Religion and Faith: The Internal Debate

Throughout much of the Beat literature, religion and religious beliefs has been a subject that the Beats wrestle with on a very individual level. Many of the writers considered as members of this literary movement spend much time contemplating their own personal beliefs using the outlet of their work as a way to begin to reconcile within themselves where their faith lies or if they have any faith in anything at all. This method gives the reader a very candid and open view of their struggle. None reveal this internal fight more openly and honestly than Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. In Ginsberg’s memorial poem Kaddish and in Kerouac’s novel, Dharma Bums, both authors explore their religious beliefs and attempt to come to some reconciliation with their ultimate religious ideals and the reality of life.
Throughout most of their adult lives both Kerouac and Ginsberg wrestle with their own personal tragedies and the moral values they grew up learning. In order to ...