Beat Movement Spontaneous Prose

Question 3 • ELA 11B-CR

Which line from “The Railroad Earth” best illustrates Jack Kerouac’s nonstandard or invented words?

Answer

But it was that beautiful cut of clouds I could always see above the little S.P. alley, puffs floating by from Oakland or the Gate of Marin to the north or San Jose south

or some of them I can now as I leave hear beginning to disfawdle to wake in their rooms and with their moans and yorks and scrapings

I'm going down the steps to work, glance to check time of watch with clerk cage clock.

And the Bible on my desk next to the peanut butter, the lettuce, the raisin bread, the crack in the plaster, the stiff-with-old dust lace drape now no longer laceable

Explanation

Choice B uses unusual or invented-sounding words, including “disfawdle,” “yorks,” and “scrapings.” These words stand out as Kerouac’s nonstandard word choices. The other lines use mostly familiar vocabulary, even when their descriptions are vivid.

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