Finding Your Howl
This short work is somewhat vague yet says a lot. The first line leads the reader to believe in order to “find our howl” we must experience death in sense; I took this as we need to experience life in order to discover ourselves. He hints towards self sacrifice in order to avoid wasting one’s life. It is all very theoretical. He states, “The only way out of our self-erected prison is to go through it completely”. To me this seems almost depressing, as if we need to experience pain in order to live. While I feel that pain will happen in order to live and to learn from I don’t think that we should pursue it as I feel the author is recommending.
“[...] the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' What did they call such young people in Goethe's Germany?”
Jack Kerouac – “On The Road”
I like this quote from Kerouac’s Beat classic “On The Road” because it expresses, in a way, the opposite of “Finding Your Howl”, while at the same time saying a very similar thing. The quote is representative of Kerouac’s unique writing style, often referred to as “spontaneous prose”. This means that Kerouac was typing almost without thought. This expresses certain type of honesty and accurate viewpoint from Kerouac’s racing thoughts. The way that he says people are “mad”, saying that they are crazy about life paints a picture of someone in love with the world. This appeals to my creativity because it shows that you can build off other people’s energy. Kerouac’s reference to Goethe’s Germany is one of changing times. This appeals to me as well since we are this moment in need of change. His comment, “burn, burn, burn” appeals to me as well because at times I feel that fire, burning, burning; moving forward with energy and passion.” Seeing the blue centerlight pop” appeals to me because I have seen this and wish to have it shared with others in a similar way that Kerouac shares with his readers. His reference to never yawning or saying a commonplace thing is an amazing way to look at life. Never sleeping, always moving, burning like fire. Living in the present and living in the now are the mottos of those people, something I feel I share with them.
The reference to roman candles is meaningful because the people that live like madmen will often burn out. They may live in the moment but I feel like the moment for them does not last as long as it does for others. When they “pop and everyone goes ‘Awww!’” is the experience that you want the people who experience your creativity, whether it is in art or poetry or in music or movies or novels or dancing or political debates or coaching sports or just in the way you live, to feel. The way that Kerouac describes these people and they’re reaction is inspiring to the point where you drop out whatever you’re doing and travel across the country just see if you can have the same experience that Kerouac paints in “On The Road”. Kerouac says that these people, that live so madly, are the only people for him and I can hope to surround myself with the same caliber of person so that I may continue to be so inspired as Kerouac or his readers. Kerouac’s unique viewpoint is always inspiring as you can see and feel and imagine what he is seeing. This appeals to me at the very core of my being since it is about raw energy and unique viewpoint. Truly Kerouac appeals to his readers at they’re base emotions. Kerouac’s very description piques the readers interest and shares with them his mad vision of the more interesting people that only he associated with. These are the beautiful people, these are the movers of the world, the shakers of societies, like Goethe’s Germany. I wonder what they said too.
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