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Examples Of Privilege In On The Road

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Privilege is a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people. It is an issue that has been occurring throughout the world since the dawn of time. It is a heavily debated topic and still continues to be a problem in today’s society. An example of past privilege is On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It is a Beat Generation historical fiction novel published September 5, 1957. It takes place in the U.S. right after WWII. On the Road demonstrates how privilege can promote the glorification of prejudice and poverty.
The group of people who have held the utmost privileged position throughout U.S history is that of the white male. Sal, the protagonist of the novel, uses his privilege as a white …show more content…

This novel is separated into three ‘parts’. Each section tells of one of Sal’s travels from New York to the West. The sections are ordered chronologically, and arguably by importance to the development of Sal’s ignorance. He stumbles blindly into his first trip chasing unrealistic dreams of the western world. As his travels continue, he learns how to ignore how people live across the continental United States and in Mexico. Each trip is anti-climactic for Sal, as well as the reader, as he is never satisfied with what he finds. He chases cheap thrills and never finds the true contentment that he was searching for. Beginning with a clean palette however, each ‘part’ encourages the reader to think that he will find his true west, but that it just hasn’t happened yet. Structure provides interest to the story as well as draws out the anticlimactic ending to each story …show more content…

The only way this novel should be used in curriculum is to teach about privilege and how it can have a positive impact on very few individuals, but an extremely negative impact on far more. Kerouac uses characterization, a specific style and tone, and structure to show how Sal lives his life as a privileged white male in the late 1940s. Each of these topics help to prove how his privilege becomes ignorance, and how he glorifies the unfair lives of the less fortunate and those of color. The story is very unique and helps to provide insight on these topics, but often does so in an unsuitable way. Overall, this novel portrays privilege in a way that exposes how it can cause the romanticization of the unfair and impoverished life of those who are oppressed or a

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