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The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Volume 00, Number 00, Month 2016
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Wigand et al.
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Volume 00, Number 00, Month 2016
and resources of the persons affected can help this very process
of recovery.
The fact that major protagonists of the Beat Generation and
their relatives (Allen Ginsberg, his mother, Jack Kerouac, and his
short-time girlfriend Mardou) had been in psychiatric treatment or
under psychiatric observation (Charters, 1994, pp. 37, 95, 110, and
183) underlines the relevance of their depiction of mental illness
and stigmatization, because they can be seen both as eye witnesses
and as persons with psychiatric experiences. Interestingly, one of
the novels (and its adaptation for the screen) that very much influenced the general publics view on psychiatry in the 20th century
(Zimmermann, 2012), namely, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest,
was also written by a protagonist of the Beat Generation, Ken
Kesey (1963). This novel appeared shortly after Erving Goffmans
(1961) Asylums, another important critical text of that period, and
both texts can be interpreted as complementary rather than comparable early 1960s manifestos against the public mental hospital
(Staub, 2011, p. 69). Differences and similarities between the postwar era and our time will have to be discussed when interpreting
Jack Kerouacs concept of madness.
Fiction can simulate social experiences by the mechanisms of
abstraction, simplification, and compression (Mar and Oatley, 2008)
and deliver different types of knowledge as propositional knowledge
(knowledge that such and such is the case), phenomenal knowledge
(knowledge of what an experience is like, or how an emotion or
mood feels), and operational knowledge (knowledge how to do
something, where the doing in question may include not only bodily
actions, but those involving use of the imagination) (according to
the thesis of Literary Cognitivism by Green, 2010; all quotes taken
from p. 4). Thus, turning toward a novel of a certain time and society
to address sociological and psychiatric questions is a valid methodological approach. Novelist Shashi Deshpande (2012), in an article
for the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, takes it one step further by
pointing out that the novelist catches the truth not by giving the
reader a mirror image of society [but by creating] a picture that goes
behind the faade, beneath the surface.
The link between literature, psychiatry, and madness is manifold and works in several directions. As German philosopher Matthias
Bormuth points out, besides its biological aspect, psychiatry has
also to be seen as a cultural science taking a hermeneutical approach
(Bormuth, 2010). In fact, psychiatrists have repeatedly suggested turning toward fiction to further our understanding of the human condition
(Beveridge, 2003; Goldberg, 2001). Psychiatry itself is embraced as an
interesting subject by novelists around the world (Cole, 2011; Duiker,
2001; Kesey, 1963; Kita, 1984, to name a few), and madness as a
concept of standing outside the conventions of society has been an
inspiration not solely for authors of the Beat Generation, as can be
seen in the following quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald on the term generation: It is distinguished by a set of ideas inherited in modified
form from the madmen and outlaws of the generation before [].
(quoted from: Charters, 1992, p. xvi).
To our best knowledge, the concept of madness in Jack
Kerouacs highly influential novel On the Road has not been analyzed previously. On the Road appeared at a time of great political,
cultural, and psychiatric upheaval that shows parallels to our time,
as will be discussed later. We propose that turning toward this classic
of American postwar literature can enlighten our understanding of
alternative perceptions of mental illness, thereby adding to biological,
psychological, and sociological models an additional, affirmative
approach toward phenomena of mental illness, which adds weight
to concepts of recovery and positive psychiatry. At the same time,
the glorification of madness seen in the novel will have to be discussed with regard to the pitfalls of such an approach to persons with
mental illness. The specific aims of this study were (i) to establish
a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth
2
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Edition (DSM-5) diagnosis of Neal Cassady, one of the main characters, as depicted in the novel; (ii) to analyze other characters reactions to the madness displayed by Neal Cassady and others; (iii)
to quantify the usage of the word madness and semantically related words in the novel; (iv) to find descriptions of other characters
in the novel showing signs of mental illness or belonging to
minority groups.
METHODS
The version of On the Road that was used for this research is
the so-called Original Scroll, a publication of the first complete draft
written by Jack Kerouac in 1951 that is without the editing work that
went into the 1957 publication (Kerouac, 2008; Kupetz, 2008). For
further insight regarding the characters of the Beat Generation, especially Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, Ann Charters biography of
Kerouac was taken as a reference (Charters, 1994). A short summary
of the plot of On the Road and the names that were used for the 2 main
protagonists in the 1957 version are given (Appendix 1).
The text is approached with quantifying and narrative methods
(Taylor and Francis, 2013). Overall, an inductive and hermeneutical approach to the text was chosen, meaning that all passages
containing the depiction of psychiatric symptoms, the reaction to
these symptoms, and passages generally related to the concept of
madness were extracted without preemptive assumptions. In a
second step, an interpretation of the text in the light of psychiatric diagnoses, stigmatization, and glorification of persons with
mental illness and persons belonging to other minority groups
was undertaken.
