Running head: LITERATURE ANALYSIS

Jayda Venable
Literature Analysis
English 2335
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

LITERATURE ANALYSIS

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Literature Analysis

Although Sal and Dean flew through the chapters of On the Road, by Jack Kerouac, in a
frenzy, their chaotic, free-spirited experiences became a trademark for their generation, the Beat
generation. On the Road is mainly a compiled mass of trips across the country made by two best
friends, and about all the people they meet and the plan less happening that these two encounter
throughout their adventures. Greer and Cameron, on the other hand, seem to float from page to
page in a rather odd and strange sequence of events in The Hawkline Monster, by Richard
Brautigan. The Hawkline Monster is a short story about two friends so close they could be
brothers, and their insane, repeated supernatural encounters in this suspicious house
accompanied by these two strange women, the Hawkline sisters. These two novels are plotted in
different time periods; On the Road is stretched over two years beginning in 1947, while The
Hawkline Monster is in the year 1902. Not only does the time depict a particular place in history
for both of these stories and characters, it also assists in the differences of money and technology
for the different novels and plays into the actions and ultimately the lives of Sal and Dean and
Greer and Cameron. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the historical, social,
and cultural aspects of On the Road and The Hawkline Monster. In addition, this essay will
discuss the ways that money, ethics and technology differ and affect the companionship of the
main characters in each novel and how they represent a particular time frame in history.
To begin with, there are many different examples throughout the text of On the Road that
display how Sal and Dean make use of their money. A lot of money was spent on numerous
cross country trips and even one out of country trip to Mexico. To illustrate how scarce the
money was back then Sal also admits to picking up and smoking cigarette butts off the ground
(Kerouac, 1957). Nevertheless, a more daring subject is the money that was not spent. One

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particular example is when Sal, Dean and Marylou stop at a gas station to get some food and
gasoline on their way to San Francisco. Since they barely had enough money to make the trip,
Sal took bread and cheese and slipped out the door (Kerouac, page 157). Shortly before that
quote Sal had heard the family who owned the gas station eating dinner in the back, so without
paying, he took the food. Afterwards, Dean went back in and took cigarettes, so they had all
their essential needs to keep traveling. In comparison to how money was or was not spent in On
the Road, Greer and Cameron, in The Hawkline Monster, have a very different experience with
money. In simple terms, Greer and Cameron had a career; they got paid to kill people. Like
mercenaries, Greer and Cameron would be hired, paid a lump sum of money and be informed of
their target. For instance, when Greer and Cameron picked up some travelling money in
Chinatown by killing a Chinaman, they even talked up the price of their earnings (Brautigan,
page 15). This was simple because there were not many mercenaries back in 1902. Therefore,
Greer and Cameron did not have to scrounge for money like Sal and Dean. A very important
part of why Sal and Dean have to live day to day is because of they were a part of what came to
be known as the Beat generation. A time when barely getting by and heavy drug use was
popular. The term beat was used to describe people who were poor, beaten down or
exhausted, much like Sal and Dean. However, there is one similarity between the two novels;
the fact that both Sal and Dean and Greer and Cameron spend money in whorehouses. My girl
charged thirty pesos, or about three dollars and a half, Sal explains and then states that he threw
money at her (Kerouac, page 287). In The Hawkline Monster, Greer and Cameron were in a
whorehouse right before Magic Child showed up with five thousand dollars for the two of them
and a picture of a naked Miss Hawkline (Brautigan, page 18). This is relevant because in both
novels its ethically alright to sleep with teenage girls for money.

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Continuing onto ethics and how its portrayed throughout the texts relates to how money
was portrayed in the novels also. In The Hawkline Monster, the first chapter The Riding
Lesson tells the reader about how Greer and Cameron decide to not kill the cowboy and in
effect lose out on money. They do this because the cowboy is with his son teaching him how to
ride a horse and also the fact that he and his son were cowboys like Greer and Cameron, they just
couldnt bring themselves to kill the man. Greer quotes, I aint made that way (Brautigan,
page 9). In contrast, Sal and Deans ethics are to basically not have any ethics. To be more
specific, Sal spends almost the entire book admiring and being mesmerized by Dean; in fact, the
very first and last sentence of the novel are concerning Dean Moriarty and have his name
(Kerouac, 1957). Sal even lies and says Deans his brother at one point (Kerouac, 1957).
Although Sal and Dean are together throughout the majority of On the Road, there are times
when they arent together. One unfortunate example is when Sal and Dean drove down to
Mexico with Stan; Sal caught a bad case of dysentery and was ill for days. One day, in a blur of
consciousness Sal asks Dean what hes doing and Dean replied that he was taking the car and
leaving Mexico already because he got the divorce papers he needed to divorce Camille
(Kerouac, page 301). Poor, poor Sal was left stranded while he was still sick in Mexico by his
supposed brother. Ethically, this seems wrong, but strangely, after Sal recovers he realizes
what a rat he was referring to Dean, but then said he had to understand the impossible
complexity of his life and how Dean could leave him there sick to get on with his wives and
woes (Kerouac, page 302). One difference between On the Road and The Hawkline Monster is
that Greer and Cameron are practically inseparable. Other than working together and travelling
together, Greer and Cameron also share Magic Child; Greer doesnt even leave the bed when
Cameron takes his turn with her (Brautigan, page 54). Oddly enough, there is a similar

