Beat Religion

Now and again when I talk with students about The Beat on Ruby's Street they ask about Ruby's religion. There aren't any religious references in the book for a lot of reasons, and I think that's pretty common in general for all books.

It is an interesting question, though. Ruby's father Gary Tabeata is Italian, and I always thought of him as a non-practicing Catholic. I think of Ruby's mother Nell (from Sheboygan, Wisconsin) as a non-practicing Protestant person.

Raised in a Beat Generation home, I don't see Ruby or her older brother Ray growing up with any religious affiliation. Does she pray? What about when she's feeling desperate or scared or alone, what does she do then?

I guess she feels desperate, scared and alone. But I don't think she prays, because that isn't something she was brought up to do. The closest she may come is through a Zen-Buddhist type of meditation.

But that brings to mind what I know about Jack Kerouac, the poet many people know as one of the founders of the Beat Generation. Jack grew up in a Catholic home, and there are many sources that say he WAS religious, though not in the get-up-and-go-to-church every week type of way.

As a child, Jack Kerouac was an altar boy and went to Jesuit schools. He stopped going to Mass at the age of 14, but says very clearly in his famous book On the Road that he went out looking for God. He used the word Beat Generation to describe being beaten down by life. Then, during a visit home, he visited the church of his childhood and wrote, "And I suddenly realized, Beat means Beatitude! Beatific!” Later, he wrote, “Because I am Beat, I believe in Beatitude and that God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son to it.”

Kerouac described On the Road as "a story about two Catholic buddies roaming the country in search of God. And we found Him.” He also insisted to his critics that "all I write about is Jesus.”

So, does Ruby believe in God, like her hero, Jack Kerouac?

I don't think she has had much experience believing. Unlike Jack, she is not being raised in a religious home. But she does read, and certainly reads whatever she can by Kerouac. I think as time goes on she will start thinking more about what she sees in Jack's work.

And we'll just have to see what she makes of it.

To learn more about Jack Kerouac's thoughts on religion, check out these articles:

Discovering the Catholic in Jack Kerouac

The Catholicism of Jack Kerouac

The Apocalypse of Jack Kerouac

City Lights Bookstore: Graham C99