In On the Road, women are seen, portrayed and treated very much as they actually were in the fifties. However, the ones that we do encounter while reading it seem to definitely have their own agendas, and usually a fiery temper. Despite this, almost all mention of them is through the desires of Sal or Dean, or when one of them has a particularly significant encounter with a woman. Mostly though, they are talked about when Kerouac is talking about either sex or marriage.
Women in the 1950s, while not being actively downtrodden by society, were still not held in very high regard as people. While Kerouac does not seem to have any outright prejudices towards them, he is still influenced by his time. This became apparent to me early on, when he says "...the thing to do was to have Marylou make breakfast and sweep the floor." (3) This spoke to me of a view of women more as domestic assets and sexual objects, with the occasional companionship, as opposed to a full partner in your life.
In addition, the female characters aren't really developed as in-depth as the male characters are. They seem kind of one-dimensional, as though they're only there to develop the main (male) characters. Perhaps that was all they were intended for by Kerouac. That actually seems fairly likely to me, since most of the time the women were there to act as either filler or a sort of foil to the male characters, only there to enhance their development.
It suggests, simply, that this novel focuses on its main characters, which is no bad thing. There's nothing wrong at all with using side characters to develop your main character(s). It's just that, in this case, the main characters were all men, and many of the sideline ones were women. Certainly there were male sideline characters, like Eddie, Rickey, or Ponzo, but they were even more minor than the women, which for me placed more emphasis on the women being on the sidelines.
In addition, the female characters aren't really developed as in-depth as the male characters are. They seem kind of one-dimensional, as though they're only there to develop the main (male) characters. Perhaps that was all they were intended for by Kerouac. That actually seems fairly likely to me, since most of the time the women were there to act as either filler or a sort of foil to the male characters, only there to enhance their development.
It suggests, simply, that this novel focuses on its main characters, which is no bad thing. There's nothing wrong at all with using side characters to develop your main character(s). It's just that, in this case, the main characters were all men, and many of the sideline ones were women. Certainly there were male sideline characters, like Eddie, Rickey, or Ponzo, but they were even more minor than the women, which for me placed more emphasis on the women being on the sidelines.
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