Am Sem prelim notes

Alright, time to collect my thoughts on this one, especially since I haven't really taken much time with it apart from occasional compulsive requesting of articles through ILL. What I am going to look at is the relationship between Kerouac's representations of people on the margins and his image of America. My first thought was that the migrant nature of many of these people in On the Road was the key, that motion was the key. The migrant Hispanic workers in California, the drifters whom he rides with across Nebraska, they were always in motion and seemed to be idolized, to symbolize something essential to his image of America. I don't think that was a bad idea, but that is not "It." What I've arrived at is that these marginalized people are the "beatest" people in the story. As the America that Kerouac writes about is the America of the Beats it only makes sense that these people on the margins of the mainstream should be at the center of his conception of America. Motion may still be important but the real key is definitely the Beatness of people like Terry, Dean Moriarties Father perhaps even, and the Mexican children on the side of the road to Mexico City.