Representation of female characters in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and its film adaptations

Bc. Magdalena Šedrlová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The master thesis “Representation of Female Characters in Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ and Its Film Adaptations” analyzes the way women are portrayed in the most widely read novel by Jack Kerouac, “On the Road”, and how two film directors approached its screen adaptations with regard to the depiction of female characters. The thesis first provides theoretical background concerning the Beat Generation and the role of women in the movement, and it also includes biographical information on Jack Kerouac as well as a plot summary of the novel. The analysis itself relies on a close reading of the novel as well as the recently published “On the Road – The Original Scroll” taking into account biographical data about the women who served as models for the heroines, and various theoretical concepts ranging from Oswald Spengler’s morphology of peoples to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze. Each character is treated in a separate sub-chapter discussing the role of the woman in the narrative as well as in the author’s real life, her interaction with the male heroes, the way she is shaped by them and influences them, and the author’s approach towards the literary portrayal of female characters in general. In the end, Byrum’s “Heart Beat” (1980) and Salles’s “On the Road” (2012) are scrutinized in order to compare the directors’ approaches towards the same subject matter, considering especially their rendering of principal female characters and highlighting the differences between the novelistic and cinematic versions.

Abstract:

The master thesis “Representation of Female Characters in Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ and Its Film Adaptations” analyzes the way women are portrayed in the most widely read novel by Jack Kerouac, “On the Road”, and how two film directors approached its screen adaptations with regard to the depiction of female characters. The thesis first provides theoretical background concerning the Beat Generation and the role of women in the movement, and it also includes biographical information on Jack Kerouac as well as a plot summary of the novel. The analysis itself relies on a close reading of the novel as well as the recently published “On the Road – The Original Scroll” taking into account biographical data about the women who served as models for the heroines, and various theoretical concepts ranging from Oswald Spengler’s morphology of peoples to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze. Each character is treated in a separate sub-chapter discussing the role of the woman in the narrative as well as in the author’s real life, her interaction with the male heroes, the way she is shaped by them and influences them, and the author’s approach towards the literary portrayal of female characters in general. In the end, Byrum’s “Heart Beat” (1980) and Salles’s “On the Road” (2012) are scrutinized in order to compare the directors’ approaches towards the same subject matter, considering especially their rendering of principal female characters and highlighting the differences between the novelistic and cinematic versions.

Keywords

Jack Kerouac, "On the Road", "Na cestě", the Beat Generation, portrayal of women, John Byrum, Walter Salles, film adaptations

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 23. 5. 2016

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 15. 6. 2016
• Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D.
• Reader: Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / field:
Philology / English Language and Literature