Kerouac writes that, “The word ‘beat’ originally meant poor, down and out, deadbeat, on the bum, sad, sleeping in subways. Now that the word is belonging officially it is being made to stretch to include people who do not sleep in subways but have a certain new gesture, or attitude, which I can only describe as the new more” (42). He goes on to say, “…there is no doubt about the Beat Generation, at least the core of it, being a swinging group of new American men intent on joy…” (32).
