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Allusions
Dialect
Explanation and Analysis:
Kerouac's most famous novel was based upon his real travels and experiences, and as such, the book often reads like a memoir. The first-person narrator relays his journeys with precision: he states how and where he travelled, who he met along the way, how much he spent and for what, and the things he saw with an authoritative amount of detail. There are a litany of eccentric characters, whose voices Kerouac inhabits with slang and dialect. The novel proceeds mostly chronologically, and the reader sees everything through Sal's point of view.
Related Themes:
Part 3, Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Dumb Okies:
In Chapter 6 of Part 3, Dean and Sal stay with Sal's old neighbors in Denver: a single mother named Frankie and her three kids. Although Dean gets on with Frankie and her family at first, they eventually come to blows over whether she should buy a used car. Kerouac renders Dean's unique manner of speaking with dialect, as well as deliberate use of italics and punctuation.
Unlock with LitCharts A+"For a hunnerd you can't get anything better!" [Dean] swore he'd never talk to [Frankie] again, he cursed till his face was purple, he was about to jump in the car and drive it away anyway. "Oh these dumb dumb dumb Okies, they'll never change, how com-pletely and how unbelievably dumb, the moment it comes time to act, this paralysis, scared, hysterical, nothing frightens em more than what they want—it's my father my father my father all over again!"
Related Themes:
