A Comparison of John Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Charity and Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums
In 1630, upon the arrival of John Winthrop (a devout Puritan) in Massachusetts, the roots of Puritanism were first planted on American soil. Winthrop and his people came here in hopes of establishing an ideal Puritan society. To sum it up very briefly, as Winthrop came of age, the religious and political situation in did not appeal to a Puritan lifestyle, and as King Charles I came to power intent on an absolute monarchy that was not at all aligned with Puritan beliefs, Winthrop sailed for New
England. He emphasized that the purpose of this trip to the states was to “increase the body of Christ and to preserve themselves and their children from the corruption of this evil world.”
The Puritans came to Massachusetts with the intent on building a theocracy; a community Winthrop deemed a “city set on a hill” (the obvious implications being – a city set above all others). It was on his way to New England, on board the Arabella, that John Winthrop wrote his sermon entitled “A Model of Christian Charity”.
Recognizing that the success of his city upon a hill will lie solely in the hands of the individuals of the community and their dedication to his ideal, Winthrop bestowed a warning, he wrote, “”The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause us to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.”
In comparison, Kerouac’s autobiographical “Dharma Bums” (written in 1957) also depicts a man out to find the ideal. Ray Smith (Kerouac’s alter ego) and Japhy Ryder are out to find the “truth the Zen way”. Ray journeys from place to place in search of the meaning of life, or rather, nirvana. He continues his journey until finally, he is given a dose of what he was looking for and the immensity of the experience is something he’d surely carried with him despite his return to civilization.
It is interesting to note, that one of the main themes of the novel is the constant comparison between the different approaches Ray and Japhy have to spirituality. While Japhy makes his way in a free, no restricted fashion, Ray Smith attempts to follow a strict cut out way. In fact, in his attempts to adhere to no nonsense Buddhism, Smith is somewhat reminiscent of a Puritan of Buddhism, a man intent on achieving his own “city upon a hill”. One of the basic beliefs of Buddhism is that we suffer because we want and Ray’s attempts to let go of that “want” through practicing “love and charity”, are not unlike Winthrop’s attempts to tie “love and charity” into Puritanism which embraced original sin into their philosophy and implicated the cleansing and atoning of that sin an important part of Puritan existence.
Both texts are full of idealism. The draw heavily on their dependence in the good prevailing in human nature (a somewhat odd occurrence considering the Puritan view on sin), they rely on “love and charity” as the basic foundations of an enlightened individual (Kerouac) or an “enlightened” society (Winthrop). For example, Winthrop stated, “First of all, true Christians are of one body in Christ (1 Cor. 12). Ye are the body of Christ and members of their part. All the parts of this body being thus united are made so contiguous in a special relation as they must needs partake of each other’s strength and infirmity; joy and sorrow, weal and woe.
If one member suffers, all suffer with it, if one be in honor, all rejoice with it.” The aforementioned quote (stated as fact by Winthrop), is a small example of how in his notions for a perfect society, Winthrop would have to rely on the best in people being utilized in every situation. Puritanism required an intense commitment to morality and a society that would strictly abide by that morality.
Smith also touched upon ideals when he talked about his vision, “I see a vision of a great rucksack revolution thousands or even millions of young Americans wandering around with rucksacks, going up to mountains to pray, making children laugh and old men glad, making young girls happy and old girls happier, all of ’em Zen Lunatics who go about writing poems that happen to appear in their heads for no reason and also be being kind and also by strange unexpected acts keep giving visions of eternal freedom to everybody and to all living creatures.”
One of the most apparent differences between “A Model of Christian Charity” and “Dharma Bums”, is that while the first preaches about society working on the foundations of love and charity, the latter (in a fashion true to Buddhism) is more preoccupied with achieving self-perfection while leaving society on the backburner. This is not to say that no emphasis in placed on society and its functions in Kerouac’s text, but essentially, Smith’s true purpose is to seek the truth out for himself and not necessarily for his community. In fact, Smith, disillusioned with the state of his community, wrote, “The closer you get to real matter, rock air fire and wood, boy, the more spiritual the world is.
All these people thinking they’re hardheaded materialistic practical types, they don’t know shit about matter, their heads are full of dreamy ideas and notions”. In his rejection of the materialistic values of his society and his disinterest in changing them, we can see that unlike Winthrop, he was never out to create anything other than a piece of true happiness for himself. Kerouac does allude to the changes he would like to see in his society, but it is clear from the word go that he is not out to initiate those changes. The changes he makes are within himself, sometimes inspired by his small circle of friends, sometimes by a sunset he sees and at other times by deep realizations he makes into his own character.
Thought both texts rely heavily on the divine concepts of “love and charity”, the actual interpretations of “love and charity” differ in both texts. While Winthrop’s logic preaching “love and charity” arises out of Christian duty, Smith’s ideas on the subject seemingly derive more of instinct and intuition than logic. In one passage, Kerouac states – “I reminded myself of the line in the Diamond Sutra that says, Practice charity without holding in mind any conceptions about charity, for charity after all is just a word.” Winthrop’s charity is different. It is much more than a word; it is a backbone of his ideal society. It is not presented as a concept but as a fact, it is the charity of obligation, a charity born of thought and practice not emotion and instinct. There is a structured order to Winthrop’s model of love and charity (the text itself is written out in a mathematical approach); there is very little structure to Kerouac’s.
Regardless of the difference in their intent, there is an interesting parallel in Winthrop’s emphasis on “love and charity” to those often observed in a reading of Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums”. Both texts use “love and charity” in their efforts to connote value and quality to their respective purposes. When looked at through a historical context, Kerouac was disillusioned with his world, the material values of a capitalistic society; he clearly saw its lack of true meaning and turned to the Buddhist concepts of love and charity to provide that for him. Winthrop was disillusioned with his world as well.
As I’ve mentioned before, the religious and political situation in his home country prevented him from being able to live out his life in the manner he saw fit, and much like Kerouac / Smith, he had to leave it behind to be able to practice what he thought would be a life of quality and true value. In essence, both men were non conformists, their visions different from what society was permitting and / or accommodating to.
To sum it up, though there’re both texts revolve around the same concept, their interpretations of that concept vary greatly. One is a rigid set of rules created in an effort to form an ideal society; the other is a piece of prose that flows and flows and flows into the divine and manages to capture an experience in time, a love for life so grand, that it would speak of “love and charity” even if never mentioned the actual words.
On a long term scale, neither Winthrop nor Kerouac proved successful in their search for the ideal. Puritanism (despite the influence it left behind) was sufficiently stifled by 18th century and pretty much dead by the dawn of 19th century. As for Kerouac / Smith, despite his encounter with what he was searching for a top Desolation peak, he eventually converted back to Catholicism, battled alcoholism and he died in 1969 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
