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:
“A Man who always acts in the Severity of Wisdom, or the Haughtiness of Quality, seems to move in a personated Part: It looks too Constrained and Theatrical for a Man to be always in that Character which distinguishes him from others.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)
“Sunshine of late afternoon—
On the glass tray
a glass pitcher, the tumbler
turned down, by which
a key is lying—And the
immaculate white bed”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)