Conditions depicted in the text that can be interpreted as mental
illnesses are summarized. The hypothesis that mental states that
modern psychiatry would consider manic episodes are described in
the person of Neal Cassady was tested by matching passages from
the novel to the corresponding DSM-5 criteria (APA, 2013) for
manic episodes. Descriptions of episodes of mental illness and other
conditions of characters in the novel that suggest minority group status are summarized.
Examples of stigmatization and of glorification are given, and
the importance of the concept of mental illness in the text is shown
by a count of words from the semantic field of mental illness.
RESULTS
The main character of the novel apart from the first person narrator Jack Kerouac is Neal Cassady, who initiates Jack
Kerouacs travels:
[A]nd then Neal got on the bus that said
Chicago on it and roared off into the night.
I promised myself to go the same way when
Spring really bloomed and opened up the land.
There went our wrangler. And this was really
the way that my whole road experience began
and the things that were to come are too fantastic not to tell. (p. 114)
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The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Volume 00, Number 00, Month 2016
TABLE 1. Passages From the Text That Could Indicate Neal Cassadys Manic Episodes According to DSM-5 Criteria (APA, 2013)
A. A distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive,
Fury spat out of his eyes when he told me of things he hated; great glows
or irritable mood, lasting at least 1 wk (or any duration if hospitalization
of joy replaced this when he suddenly got happy; every muscle twitched
is necessary).
to live and go. p. 216
Neal was all beside himself with happiness [] he was overjoyed and
exuberant. p. 239
B. During the period of mood disturbance, 3 (or more) of the following
symptoms have persisted (4 if the mood is only irritable) and have been
present to a significant degree:
inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
Neal: [] you know that Im capable of doing everything at the same
time and I have unlimited energy [] p. 236
decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 h of sleep)
And still Neal drove, he had no thought of sleeping till we got to
Chicago. p. 332
We had come from Denver to Chicago, 1028 miles according to the
Rand-McNally mileage chart, in exactly 23 hours counting the two hours
we wasted in the Colorado ditch and at the Ed Uhl ranch eating, and the
hour with the police in Iowa, for a mean total of 20 averaging 51 across
the land with one driver, and 59 counting the extra 150 miles out of the
way for Sterlin. (or 1178 mis. in all). p. 335
more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
Neal: Now darling here we are in Ny and although I havent quite told
you everything that I was thinking about when we crossed the Missouri
and especially at the point when we passed the Booneville reformatory
which reminded me of my jail problem it is absolutely necessary now to
postpone all those leftover things concerning our personal lovethings and
at once begin thinking of specific worklife plans pp. 10910
Neal: [] yass, yass. Well Jack old man whats the story, when do we
take off for Mexico? Tomorrow afternoon? Fine, fine. Ahem! And now
Jack I have exactly sixteen minutes to make it to Al Hinkles house where
I am about to recover my old railroad watch which I can pawn on Larimer
street before closing time, meanwhile buzzing very quickly and as
thoroly as time allows to see if my old man by any chance may be in
Jiggs buffet or some of the other bars and then I have an appointment with
the barber Brierly always told me to patronize and I have not myself
changed over the years and continue with that policykaff! kaff!At
six olclock SHARP! sharp har me? I want you to be right here where Ill
come buzzing by to get you for one quick run to Bill Tomsons house, play
Gillespie and assorted bop records, an hour of relaxation prior to any kind
of further evening you and Ed and Frank and Bev may have planned for
tonight irrespective of my arrival which incidentally was exactly forty-five minutes
ago in my old 37 Ford which you see parked out there I made it together
with a long pause in Kansas City seeing my stepbrother not Jack Daly but
the younger one p. 362
flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
see above; also:
Ahahyou must listen to hear. We listened. But he forgot what he
wanted to say. Really listenahem look dear Jack sweet Joan
Ive come Im gone but wait Ah yes. [] But you see no
need to talk any more and further. pp. 4056
distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant He [Neal] stumbled around in a circle and looked everywhere. What
external stimuli)
do my eyeballs see? Ahthe blue sky. Long-fellow! He swayed and
blinked. He rubbed his eyes. Together with windowshave you ever
dug windows? Now lets talk about windows. I have seen some really
crazy windows that made faces at me and some had shades drawn and so
they winked. Out of his seabag he fished out a copy of Eugene Sues
Paris and adjusting the front of his T-shirt began reading on the
streetcorner with a pedantic air. Now really Jack lets dig everything as
we go along He forgot about that in an instant and looked around
blankly. p. 287
(Continued on next page)
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TABLE 1. (Continued)
increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school,
of sexually) or psychomotor agitation
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The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Volume 00, Number 00, Month 2016
101
2
3
2
19
12
1
} 140
Crazy
Crazier
Craziest
51
2
2
} 55
Maniac(s)
Maniacal(ly)
10
11
} 21
3
1
}4
Insane
