Tripmaster Monkey

The passage I am examining comes from chapter 9, "One-Man Show" on page 308. The performance of Wittman's play has just ended and he is now addressing the audience alone on stage. Wittman reads some reviews of the show that call it 'exotic' and 'east meets west'. Wittman takes offense to the reviews saying, "There is no East here. West is meeting West. This was all West" (Kingston, 308). Wittman is likening his own identity to that of the play, and knows that people see him just as they see his play, East meeting West. We know, however, that Wittman, like his play, is all West. He was born, raised and educated in the West.

Wittman cannot escape the perception people have of him. Througout the novel, Wittman wrestles with his identity, as it is brought up in different situations. Early in the novel Wittman is at an event for Mattel, in which he thinks to himself, "Wherever I go, I do the integrating." (Kingston, 57). Later in the novel, Wittman is thinking about a Kerouac poem and realizes, "Shit. The 'twinkling little Chinese' must be none other than himself" (Kingston, 69). In both instances, Wittman is alienated. He is alone at the party and in the eyes of a writer he respects, he is merely a "twinling little Chinese". The passage on 308 is the culmination of Wittman's frustration with the way he is perceived as East, or different and exotic.

Final Project Questions

1. Bob Kaufman, he is a lesser explored beat poet. I am just interested in his poetry.

2. Can be identified as a beat writer along with Kerouac and Ginsberg. Howl, Dharma Bums, Ferlinghetti's poems and Tripmaster Monkey are all relevant to Kaufman's writing.

3. Kaufman's "Solitudes Crowded With Loneliness". Maybe more to come.

4. Something to the effect showing that Kaufman is the quintessential beat, or the embodiment of the idea of "beat".

5. Kaufman is definitely studied to a lesser extent than his beat peers. I do not know how much information I can gather about him at this point.

The Dharma Bums

My understanding of who a Dharma Bum is comes from a handful of ideas presented throughout the novel. One passage in which Japhy say's, "Dharma Bums refusing to subscribe to the general demand that they consume production" (Kerouac, 97), portrays a Dharma Bum as an individual who doesn't conform to mainstream consumerism, someone who is not tied down by material things like TV sets or fancy cars. Without looking any further than the title of Dharma Bum, it is understood that Buddhism and its teachings play a role in the philosophy of a Dharma Bum. The idea of freedom also plays an important role in the definition of a Dharma Bum. Ray Smith muses , "Better to sleep in an uncomfortable bed free, than sleep in a comfortable bed unfree" (Kerouac, 123). Dharma Bums seek to be free beyond the traditional idea of freedom. A traditional American lifestyle where people are "supervised" as they, "sit with a hundred other patients in front of a nice television set" (Kerouac, 121) is not fit for a Dharma Bum.
At the end of the novel a clear picture of Smith's view of society is presented. As his time on Desolation ends he laments, "Now comes the sadness of coming back to the cities...all upsidedown in the void" (Kerouac, 244). Nature is glorified and civilization is looked down upon as inferior. This is similar to Snyder and Brautigan's writing, where nature is seen as a haven in this world of industrialization. The mood of the novel changes as the location changes. When Japhy and Ray are backpacking, the general feeling is positive and the characters are in good moods. When the setting changes back to the city, there is a yearning to go back out into nature, and the characters are not as happy.

Question: Throughout the novel, religion is brought up in many ways. Can nature be looked at as a religion of its own in the novel?