1. Introduction 1.1 Research background The Beat Generation is a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. At the beginning of the form of the Beat Generation, there are many young people who are dissatisfied with the reality of the post-war American society, but the McCarthyism and the political pressure left them no way to protest. Therefore, they chose a unusual way to express their anger#8212;#8212;They dressed different, held contempt for traditional ideas, abandoned their studies and work and lived in the bottom of society, and from which formed a unique social circle and philosophy of life. In the 1950s, this group of youth started to manifest their rebellion through literary. Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957) are among the best known examples of these literature work. Allen Ginsberg's Howl become a hit nationwide once it was published. Jack Kerouac's On the Road were become the guidebook of life for many young people these days. The three books are all revolutionary and soon become the representatives of the Beat Literature. Central elements of Beat culture are rejection of standard narrative values, spiritual quest, exploration of American and Eastern religions, rejection of materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration. The members of the Beat Generation developed a reputation as new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity. In the 1960s, elements of the expanding Beat movement were incorporated into the hippie and larger counterculture movements. Allen Ginsberg's work also became an integral element of early 1960s hippie culture. Jack Kerouac, the author of On the Road distinguishes Beats from the Lost Generation of the 1920s pointing out how the Beats are not lost but how they are searching for answers to all of life's questions. Kerouac's preoccupation with writers like Ernest Hemingway shaped his view of the beat generation. He uses a prose style which he adapted from Hemingway and throughout On the Road he alludes to novels like The Sun Also Rises. In many ways, it is a spiritual journey, a quest to find belief, belonging, and meaning in life. Not content with the uniformity promoted by government and consumer culture, the Beats yearned for a deeper, more sensational experience. On the Road is a novel on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across America. The novel#8217;s heroin Sal Paradise, together with his friends Dean Moriarty, Carol Marx, travel across America by hitchhiking or by car. They are living a life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use. On the Road, they start to believe in Oriental Buddhism and try to seek the ultimate meaning of life. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat generations. In the novel there are many key figures in the Beat movement, such as William S. Burroughs (Old Bull Lee), Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx) and Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty) represented by characters in the book, including Kerouac himself as the narrator Sal Paradise. 1.2 Needy for the Study As one of the most important literature work in 20th century America, the research of the novel has a significant meaning in the field of literature. The Beat Literature is one of the most important branches of post-modernism literature. By analyzing the novel correctly, we can have a better understanding of post-modernism literature the American culture. On the Road is a controversial literature work and there are certain misunderstandings towards it. The description of the ”beaten” lifestyles, including alcoholism, sex, obsession for jazz music, vagabondage and criticism of the politic and society, has raised an eyebrow. Some thought the Beat Generation just youth who were not willing to face the reality, all these ”inappropriate” behaviors were just the evidence for it. However, if we analyze the Spiritual predicament of the Beat Generation properly, we can understand their behavior and all this was some kind of manifestation of their rebellion. Underneath the rebellious, there are more to discover. On the Road as the ”Bible” of the Beat Generation, analyzing it is no doubt one of the best way to learning about the Beat Generation and the Beat Literature. Practically speaking, the Beat Generation#8217;s spiritual predicament and their rebellion can also inspire modern youth. Nowadays in China, with the rapid economic development and the unrestful, unstable world political situation, money worshipping become more and more common and populism resurge. Many people held anger towards government, other people and the society. The current Chinese society has some similarity with the 1950s and 1960s American. The youth nowadays may have the same predicament, and this research can provide us with some inspirations about how to deal with it. 2. Literature review 2.1 Previous studies of On the Road On the Road has been widely discussed ever since it was first published by Viking Press in 1957. The book received a mixed reaction from the media at that time. Some of the earlier reviews spoke highly of the book. When the book was originally released, Gilbert Millstein wrote in an article published in The New York Times in 1957 that On the Road is "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principal avatar he is.” (Gilbert Millstein, New York Times Books Review 5 Sept., 1957: 27). In his review for The New York Times, Gilbert Millstein also wrote, "its publication is a historic occasion in so far as the exposure of an authentic work of art is of any great moment in an age in which the attention is fragmented and the sensibilities are blunted by the superlatives of fashion" and praised it as "a major novel.” (Ibid) Not only did he like the themes, but also the style, which would come to be just as hotly contested in the reviews that followed. "There are sections of On the Road in which the writing is of a beauty almost breathtaking...there is some writing on jazz that has never been equaled in American fiction, either for insight, style, or technical virtuosity."