by Hannah Berger

In a country of immigrants, the feeling of not belonging and the search for roots permeates the culture and manifests itself in correlatives imbedded within art. The American spirit was a condition glorified by Whitman, critiqued by the Beats and is now embraced by the folk artist Noah Kahan. Hailing from New England, Noah Kahan is a Grammy nominee pop-folk artist who has garnered a significant following in the music industry in the USA. Kahan grapples with the irreconcilable condition of the American citizen, infusing into his lyrics the American spirit. Through the incorporation of T.S. Eliot’s theory of an objective correlative, one can trace and analyze the similarities and differences Kahan and Kerouac pose within their artistry and ultimately establish Kahan as a neo-Kerouac, bringing to his music themes embedded within Kerouac’s On the Road, all the while addressing the current culture’s need.

Art speaks to emotions confined within every individual. It transcends beyond the temporal aspects of nature, spanning across history, cultures and people. In his essay “Social Function of Poetry,” T. S. Eliot speaks to this condition and addresses the necessity for poetry to maintain two functions, containing both finite and infinite aspects.¹ These very aspects preserve the artistic element beyond the current culture. It causes the themes to resonate despite the period or culture in which the art was created. Eliot explains this concept further in his essay “On Tradition and Individual Talent,” expressing that this is achieved by the poet through a melding of many expressions and sentiments into one emotion.² The poet or the artist captures a myriad of such expressions and emotions within one frame or image to frame the human experience. This is referred to in his essay “Hamlet and His Problems” as an objective correlative: “The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an ‘objective correlative’; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked.”³ An objective correlative captures the emotion or sentiment the artist is attempting to convey in a singular depiction and then when beheld by viewers arouses within them the emotion or experience the artist intended. This pervades most art and through the objective correlative, the expression of American condition can be traced through Kerouac’s “On the Road” and Kahan’s songs, “View Between Villages,” “Forever,” and “Paul Revere.” Each with its unique correlatives, both works share a key aim to convey the predicament faced by the individuals in the United States of America.

Kerouac’s “On the Road” portrays the irreconcilable condition of the American immigrant, that is, the search for roots in a country formed from a myriad of cultures. As a relatively young country and often described as a “melting pot,” it lacks a unified sense of heritage. Without a shared heritage or culture, the American identity is formed predominantly upon the basis of the need to find belonging, leaving one’s homeland due to persecution or lacking circumstances in search of a promised land. This concept became prominent in the American culture and was coined as the Manifest Destiny which referenced the destined role of Americans to expand westwards. The image of the West as a promised land began with the search for gold in the 19^th century and continued beyond, no longer with the promise of actual gold but with the promise of opportunity and, more prominently, escape. Kerouac addresses this aspect and incorporates the search for belonging and the disillusionment the process may result in via the correlatives of his character Dean and the presentation of the great West.

The character Dean can be read as a correlative to the American condition of the search for freedom and escapism. Kerouac’s main character, Sal is portrayed at the beginning of the book as being trapped at the East Coast after splitting with his wife, longing to travel West and join Dean there.⁴ Kerouac associates Dean with the spirit of the “road,” wild and free. This is first portrayed in Sal’s association of the two: “With the coming of Dean Moriarty began the part of my life you could call my life on the road. Before that I’d often dreamed of going West to see the country, always vaguely planning and never taking off.”⁵ Dean provides the manifestation of Sal’s desire for belonging and meaning and the means to achieve it. Kerouac accomplishes this through the correlative of the road acting as the means of escape, which also informs Sal’s association of Dean as a free spirit. Throughout the novel, when Sal leaves his home and travels, it is either to meet Dean or with Dean, and it is through this very fact that Kerouac establishes the sense of freedom and belonging that Sal is seeking with (or alongside) him.

Kerouac furthers the correlation of the West with a sense of freedom through Sal’s relationship and perception of the vast nature therein. Through his narration, Sal ascribes a spirituality to the nature which is connected to his time on the road: “What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? — it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”⁶ Throughout the novel, Sal experiences the dichotomy of a freedom derived from a life separated from conventional ways. This sensation is heightened through his imagery of the open West which seems to embrace Sal as he enters into its arms.

This freedom does not come without a cost and Sal eventually realizes the emptiness in a lifestyle lacking any form of roots. This is first foreshadowed within the novel during Sal’s first venture West:

In this moment, Sal experiences a sensation which follows him throughout the rest of the novel. Kerouac narrates the paradox of searching for belonging on an open road. Sal’s search is one for his roots, for a sense of shared heritage; however, he also longs to be freed from the need to belong somewhere which is what compels him within Dean. Sal is disillusioned by the cultural construct of marriage and tradition and hereafter, encounters the character of Dean, who disregards any and every cultural norm. Drawn to this careless behavior, Sal associates it with what is seemingly unknown to him and what his very being craves – freedom.

