“World War II marked a wide dividing line between the old and the new in American society and the nation’s literature”(The World Book Encyclopedia 427) . When world War II ended there was a pent up desire that had been postponed due to the war. Post war America brought about a time when it seemed that every young man was doing the same thing, getting a job, settling down and starting a family. America was …showed first 75 words of 1029 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1029 total…throughout the country was actually an expedition to find himself. All his life he may not have been escaping but rather discovering. Kerouac needed to see the way the rest of America was in an effort to find what he was.The human experience is about self-discovery. It is a universal theme which Kerouac draws upon in his classic beat work On the Road , Kerouac simply recorded this journey at a turning point in America.