Commentary on The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac

Set in the 1950’s, Jack Kerouac’s The Subterraneans is a semi-autobiographical work depicting
Kerouac’s short-lived romance with a Negro girl and his affiliation with a group of artists and writers in
San Francisco called The Subterraneans. In the novella, Kerouac is renamed as the narrator Leo
Percepied and the girl, as Mardou Fox. With Kerouac being recognized as one of the major figures of the
Beat Movement, the work falls under the collection of post-war literature that promoted creativity and
defied convention.

The work being told in a first-person point of view gives the readers an easier access to the
psychology of the narrator or in this case, the author himself. But this didn’t seem to be the case as Leo
is not a very eloquent storyteller. Rather, he digresses from a thought to another so that in the end,
what is conveyed is not one whole narrative but bits and pieces of Leo’s memories and musings arising
from the main plot.

Noticeable throughout the text is Leo’s negative characterization of himself. He repeatedly

describes himself as a nervous, unself-confident, lonely and crudely sexual egomaniac and also admits to
being a drunkard and a drug user. The fact that the author wrote the text thinking of it as a confessional
somewhat implies his categorization of himself as a “sinner”. His remarks show a form of self-
awareness which compels readers to regard his words as objectively true. But at the same time, his acts
of self-deprecation also paint a negative picture of him making his reliability as a narrator rather
questionable.

Quite notably though, he does not seem to be concerned in trying to correct all his perceived
flaws. He is highly sensitive of how others see him but not committed in trying to please them. It can
even be said that he finds a sense of superiority by not complying to what others want from him.1 The
same thing can be understood from his association with the subterraneans, a group of like-minded
individuals described as hip, intelligent and even Christlike. Moreover, even his attraction to Mardou
seems to be a result of finding such fulfillment in defying the norm, since as Leo had stated, “I have to
get involved with this little woman, maybe too because she was Negro.”

Such personality and psychology of the narrator are visibly reflected with the style of writing,
particularly the use of spontaneous prose. Both the narrator and the text can be described as
intentionally flawed—Leo, evidently flawed as a self-confessed troubled character and the text, flawed
in being a narrative that is disorganized, fragmented, and follows no clear direction or proper sentence
structures. Nevertheless, these flaws are intentional as there is a conscious effort to not conform and to
deviate from what is conventional.

1
Saloon messman incident
Chirstlike, angels, saints—elevation of man at par with the divine