2.5 Hitchhiking in USA

In the book Jack Kerouac tells about his personal experience of hitchhiking  in post-war America.

This novel can be compared to the sentimentalism of Rousseau. A central feature of the text is its bold dive into the taboo subjects of the 1950s: drug use, blasphemy, and promiscuous sexual encounters. Kerouac shows how his characters use these forbidden things as tools for expanding consciousness and confronting conformism.

Dean appears curious and naive, like a child; he is unafraid to talk to people and seems to harbor no ill will. He is a communication master who "defends himself well against apathetic questions." Yet, his energy is a chaotic, aimless force: he is a man who lacks clear motives and focused aspirations.

In contrast to Dean, Sal is a figure who is relatively shy and reserved, more inclined to observation than action. His constant rhetorical questions ("What am I doing? Where am I going? I’ll find out soon") underscore his passivity and his unwillingness to take responsibility for his own choices, relying instead on fatalism. These internal dialogues also expose the "slave mentality" of the era, expressed in simple excuses like "the police are bad." His sense of humor may appear as pharisaism, leaving him vulnerable to reader criticism.

Through the obsession with speed and jazz, Kerouac shows how a generation sought to break free from materialistic and social constraints, finding temporary but ecstatic relief in friendship and the open road. This novel remains a powerful document of its time, which continues to inspire freedom from convention.

I got interested in the theme of this book, and asked an American girl who was a hitchhiker about modern view on the topic:

"So, I run hitchhiking initially was more of a way of transport and not for the adventure.  Many people don’t have their own way of transportation.I was raised to be afraid of the world  yet thought people were good.  I decided to reinforce the idea in my head that people are generally good and helpful by going on this trip.  I already like traveling. :) On my walk to my first hitchhiking spot, it was already nice as 2-3 people stopped to check on me and ask me if I needed water or money.  The man that took me an hour away by car wasn’t even going there but was a hitchhiker himself in his college years going back and forth to college and back to his family.

The trip was absolutely worth it.  I not only hitchhiked but couch surfed—stayed at others’ homes—those who I don’t even know (but they had references lol)I got what I needed out of the trip yet I’m still scared of the world.  It still helps me to know that there are good people and there is help, generally, if you ask.  Hitch hiking is considered safe for both the driver and the passenger.  Many people would just drive by.  Some would tell me to get a job.  Some would yell at me."