(Ibid) However, the backlash to the book and these comments was swift and strong. David Dempsey published a review in 1957 that contradicted most of what Millstein had promoted in the book. "As a portrait of a disjointed segment of society acting out of its own neurotic necessity, On the Road, is a stunning achievement. But it is a road, as far as the characters are concerned, that leads to nowhere." (David Dempsey, The New York Times 8 Sept., 1957). While he did not discount the stylistic nature of the text (saying that it was written "with great relish"), he dismissed the content as a "passionate lark" rather than a novel." (Ibid). Although this was discouraging to Kerouac, he still received great recognition and notoriety from the work. Since its publication, critical attention has focused on issues of both the context and the style, addressing the actions of the characters as well as the nature of Kerouac's prose. Other reviewers were also less than impressed. Phoebe Lou Adams in Atlantic Monthly wrote that it "disappoints because it constantly promises a revelation or a conclusion of real importance and general applicability, and cannot deliver any such conclusion because Dean is more convincing as an eccentric than as a representative of any segment of humanity.” (Phoebe Lou Adams, Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 1957). While she liked the writing and found a good theme, her concern was repetition. "Everything Mr. Kerouac has to say about Dean has been told in the first third of the book, and what comes later is a series of variations on the same theme." (Ibid). Despite all these negative comments, the historic status of this book is undoubtable. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked On the Road 55th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. Ann Charters wrote that ”Just as, more than any other novel of the Twenties, The Sun Also Rises came to be regarded as the testament of the Lost Generation, so it seems certain that On the Road will come to be known as that of the Beat Generation.” 2.2 Previous studies on the rebellion and spiritual predicament in On the Road 2.2.1 Rebellion The thematic studies is a focus of the researches on this book. The novel is of multiple themes: rebellion, religious, confession, self-redemption and etc. Among those themes many authors concerned on ”rebellion”. Such as Xiao Minhan#8217;s Rebel and Exploration of the Beat Generation appears in Foreign Literature Review. It took Jake Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg as research projects, based on the political and social environment at that time, pointed out the significance of the movement lies on the rebellion to the main stream ideology that repress humanity. While Lu Yalin#8217;s Rebellion and Compromise: The Thematic Study of On the Road in Contemporary Foreign Literature believes that Dean Moriarty, one of characters in the book, his actions formed a most thorough and subversive rebellion towards middle class values. Li Honglin#8217;s Rebellion? Pursuit?#8212;#8212;Analysis of the Indeterminacy in On the Road uses one of the chief characteristics in post-modernism, indeterminacy, as a research method to analyze the mix themes(rebellion and pursuit) in the book. 2.2.2 Spiritual predicament The studies of the spiritual predicament in On the Road is much less than the theme of rebellion. Xiao Minhan had studied the spiritual quest of the Beat Generation and the significance of On the Road. Some theses are focus on the culture identity dilemma of the Beat Generation. Wang Haiyan discovered the Beat Generation#8217;s predicament in the cultural identity. Li Yan had written articles about the spiritual dilemma of the Beat Generation in On the Road. Her research lay emphasis on the social background in the post-war period and has analyzed why the spiritual dilemma of the Beat Generation appeared and how it eventually ended. 2.3 Deficiency in previous study Currently, there are many theses on the rebellion theme of On the Road. Xiao Minhan has discovered the Beat Generation#8217;s rebellion with their exploration in his thesis Rebel and Exploration of the Beat Generation; Hu Yawen has discussed the roots of the Beat Generation#8217;s rebellion in both thematic way and writing style. Xiao Na#8217;s thesis compare the rebellion of the Beat Generation and the Lost Generation. From these previous studies, we can see that the researches on the rebellion theme is rather completed. In the meanwhile, there are some researches on the predicament of the Beat Generation in On the Road, but the number and the scale of these researches is way less than the studies of rebellion. And no scholar has ever do the study which combined the spiritual predicament with rebellion. In my opinions, the discovering of the spiritual predicament in On the Road is equally important. Relating the spiritual predicament with one significant theme of the book, rebellion, and try to analyze the rebellion theme in the spiritual predicament, is a brand new angel for us to understand the book On the Road and the Beat Generation. Works Cited Adams, Phoebe Lou. ”Reviwe of On the Road by Jack Kerouac”. Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 1957. ”Beat Generation”(n.d). 14 February 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation Charters, Ann. Introduction to On the Road. New York: Penguin Classics. 2003. Dempsey, David. "In Pursuit of 'Kicks'". The New York Times. 8 Sept. 1957. Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: Penguin Books. 1976. Li Honglin. [李红玲]，”Rebellion? Pursuit? #8212;#8212; Analysis of the Indeterminacy in On the Road." 文学界:理论版 9(2012):172-173. Li Yan. [李岩], 试析”垮掉一代”的精神困境#8212;#8212;以《在路上》为例. 沈阳师范大学学报(社会科学版) 36.2(2012):89-92. Lu Yalin. [卢亚林], 反叛与妥协:《在路上》主题研究[Rebellion and Compromise: the Thematic Study of On the Road in Contemporary Foreign Literature]. 当代外国文学 2(2004):129-133. Miles, Barry. Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats. London: Virgin Publishing Ltd. 1998 Millstein, Gilbert. "Books of the Times" Rev. of On the Road by Jack Kerouac. New York Times Books Review. 5 Sept. 1957: 27. Rahn, Josh. ”The Beat Generation”, (n.d). Wang Haiyan. [王海燕], 从《在路上》看”垮掉派”的文化身份困境. 当代外国文学 1(2008):146-151. Wen Chu#8217;an. [文楚安]，垮掉的一代及其他，四川：四川大学出版社，2002 Wen Chu#8217;an. [文楚安], 垮掉的一代”、凯鲁亚克和《在路上》. 当代文坛 3(2000):57-59. Xiao Minhan. [肖明翰], 垮掉的一代的反叛与探索[Rebel and Exploration of the Beat Generation]. 外国文学评论 2(2000):25-32. Xiao Minhan. [肖明翰], 垮掉一代的精神探索与《在路上》的意义. 四川师范大学学报(社会科学版) 37.1(2010):64-69.