The Quest For Identity In On The Road

The Quest For Identity In On The Road In Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road', the protagonists embark upon a long, arduous quest for human identity. Their aim is to uncover who they truly are, where they fit in the 'scheme of things' and what the meaning of life is. They articulate this desire by speaking, during the novel, of the search for 'IT', 'IT' being human identity. This 'IT' is an intangible thing; something that …showed first 75 words of 1287 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1287 total…at some point in their lives to find 'IT'. Kerouac expresses the fears, hopes, vulnerabilities and desires of all humanity through his own search for 'IT', and develops this theme through exploring his own experiences and thoughts. The novel concludes with the poignant truth humans often try to ignore - that time and aging are inexorable and that the answers to life will most probably never be known to any of us while on earth.