Sal wrestles with this dichotomy throughout the novel and realizes that both freedom and a normalized culture lack the inherent sense of belonging he so fervently longs for. This disillusionment culminates within Dean’s character. Sal finds a partner and seemingly begins to settle down yet agrees to meet with Dean and travel again. The novel ends with Sal grasping the character of Dean and the nature of an aimless wandering, as a feeble grasp for freedom from one’s nature. Sal comprehends the futility in attempting to attain a sensation which is inherently unattainable: “Nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty.”⁸ He realizes his contradictory desires must result in an acceptance of the confines of society. The character of Dean and the allure therein turns to nothing but a vapor, a ghost of the past, of hopes and dreams which will never come to pass. Sal realizes that true freedom is found from the realization of the naivety within the thirst for escape. Escapism or the allure of the West, though captivating in theory, proves as cornering as the constructs of an urbanized culture.

Kahan emulates this same dichotomy of drives in his lyrics, applying similar as well as differing correlatives. Kahan addresses the desire for escape not with the correlative of the allure of the West but the cornering sensation often derived from life in a small town. In “Paul Revere,” Kahan speaks to the longing to flee the confining nature of a small town. He incorporates the temporal aspect of art, speaking to the effect of gentrification: “This place had a heartbeat in its day / Vail bought the mountains and nothin’ was the same.”⁹ Kahan uses the correlative of past nostalgia of teenage drinking to express the disillusionment with his current environment, critiquing the same lifestyle Kerouac did, a life of senseless debauchery, filled with emptiness and longing for the unattainable construct of freedom:

With these lines Kahan touches upon the nature of the concept of fleeing West, similarly to Kerouac, and the lifestyle of drinking oneself in an attempt to numb the pervading sense of alienation. However, whereas Kerouac considers it through narrating the progression of the lifestyle, Kahan speaks to this sensation in hindsight, as a form of recollection.

 Within this song, Kahan turns to the imagery of the historical figure, Paul Revere to connote a figure of freedom. This figure differs from Kerouac’s character of Dean in that Revere embodies an epitome of freedom, not through hedonism, but by fighting for what one has. Rather than fleeing in the name of freedom, he fights for it. This sensation is reinforced in Kahan’s song through the imagery of him reminiscing on the qualities which form his roots within his small town. While Sal has rejected his roots which pushed him into his search for freedom, Kahan, amidst his desire to escape, reflects on the roots which tie him and hold him to his home. In acknowledging his roots, Kahan comes to terms with his inability to ever free himself from his past: “And the world makes sense behind a chain-link fence / If I could leave, I would’ve already left.”¹¹ Kahan recognizes the futility in fleeing the very essence forming one’s identity – his memories and past, however suffocating they may feel. He understands the nature of reality and the world through the constructs he longs to be rid of. Unlike Sal, whose reaction was to flee from such constructs, Kahan choses to remain and accept his reality.

Kahan expresses matching sentiments in his song, “The View Between Villages – Extended.” Kahan incorporates similar imagery to Kerouac in depicting the freedom of the open road:

As with Sal, Kahan narrates the simplicity in beholding the open road. He reveals the appeal behind the sensation of merely traveling with no aim, no destination, driving through the endless green, for hours, with no soul in sight:

Kahan, too, momentarily experiences the fulfilment he hungers for. The road holds nostalgia but rather than one he was attempting to flee from in “Paul Revere,” it holds the nostalgia of youth. Kahan connotes the imagery of youth to provide the same correlative of freedom. This freedom once more differs from Kerouac’s in the sense that it provides the correlative of simplicity and hope, rather than a hedonistic freedom as illustrated through the character Dean. Kahan conveys the sense of fulfillment that arises from the simplicity of a naïve perspective.

Kahan narrates the return to the past, something he wishes to rid himself of in “Paul Revere.” This return begets a sense of alienation experienced upon returning to place which appears unchanged as a now seemingly different person. Kahan incorporates the same imagery to connote his roots, which are his dog. However, the imagery found in “Paul Revere” is one of resting place through the image of his grave, whereas in “The View Between Villages,” it conveys the sensation of time and change, indicating the loss of his roots:

Through the depictions of death (his dog) and age  (“the stretch of his skin”), Kahan evokes the correlative of loss – namely, the loss of roots through the imagery of change. Having grown distant from his home through the reality of that change, Kahan experiences a sense of alienation from what was once correlated with belonging:

Kahan evokes the imagery and sensation of change from simplicity to suffocation through his lyrics and his instrumentals. The first half incorporates simple guitar lines, but he builds a crescendo to signal a change of mood, beginning at “Past Alger Brook Road.” This crescendo is used to convey a suffocating sensation, combined with the imagery he presents in his lyrics. Finally, the stillness mentioned in the last line reflects the atmosphere of a small town.

