Abstract: The Beat Generation is a literary movement that emerged in America in the middle of the 20th century. It has a profound and far-reaching influence on the American society in the latter half of the 20th century. Jack Kerouac is acclaimed to be the king of “Beat Generation” and his masterpiece On the Road is generally considered as the bible of “Beat Generation”. After sorting out the studies on Jack Kerouac and his On the Road in home and abroad, the author finds that the female characters in this novel have scarcely been studied. Hence, this dissertation aims to study and criticize the female characters in On the Road.

Key words:  On the Road；female characters；attitudes towards females

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction.1

  1.1 A General Introduction to Jack Kerouac

  1.2 The Beat Generation

  1.3 Literature Review 

2. The Classification of the Female Images in On the Road.3

  2.1 Hellcats3

2.1.1 Marilu

2.1.2 Lee An

  2.2 Traditional Females.4 

2.1.1 Sal’s aunt

2.1.2 Babe’s aunt

2.1.3 Stan Shepard’s mum

2.1.4 Terrey 

  2.3 New Women5

2.1.1 Camil 

2.1.2 Garatti 

3. The Similarities among the Female Images6

  3.1 Exterior image  

  3.2 Attitude towards love 

  3.3 Fate 

4. Conclusion8

Bibliography9

Acknowledgements.10