Will's Research

The main character in Jack Kerouac's novel, Desolation Angels, is Jack Duluoz. It is said to be one of Kerouac's most autobiographical works, and as such, the background of Kerouac himself helps to legitimize the perspective of Jack Duluoz as the perspective of an indigent. Kerouac was born to immigrant parents in the working-class town of Lowell, Massachussetts. He would later become one of the leaders of the Beat movement and practiced "voluntary poverty". In doing this, he lived willingly in a state of poverty. His travels across the United States reflect this in that he, oftentimes, hitchhiked. Kerouac's past, as one will see, truly does help to reinforce Jack Duluoz's view of the road as legitimately that of an indigent.

In Desolation Angels, Jack Duluoz returns from a summer as a lookout on a mountain. He had been seeking spiritual enlightenment but found little more than boredom. His reunion with his friends is less than ideal, however, as his time on the mountain seems to have embittered him. He sees many of the actions as trivial and frivolous. He is also sinking into a deep depression. His all-encompassing goal now seems to be emergance from this depression. His main tool in this endeavor is to be the road. He uses the road as a tool to emerge from this depression through:

-His travels across the country

-His attempt to move his mother to California

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