Character Key
Kerouac often based his fictional characters on friends and family.
"Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same personae names in each work." —Jack Kerouac| Real-life person | Character name |
|---|---|
| Jack Kerouac | Ray Smith |
| Gary Snyder | Japhy Ryder |
| Allen Ginsberg | Alvah Goldbook |
| Neal Cassady | Cody Pomeray |
| Philip Whalen | Warren Coughlin |
| Locke McCorkle | Sean Monahan |
| John Montgomery | Henry Morley |
| Philip Lamantia | Francis DaPavia |
| Michael McClure | Ike O'Shay |
| Peter Orlovsky | George |
| Kenneth Rexroth | Rheinhold Cacoethes |
| Alan Watts | Arthur Whane |
| Caroline Kerouac | Nin |
| Carolyn Cassady | Evelyn |
| Claude Dalenberg | Bud Diefendorf |
| Natalie Jackson | Rosie Buchanan |
Read more about this topic: The Dharma Bums
Famous quotes containing the words character and/or key:
“An actor rides in a bus or railroad train; he sees a movement and applies it to a new role. A woman in agony of spirit might turn her head just so; a man in deep humiliation probably would wring his hands in such a way. From straws like these, drawn from completely different sources, the fabric of a character may be built. The whole garment in which the actor hides himself is made of small externals of observation fitted to his conception of a role.”
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)
“The key to the age may be this, or that, or the other, as the young orators describe; the key to all ages is—Imbecility: imbecility in the vast majority of men, at all times, and even in heroes, in all but certain eminent moments: victims of gravity, customs and fear. This gives force to the strong,—that the multitude have no habit of self-reliance or original action.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)