Insanity
DISCUSSION
TABLE 3. Passages From the Text That Mention Characters Who Are Bodily or Mentally Challenged or Have Mental Disorders
Neal sat the idiot girl with him up front and dug her, as he said All the way man! such a gone sweet little soul. Oh we talked, we talked, we talked
of fires and the desert turning to a paradise and her parrot that swore in Spanish. p. 214
Ed Stringham is a sad handsome fellow, sweet, generous and amenable; only once in a while he suddenly has fits of depression and rushes off
without saying a word to anyone. This night he was overjoyed. p. 226
Bill himself only got $50 a week from his own family, which wasnt too bad except that he spent almost that much per week on a drug habit
morphine; and his wife was also expensive, gobbling up about ten dollars worth a week of benny tubes. Their foodbill was the lowest in the
country; they never ate; the children never ate either. p. 244
[Bill Burroughs:] Say, did I ever tell you about Kells father. He was the funniest old man you ever saw in your life. He had paresis which eats
away the forepart of your brain and you get sos youre not responsible for anything that comes into your mind. [] p. 251
The kid had no money; he was about seventeen, pale, strange, with one undeveloped crippled hand and no suitcase. Aint he sweet, said Neal
turning to me with serious awe. Come on in fella, well take you out p. 264
Everything was collapsing, and to make things inconceivably more frantic there was an ecstatic spastic fellow in the bar who threw his arms around
Neal and moaned in his face and Neal went mad again with sweats and insanity []. Neal came in the bar and rocked back and forth with the
poor spastic kid []. Oh man, this guy is the greatest in the world! yelled Neal. [] (the spastic saint) [] And Alberta thin dark-haired
holy-eyed moaning foaming lost soulleaned on Neal and groaned and groaned for he was sick suddenly and for some odd intuitive reason he
became terrified of Neal and threw up his hands and drew away with terror writhing in his face. pp. 319320
The crippled kid was some kind of malformed midget with a great big beautiful face much too large in which enormous brown eyes moistly
gleamed. [] We watched as the angelic young midget aimed for a bankshot. p. 374
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Wigand et al.
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Limitations
The authors of this article are aware that they are dealing with
a novel, implying that they have no intention of looking at the
historic figures of Neal Cassady and other protagonists of the
Beat Generation in an attempt of retrospective pathologization
(or pathobiography). The focus here is on the text of the novel
as it is the very text that has turn[ed] on an entire generation
(Charters, 1994, p. 276). Because of its enduring influence, the novel
has the potential to change the readers perspective on madness or
mental illness. Clearly, a psychiatric interpretation of Neal Cassady
as depicted in On the Road is one of many possible ways of looking
at this character, and completely different approaches have been
made by literary scholars: Sal wises up probably long after the
reader, who sees in Dean Moriarty another figuration of American
male desire prolonged too far past adolescence, another one of those
enthusiastic blockheads like Tom Sawyer, Amaso Delano, and Jay
Gatsby, who cannot grow up and force the world to pay for their mistakes (Barbarese, 2004, p. 593). The authors are aware of the influence that their own points of view as male Western (European)
psychiatrists of the early 21st century must have on their interpretation of the text.
CONCLUSIONS
A critical reading of On the Road can show us some positive aspects alongside the pitfalls in dealing with mental illness. A possible
goal might be that society could strive toward an attitude that sees the
positive aspects of mental illness alongside its deficits without glorifying mental illness or romanticizing the persons afflicted by it. We know
from qualitative research with persons in mental health care settings that
they wish to be heard with respect for their own experiences and illness
models and long to be seen in their individuality and not just in terms of
diagnosis and medication (James et al., 2014). Trivial as it may seem, a
strong focus on a person-centered psychiatry including a range of biological, philosophical, and sociocultural viewpoints (Mezzich, 2007)
and acknowledging individuals views of their illness without failing
to see the risks that come with the illness could be called for. This type
of approach would help counteract stigma in health care settings, selfstigmatization, and discrimination against people with mental health
problems, thereby enhancing recovery. We see some parallels to aspects
of positive psychiatry as proposed by Jeste et al. (2015). These could be
looking for positive psychological traits, promoting optimism, promoting social engagement, and laying a focus on spirituality and wisdom.
Jack Kerouacs On the Road is an American classic from the postwar era still exerting influence today as can be seen in the number
of copies sold annually and in adaptations by other forms of art
(film, popular music). Madness is a central theme in On the Road,
which is underlined by the usage of 220 words from the semantic
field of madness in a text that covers 300 pages (Table 2) and in
the extensive descriptions of manic symptoms that fit modern diagnostic criteria for manic episodes (Table 1).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Hauke F. Wiegand and Lisa
Box for critical reading of the manuscript and helpful advice.
DISCLOSURE
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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