Paradise In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess, “That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions.” In the novel, she lived her life outwardly as though she was comfortable and filled with happiness however, inwardly she was confused. Like Edna, Sal Paradise, main character of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road felt confused with how his life was turning out. Sal was living a mundane life until Dean Moriarty turned his apathetic emotions into the love for adventure. Dean was a poor con–man who just ran around from one city to the next, wrecking whatever comes in his way and always feels the need to move again once he becomes uninterested. In conclusion, Dean’s life is in a clutter, yet Sal inexplicably seems to envy Dean’s “madness” as he wants to live an adventurous life with Dean; a life filled with animosity, however, in actuality he wants no part of it. Sal consorts with Dean to experience vicariously what he is …show more content…
Sal, as much as he wanted to believe that he could one day live like Dean, realizes that, in the end, all he needed was an escape from solidarity. This “madness” he kept running after was just a little dose of what consisted of Dean’s life but after a while, that adventurous thrill died out. On the Road examines what happens when our heroes fail to live up to our grand expectations and instead become merely human. Dean is the way he is because of the struggles he’s been through in his life and Sal realizes he is incapable of helping his hero, however, he still thinks of him often. Dean’s act of betrayal forced Sal to apprehend the reality of his friendship with the definition of madness. Although, his days of questioning and inner conformity were over, he was still pervaded with sadness by the very ending of the novel, thinking of