How did Jack Kerouac’s Roman Catholic upbringing influence his writing?

Jack Kerouac was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family, a background that deeply shaped his early life and perspective. Following the death of his brother Gerard in 1926, Kerouac developed a sense that his brother was guiding him through life, viewing him much like a saint or an angel.1

However, as his career progressed, Kerouac eventually came to view the spirituality of Roman Catholicism as "empty" and insufficient for his needs. In his search for meaning, he turned toward Buddhism, particularly the study of Zen, to find the serenity he could not discover in his religious upbringing or the promise of American life. Ultimately, he sought to synthesize these influences, at one point envisioning his collective body of work as a "Divine Comedy of the Buddha," thereby attempting to bridge Eastern and Western spiritual traditions.23