Rough Draft Essay 1

     In Jack Kerouac's essay entitled, The Vanishing American Hobo, he uses the words hobo and bum but not interchangeably  He has created a hierarchy of hobos to symbolize the difference between individuals who through non-conformity to society remain healthy and spiritually enlightened and individuals who go along with the prevailing beliefs without questioning anything.  The hobo is depicted as healthy.  He lives out of doors, camps under the stars, and he is free to move from town to town.  The skid row bum on the other hand is depicted as sickly and spiritually depleted.  He spends his nights n doorways looking for hand outs and drinks too much.  Kerouac's use of this hierarchy is a metaphor for the effects of blindly following the conventions and norms of society.

     The hobo in Kerouac's essay signifies the individual who lives in freedom and is spiritually enlightened.  When he describes the hobo he uses language that is positive like,"...the hobo in his idealistic lope to freedom and the hills of holy silence and holy privacy.-There's nothing nobler than to put up with a few inconveniences like snakes and dust for the sake of absolute freedom." (2976)  He is painting a picture of an individual who is free rom convention an is seeking something spiritual.  He also says, "...Poverty is considered a virtue among the monk of civilized nations-..."(2977)  He is telling the reader that the hobo is on a path to enlightenment only obtainable through the freedom of individualism.  A person must be unhampered by the prevailing ideologies that society asks individuals to subscribe to.

     Then there is the skid row bum who Kerouac says, "...sometimes hobos were inconsiderate, but not always, but when they were, they no longer held their pride, they became bums-..." (2979) The bum has no pride in himself and infers an apathetic view toward life.  He is a symbol of man who is part of society who follows all the rules and lives his life as he has ben told to.  The bum has lost his way. "I'm too tired now of everything else, I've had enough, I give up, I quit, I want to go home, take me home..." (2982)  The quote is about the despair that is felt by the bum who symbolizes individuals in society. He is seeking a return to a spiritual home.  A place that is comfortable and warm and familiar-a return to his "roots". Not the alienation of a big city where they are a no body.  The bum as a metaphor for society in general is saying that society has lost its way.

    Another way Kerouac helps create this hierarchy is through his use of examples of people who are hobos and who are bums.  The hobos are people like Jesus and Buddha and Beethoven and Einstein.  The skid row bums are people who are not known they are just common people. "...but Oh the poor bum of the skid row! There he sleeps in the doorway, back to wall, head down..." (2982) Kerouac use of famous people as examples of hobos are those people who thought for themselves and lived in ways that did not necessarily conform to society of their day.  The skid row bum is the common man who blindly accepts what comes to him.   Kerouac wants us to have pity on him for his blind ignorance.

    Kerouac has created the hierarchy of hobos and bums in his essay to let the reader know that giving up individuality for sake of conformity and living in society will inevitably make a person spiritually sick.  Without spirituality and individualism we become sick and alone.  The key to overcoming the illness of society is through the individual seeking enlightenment and non-conformity.