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jackfaire t1_jdk9f87 wrote

I read On the Road twice. Once at 16 and once at 26. Not intentionally. I just hadn't read it in 10 years was feeling nostalgic and re-read it. The experiences were night and day.

At 16 I saw adventure and exploration and how cool this Kerouac guy was. At 26 I realized what a flaky asshole he was. I saw how he tended to be judgmental and make false promises to people in shitty situations that he never intended to keep.

There's a passage where he talks about this single mother he's been dating. How he's been trying to get them money to get them back to his home so that they can get married and he can be the father to her son. Then he talks about how he split off from them so he could go get money and send for them.

As soon as he's away from them he wires his aunt for money and leaves the area. When I was 16 I missed how that played out. At 26 I was appalled.

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millera85 t1_jdkszh5 wrote

This is exactly why Kerouac is so divisive. The vast majority of people who first read him as adults are disgusted.

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jackfaire t1_jdktg1g wrote

It actually helped me understand the way my mom treated my Uncle. As a kid he had that cool uncle vibe. As an adult it was like oh he's a flake who job hops, moves a lot (During a time when it wasn't due to economic reasons) , does coke etc.

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