The song then enters a bridge in which there are two voices of elderly small-town dwellers who hail from the small town Kahan himself came from. The second narrator presents a sense of foreshadowing in the song as it is a male voice having grown up in the village. These narrations speak to the sense of belonging Kahan has lost. They ponder on the nature of a small town and the support that is given within such a small community. The inherent quality of such a place is that upon returning there, it is perceived differently as the the limitations imposed by its confined nature become prominent. Kahan uses imagery of youth and the loss of innocence to convey the idea that returning to the village brings forth a similar sense of disillusionment. Having undergone significant personal change and growth, Kahan finds himself unable to reconcile his sense of self with the village, leading to a loss of his connection to his roots. During the narration, the music is at a standstill and the change of perspective is marked by the addition of the electrical guitar, as Kahan amplifies the sense of isolation he experiences within the village. Kahan narrates these memories as ghosts: “I’m driving past ghosts / Their arms are extended, / My eyes start to close.”¹⁶ As with Sal, upon leaving, Kahan reflects on his past as ghosts and realizes in the wake of his departure he can never return to who he once was, and this results in a loss of belonging.

Kahan’s music is imbued with the search for identity. He often conveys this imagery through the correlation of the small-town lifestyle. He melds within this correlative imagery of nostalgia, heartbreak and loss. In his music, Kahan addresses this loss of identity and the nature of humanity, speaking to the themes such as addiction and mental health. Kahan tackles these issues through the imagery of a small town and the necessity of leaving one’s roots – not in rejection of the past, but in an effort to move beyond the binding constraints. He does not fully abandon his “village” or his past there, but seeks to transcend it in an attempt to break free from the cyclical nature of addiction and other vices often associated with such a lifestyle.

Kahan and Kerouac incorporate the longing for change and freedom within their artistry, they deal with the sensation of suffocation from their personal societies and cultures. Considering all the presented parallels and overlaps, Kahan proves to be a product of Kerouac. As Kerouac was a product of his culture, in the rejection of organized religion and the constraints of his time, Kerouac’s motive was to reject such sentiments while also revealing the loss of identity and emptiness within that rejection. Like Kerouac, Kahan incorporates the similar correlatives and American experience of rejecting one’s culture or in his case, small town constraints; however, Kahan reveals the need to confront the past and accept its pervading influence. Kahan acts as a contemporary of Kerouac in his attempt to remedy the present culture’s loss of identity due to the previous generation’s need to deconstruct the very foundation of identity. Kahan continues where Kerouac left off in acting as an advocate for mental health and rebuilding of relationships. Through the analysis of the correlatives which pervade throughout both artists, Kahan can be framed as a neo-Kerouac in his incorporation of similar themes and sentiments as Kerouac, though using them not in an act of deconstruction but rather of reconstruction.

Bibliography:

Clark, Todd Sherman, Noah Kahan. “The View Between Villages – Extended.” Track 21 on Forever. Mercury Records / Republic Records, 2023, Spotify Streaming.

Eliot, T. S. The Sacred Wood. London: Methuen & Co. LTD, 1934.

Eliot, T.S. On Poetry and Poets. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1957.

Eliot, T.S. Collected Poems 1909-1962. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1963.

Kerouac, Jack. On The Road. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1976.

Kahan, Noah. “Paul Revere.” Track 17 on Forever. Mercury Records / Republic Records, 2023, Spotify Streaming.

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Notes:

1. T.S. Eliot, On Poetry and Poets (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1957), 22. ↩︎
2. T.S. Eliot, Selected Essays (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1999), 15. ↩︎
3. T. S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood (London: Methuen & Co. LTD, 1934), 100. ↩︎
4. Jack Kerouac, On The Road (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1976), 1. ↩︎
5. Kerouac, On The Road, 1. ↩︎
6. Kerouac, 156. ↩︎
7. Kerouac, 15. ↩︎
8. Kerouac, 307. ↩︎
9. Noah, Kahan, “Paul Revere,” Track 17 on Forever, (Mercury Records / Republic Records, 2023), Spotify Streaming. ↩︎
10. Kahan, “Paul Revere.” ↩︎
11. Kahan, “Paul Revere.” ↩︎
12. Clark, Todd Sherman, Noah Kahan. “The View Between Villages – Extended.” Track 21 on Forever. Mercury Records / Republic Records, 2023, Spotify Streaming. ↩︎
13. Kahan, “The View.” ↩︎
14. Kahan, “The View.” ↩︎
15. Kahan, “The View.” ↩︎
16. Kahan, “The View.” ↩︎