Eddie CzubaMr. PlutkoEnglish IIIMarch 11, 2014Rough draft of thesisJack Kerouac does not fit into the stereotypical aspects one might think a normal author might have. For the most part, an author is a calm person who works on their book, develops new ideas, and puts time and passion into writing their novel. To put it in perspective, our idea of ​​madness is Jack Kerouac's idea of ​​normality. Over the course of Kerouac's many adventures across America, Kerouac discovers what kind of person he is turning into. The person he becomes while having these experiences and adventures is someone who thinks very independently, is Buddhist, and abuses alcohol and drugs. As Jack Hicks said, “Their experiments with sexuality, with drugs, with the many and often frightening potentialities of psychic and social order and disorder, their bold and often naïve desires to awaken dormant chords in American life and writing – these have rarely been successful.” they met with balanced opinions.”(2). Everything Hicks analyzed about Kerouac is evident through his writings today. Kerouac's novels, such as On the Road and The Dharma Bums, contain individualistic themes, questioning American literature and the cultural norms found in such writing. Aside from the cultural norms of society, Kerouac shows through his novels that he does not like to follow the norms that society has imposed on him. In other words, Kerouac likes to play by his own rules. Kerouac ignores these norms that society has set for him by choosing the least orthodox choice if given to him. This comes out in his book On the Road where Kerouac uses the little money he always has left, after partying too hard the night before, to drive back and forth from the East Coast to the West Coast. Kerouac is a true... center of paper... beaten life; implicit in Kerouac's representation of the beat generation is his criticism of it, a criticism that anticipates the accusations of its most hostile critics” (3). This means that Kerouac may be somewhat of a hedonist, but he almost embraces it and uses it to his advantage when writing On the Road. Themes in On the Road – loyalty, friendship, carelessness, innocence to be experienced, speak to the beat generation. For The Dharma Bums some themes could be loyalty, inner courage, determination. Change the thesis or rewrite + strengthen body paragraphs. Write more about the themes and less about Kerouac himself. Ask what I'm trying to write about. Explain the themes in detail and try to get more literary criticism to support/support the themes. Don't talk so much about Kerouac's Buddhism, try to stick to the themes he tries to portray in his books.