After reading the excertps from Kerouac’s On the Road and Ginsberg’s Howl, compare the two writers’ various descriiptions of the Beats. Ginsberg famously characterized the Beats as “destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, / dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, / angelheaded hipsters burn- ing for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.” Does a similar portrait emerge in On the Road, or are we given vastly different visions of the same group? (Do note that the Carlo Marx character in On the Road is based on Ginsberg.)
Use the text to back up your ideas. Include two direct quotes, one from each author. Do not quote from the course PowerPoints or the introductions to the readings. Include properly formatted in-text citations for each quote. Other than properly cited quotes from your textbook, absolutely no outside sources should be used. A Works Cited entry is not required.
Responses must be at least eight sentences long; proofread carefully for grammar and punctuation. Avoid first and second-person pronouns.
The book to use is The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Ninth Edition. Volume 2
… include a parenthetical citation; for example (Dickinson lines 2-3)
