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Why did readers often confuse Jack Kerouac with Sal Paradise?

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Portrait of Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet, looking over his shoulder in a collared shirt, circa 1965. — Jack Kerouac American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac, c. 1965.

Readers often confused Jack Kerouac with Sal Paradise because the novel On the Road is a loosely autobiographical work. Sal Paradise serves as the protagonist and narrator, and he is directly based on Kerouac himself.12

Because the book depicts a countercultural lifestyle characterized by sex, jazz, and a rejection of traditional social norms, the public frequently conflated the author with the amoral, nonconformist persona of his character. This misidentification was reinforced by negative critical reactions, such as those from Norman Podhoretz, who viewed the Beat movement as an assault on decency.31

Kerouac was deeply frustrated by this confusion, as he felt the public focused on the sensationalized behavior of his characters rather than the literary excellence of his writing. He viewed his work as part of the American literary tradition and sought to be recognized as a serious man of letters, rather than being marginalized by the "Beat" label or identified with the perceived amorality of his fictional counterpart.3