic and bold, in my illustrations

"because in the end, you won't remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain"

- its about not wasting your life, we spend so much of our time doing mundane tasks that we're not going to look back on with happiness, we need to do more things that excite us, that push us. 

"what is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing"

- find this one quite sad, about moving on away from people. But I just love the way its written, making something you don't usually think about so poetic. 

"the only people for me are the mad ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything... they burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars"

- such vivid imagery, turning their personalities into something visual.

"when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies... sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge...all that road going, and all the people dreaming in the immensity of it"

- very romantic quote, about being at one with nature - admiring and celebrating the beauty in the world around us

"I..told her not to yawn. I tried to tell her how excited I was about life... She turned away wearily. We lay on our backs, looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had wrought when he made life so sad"

- this is another quote sad one, has quite an empty atmosphere, implies she is living life rather indifferently. 

"there was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars"

love the simplicity of this quote, making clear that there is so much out there for us to explore and experience, and we should never stop moving and finding things out.