What I've Learned: The Importance of Individual Satisfaction

            Before taking my 20th Century Literature (Kerouac and the Beats) class, I did not have a significant impression of the artistic counterculture during that time period. In the previous semester, I learned about the Lost Generation, and therefore, assumed that I could easily compare the two due to their similar post-war art circumstances. However, while both were enthralled with promiscuity and heavy substance abuse, their works were entirely different in that they took opposite paths. Fitzgerald was concerned that he did not do enough for his country in the war (a common theme among Lost Generation writers), and yet traveled to France in the aftermath of the war, unable to face his country. Kerouac and the Beats wanted nothing to do with the government after the war, and chose to seek satisfaction, not in the institutionalized system of American society, but in the land itself. Writers such as Hemingway drank their sorrows into further sorrows and some, such as he, committed suicide.

            What I've learned from the class is that the Beat Generation counterculture stands out as an objection to American society, rather than an avoidance of it. They are seeking freedom rather than wallowing in self-pity. They are not only disillusioned, but also perturbed and willing to act as individuals so as to not be swallowed by mainstream ideals. Each writer has their own way of doing this, and although not all are effective (as they are sure of the method, but not of the destination), none are willing to give up their lifestyles for the sake of tradition.


            William Burroughs preached his philosophy until his death. Many criticize him as being the darkest and most selfish Beats writer of the group for his method of taking what he wants in disregard for others. He argues that those in power are already living this way, and that, in order to counterbalance them, we should as well. This argument is represented well in his story, "Twilight's Last Gleaming". In this primitive self-concern, Burroughs finds satisfaction in the act of not being screwed over by others.

            Jack Kerouac's writing explains the journey of a man living for himself, with only a slight regard for others. He considers the potential of mainstream values, such as the traditional American family, but drops them. Although readers may not be satisfied with this, had Kerouac succumbed to these ideals, we may not be reading about him at all.

            Because American society held a harshly restrictive ideal for women during that time, I found Diane Di Prima's writing particularly intriguing. She lived as the men did, with concern for herself and assurance in her identity. When she wanted a child, she had a child. Tradition and financial security were not important to her. She did not hold expectations in others, but in herself.

            These self-satisfying writers chose not to concern themselves with the government, and therefore, sought fulfilling lives. They were not the Lost Generation. The Beat Generation's biographical approach allows the reader to directly understand the individual objections to American society during that time period. These objections solidified each writer's identity, and their search for freedom is evident in them. Whether or not they achieved the satisfaction that they sought, each had their own philosophy and they lived to satisfy themselves, and not the world around them.