Hank

Ray Smith: A Struggling Dharma Bum

For my primary source I chose Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums."

In The Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac makes the case for a rucksack revolution where young Americans abandon their jobs and head out on the road in search of spiritual enlightenment. It is the wild Buddhist Japhy Rider who presents this idea in the story. Ray Smith has a great respect for Japhy and is constantly trying to emulate him and his ideals. Throughout the story Ray tries to test Japhy’s idea that the road and Buddhism can offer true freedom. In order to test this theory, Ray abandons his wealth and in doing so finds that he is free from the monotony of American culture. It soon becomes apparent that as Ray hitchhikes, he is not just traveling physically, but he is also traveling spiritually towards freedom. Ray’s increasing spirituality and freedom can be measured by looking at three specific instances in the story. These instances being when he meets the Mother Theresa bum, when he is hitch-hiking to North Carolina, and finally when he hitchhikes from California to Seattle. By looking at these three instances, it becomes clear that for Ray, the road represents an opportunity for him to find freedom and to increase his spiritual capacity.

When Ray accepts his poverty, the road coupled with Buddhism offers the opportunity to achieve freedom from society and the opportunity to achieve enlightenment. In this sense freedom from society and spiritual enlightenment are unachievable for Ray without the road. With no money and no real possessions Ray is able to wander around the country, free from societal worries. In this way the road represents the path to enlightenment and the path to freedom.

My Sources

-For more critical analysis on the works of Jack Kerouac please see the page entitled "Will".