Parallels between On the Road and Easy Rider Published more than a decade apart, Kerouac's On the Road and Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider are full of parallels. Both depict characters whose beliefs are not entirely uniform with those of society; in both cases these characters set out in search of "kicks" but along the way become part of something bigger. More importantly, these two texts each comment insightfully on the culture of their respective times. But all these similarities become superficial when compared to the intrinsic differences between the two. In pre-Beat Generation America, anyone who looked could find an entire society of people who, for the most part, were afraid to do the things they dreamed of, unable to break out of conformity. Kerouac saw all this around him and with On the Road he responds. It presents the story of those who escape conformity successfully and without significant negative consequences. Clearly, his audience is made up of members of society who are content with conventional social norms, who are too squeamish to do what they want. He argues that they should assert their own personal identity rather than be bound by an imposed social identity, that they should follow their own desires rather than succumb to those of society. This topic comes in multiple forms; Dean's criticisms are one of them. At one point he shouts, “the moment the time comes to act, this paralysis, fear, hysteria, nothing scares them more than what they want” (Kerouac 215). He also complains, “give them what they secretly desire and they will naturally immediately panic” (Kerouac 209). These statements are part of Kerouac's argument in his criticism of society's fearful attitude towards wish fulfillment. Sal reiterates the thesis of ignoring social identity when he accuses a girl he meets of a "vacuum... that goes back generations and generations in her blood from not having done what she asked herself to do. . 'What do you want from life? ' I wanted to grab her and rip it away from her” (Kerouac 243). But Kerouac's strongest argument of all for individual freedom seems to come from example. In On the Road, Sal and Dean go on an extraordinary adventure together. Sure, they get stopped a couple of times, but no real harm comes to them from any of their wild escapades. Apparently they are untouchable.