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occurrence in On the Road where Dean pleads with Sal to have sex with Marylou while he
watches, and although Sal attempts to complete this odd request from his dear friend he couldnt
do so (Kerouac, 1957). Again, this is important because sexuality in both novels is a main
aspect. Both novels display dramatic use of sex and profanity, which was okay in On the Road
because the culture of that time it was socially acceptable to whore around and have sex with
different people.
In addition to differences and similarities in the novels concerning money, ethics and the
occasional sexual acts committed, technology is another important factor. In On the Road
technology is obviously much more industrialized. Since The Hawkline Monster is set in the
year 1902, people do not have vehicles or electricity. Instead, real horsepower existed with horse
drawn stagecoaches and kerosene lamps were used for light (Brautigan, 1974). However, guns
are also a form of technology that Greer and Cameron use in The Hawkline Monster. A sawedoff twelve-gauge pump shot gun, a 25:35 Winchester rifle, a 30:40 Krag, two .38 caliber
revolvers and an automatic .38 caliber pistol are the guns Greer and Cameron carried around in a
trunk (Brautigan, page 24). On the other hand, the foremost technology in On the Road is of
course the car. Sal and Dean used cars to drive around from New York to Frisco to Texas and
back to New York over the years of 1947 to 1949; without a car the story would be ragingly
insignificant. Dean is the mad, crazy, fast driver, while Sal is slow and cautious because he does
not enjoy driving (Kerouac, 1957). Regardless, all of the jumbled stories in On the Road are tied
together by traveling from one place to another by car, and on a few circumstances by bus or if
there was no hope hitch hiking was always the last option. Another example of how technology
is displayed is when Sal and his aunt got a refrigerator, the first one in their family, which shows
that refrigerators were not in every household at the time like the present (Kerouac, 1957).

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Subsequently, the difference in technology between the On the Road and The Hawkline Monster
is so large because of the almost half century gap in the plot of the novels.
The time frame of the novels is also imperative to thoroughly discussing the historical,
cultural and social aspects. Starting with On the Road, Jack Kerouac wrote the novel based on
himself and his experiences with people he loved being around. The story covers two years, as
previously stated. The years of 1947 through 1949 are important because it was only two short
years after the deadly bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped and World War II was
over. This was when the term beat began being used. The Hawkline Monster, on the other
hand, was written in 1967. The author, Richard Brautigan, uses many cues that hint to war in
history. For example, when Cameron purchases a pistol that was for killing Filipino
motherfuckers off of a soldier who just got back from fighting in the Philippines (Brautigan,
page 24). The Filipino War ended July 4, 1902. Another example is the chapter Binoculars
where the driver of the stagecoach carried around these binoculars from the Indian Wars because
he used to be a second lieutenant in the cavalry (Brautigan, page 37). Its intriguing how
Brautigan sneaks in little bits and pieces of war history. Brautigan even slides in a famous song
from the year 1902, Wont you come home Bill Bailey, wont you come home in his novel
(Brautigan, page 129). In addition, the time frame that this particular piece of writing was
constructed in and then finally published in 1974 was also the time for womens sexual
revolution. Birth control was approved by the FDA in 1960 and then finally legalized for all
women in 1972. Therefore, all the risqu business in The Hawkline Monster relates to the time
frame of history and what was happening with sexuality in real life and is displayed in parts of
the novel. This is something that both novels indeed share.

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In conclusion, even though On the Road is about two friends traveling across the states,
experiencing life and facing death, while The Hawkline Monster is about two cowboys who find
themselves in a supernatural situation with a monster and two girls they can no longer tell apart,
both novels share many of the same features. The sex and whorehouses are obvious similarities.
In addition, comparing and contrasting money and how it is either spent, earned, or saved; the
ethics of Sal and Dean compared to the ethics of Greer and Cameron and how the differences of
their ethics affect the companionship of the friends in each novel; technology and what form was
most important to each story; and finally the difference in times of when the novels were written
and published; the historical, cultural and social aspects were revealed. Although On the Road
contained a lot of seemingly unnecessary parts about sex and drugs, it is important because it
pertains to the specific time Sal and Dean were living in. The Hawkline Monster is similar, as
stated earlier; it also contained sex because of the times of which the novel was written in. In
essence, the two novels are very different in the plot lines and their stories, yet they are tied
together by the similar use of particular aspects. The money, ethics and technology used in the
novels all relate to the historical, cultural and social aspects of the particular time frame in
history they were written in and represent.

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References

Brautigan, R. (1974). The Hawkline Monster. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin

Company.
Kerouac, J. (1957). On the Road. New York, New York: Penguin Group Inc.