Era of Inequality

Era of Inequality The women in Jack Kerouac's On the Road were, it seems, not afforded the same depth in character which the author gave the men. The treatment of the women characters in both word and action by Sal and Dean seems to show that women could only be an Eve figure or a Lilith referring to Biblical analogies. Throughout the novel there are many instances in which women and their feelings or actions …

…Mexico. The undeveloped identities in the women may have allowed the men in the novel to feel superior, in control, or important without them having to care about or respect the person that made them feel that way. Whether Kerouac intended this claim to be in the novel, it is there as a reflection of his belief system and the attitudes of the time; apparently there are no redeeming qualities inherent in the female identity.