(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

A Look at the Beat Generation

Jim Crow laws were allowed to stand in the south until major Supreme Court decisions like Brown v. Board of Education declared segregation to be unconstitutional. But even still that did not solve the problem of good old fashioned prejudice, which was as rampant as ever. And not every woman was delighted to once again be her husband's house servant. The war machine of WW2 had given many women their first pay check. And the sense of power and freedom even menial jobs provided was not something many wanted to trade in for being cooped up in a split level tract house with only the companionship of a vacuum cleaner and a screaming five year old. .
             To the Beats the only solution to a life of domestic stagnation was to pack up and let life lead you down one winding road after another. There was a certain comfort in the unknown. Ambiguity turned survival into a triviality, while one could find the deepest meaning in chance and whimsy. When mere existence doesn't seem to be guaranteed it's the little moments of perfection that become one's focus. No other Beat poet understood that concept as well as Jack Kerouac. "Jack Kerouac single handedly created the beat generation. Although Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and William Burroughs Brought their separate and cumulative madness to the beat generation, it was Kerouac who was the Unifying Principle."(Krim,p.4).
             While Kerouac certainly lived for the moment it would be missing the whole point of his work to claim that was just trying to get his kicks in before it was over. If anything, he eagerly awaited his termination. And found his solace in moments of pure tranquillity, since they were the closest he could come to the state he named the Golden Eternity, which he believed awaited him after death. This was in opposition to his friend and fellow beat Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg believed "in grasping after life as much as you can because of it's sweet sadness and because you would be dead someday"( Hipkiss,p.


Essays Related to A Look at the Beat Generation

1. Beat or Beatnik

The term beat was first used by Jack Kerouac in 1948 while talking to his friend Clellon Holmes: "So I guess you might say we're a beat generation." Holmes later wrote an article for the New York Times Magazine, entitled "The Beat Generation," saying: "The origins of the word 'beat' are obscure, but the meaning is only too clear to most Americans. ... ('This Is the Beat Generation':Despite its excesses, a contemporary insists, it is moved by a desperate craving for affirmative beliefs. ... Hopefully the "beat's" transition into myth will not cause us to forge...

  • Word Count: 1364
  • Approx Pages: 5

2. My Generation

That right there basically sums up my generation My generation grew up in a world where the New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits, turtles in half shells ate pizzas with mutant rats, and pow-pow Power Wheels roamed the streets. ... Pearl Jam began to knock down the gates of Tiffany and Green Day beat the shit out of Boys to Men to land in the number one spot in my cassette player. ... Now as I rummage through my toys, looking at Teddy Rukspin and wonder how he ever got replaced by PS2 and computers built for ten year olds. ... You wonder why our kids are so fucked up in this generat...

  • Word Count: 474
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Bombs, Beats, and Bus Boycotts: The Turbulence of the 1950's

Bombs, Beats, and Bus Boycotts: The Turbulence of the 1950s At the end of World War II , Americans saw prosperity that they had never seen before. ... Moreover , the events that took place during this decade would change the way we look at this era forever. ... On another level, the beat generation took the 1950s by storm. ... The beats were also considered Communist. ... In the video " The Beat," Cain said, " that they were out of this world just like the Russian satellite, the Sputnik." ...

  • Word Count: 932
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Bombs, Beats, and Bus Boycotts: The Turbulence of the 1950s

Moreover , the events that took place during this decade would change the way we look at this era forever. ... On another level, the beat generation took the 1950s by storm. During this time of high spending, advertising, and family values, the beats took the time to express the discontent of America youth. ... The beats were also considered Communist. ... In the video " The Beat," Cain said, " that they were out of this world just like the Russian satellite, the Sputnik." ...

  • Word Count: 923
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Gary Snyder and the San Francisco Renaissance

The beats can't be understood, really, without looking at the environment of their times. ... "Beat" also meant "exhausted, at the bottom of the world, looking up or out, sleepless, wide-eyed, perceptive, rejected by society, on your own, streetwise." ... The beat generation brought bright minds to the scene and different ideas. ... Many were looking for inner peace; some of them never found it. ... The beat generation is a tree, an old growth that nobody will ever remove from the fertile soil of literary bloom. ...

  • Word Count: 974
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

6. The Thing about the Beats

The Thing about the Beats One of the novels that has caused a great impact since it was written until now is the modern classic On the Road, the second novel of one of the most controversial writers of his time Jack Kerouac. The book is considered the first work of the Beat Generation, the name that was given to his small group of friends, that were also writers, of the Columbia University. There are many publishers that confirm the importance of On the RoadFor example, Synopsis tells us in its review: "This novel epitomized to the world the Beat philosophy" (amazon.com-#1). Also, Libra...

  • Word Count: 3797
  • Approx Pages: 15
  • Grade Level: High School

7. "Jack Kerouac"

Jack Kerouac created and lived the Beat Generation in the 1950's. ... World War II, also known as the Cold War and the beginning of the Great depression was a beginning for the Beat Generation. ... Kerouac created and lived the Beat Generation. "The Beat Generation was a group of American writers in the 1950's. ... "The Beat Generation." ...

  • Word Count: 1445
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

8. gary snyder

One day while sitting at the dentist he read a Beat magazine. "It was the first time I had seen the term Beat Generation. ... This is considered by many to be the beginning of the "Beat Generation-. ... Many articles and papers were written about the immorality of the beat generation. ... In Snyder's essay "Notes on the Beat Generation-, he links the beats to Occidentals in Zen Buddhism. ...

  • Word Count: 2488
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Grade Level: High School

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question