Beats and the Continuity of Masculinity:Gender in Jack Kerouac's On the Road

Abstract

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road is the representation of the culture and lifestyle of thesome youth that emerged in America after the Second World War, known as Beat generation. Those youths rejected the social and cultural values of mainstream American society of that time in various ways and indulged their life in drugs, sex, alcohol, beat of jazz music and many more. But, while disrupting the diverse values of mainstream society, they failed to disrupt or redefine the mainstream society’s definition of gender roles and its view towards women. In case of view towards women and gender roles, they gave continuation to the patriarchal values of mainstream society and continued to exercise the masculinity in their culture.