Looking For America
At one point in Easy Riders, there is "a series of gorgeous desert evening shots...with the hitchhiker on Wyatt's bike pointing to the landscape and describing it. Though we never hear his words, we can presume he is helping Wyatt to rediscover America's beauty" (Laderman 71).
I think that in Easy Rider, America is defined by the people and society. Nature, and the actual earth that makes up America represents the "outside" of the culture. Wyatt and Billy find their freedom and their America in the land itself. They mostly only find hatred and misunderstanding with other people. The only thing that really accepts them is the land and those living strictly off of the land (hippie commune). When the man in the hotel closes his doors on the two pals, they stay outside.
However, as the movie rolls along, nature and society begin to mix. Their friend George is killed when some city men come into their camp and bludgeon them with bats. It is at that point when things begin to go really downhill for Billy and Wyatt. They have a horrible trip on acid with their prostitute buddies and then get shot when they are on the road. America for them is the open road and nature, but when society and nature collide, is when the problems show up. George warns them that “[Society] is scared of what you represent to them.” He goes on to say that “talking about [freedom] and being in it are two different things.” I think that that was what was confusing Wyatt and Billy. They were looking for freedom and found it in nature and on the road, but then they didn't know when to just stay put. They didn't know how to fit into society. They never knew what their place was, so they kept moving and kept going until they were forced to stop.