The novel seems to be moving fairly quickly now and there is a lot of
new information that develops. When
Bromden talks to McMurphy by accident, he ends up revealing a lot of information
about his past. I think that McMurphy
sparked a memory of his father when he offered him the gum. When he is talking he discusses much about
his childhood and how the Native community he lived in, and how people came to
talk to his father about buying the land.
He also refers to the Combine again, and how his people were treated
poorly, and the ones who wanted to purchase the land were making fun of the
places they lived in, basically stating they weren’t fit to be occupied. Although a valid point was made that their
houses were cooler than the people that lived in “normal houses”, so instead of
judging one culture’s way of life, it should have been embraced for their
intelligence.
I wish I could retract a statement
that I made at the beginning of the study of this novel. I said that I thought that the
Native-American population should be cut off from their government
benefits. I also stated that they didn’t
deserve it and that they needed to get over what had happened in the past. This passage in the novel has definitely
given me a different perspective on the Native-American society. Bromden’s statements about what was going on
in that time really opened my eyes as to how they may have felt during that
time, as well as today. I was selfish,
and didn’t really consider how people may have had their entire lives turned
upside down, all because of the “white man’s” wish to expand to aid their
population growth, completely disregarding another culture’s way of life. I didn’t even think that Native-Americans
have constantly had to change how they have been living for many, many years,
and the impact that it has had on them.
I am glad that the government still
does support the Native-Americans such as giving them benefits, as well as
respecting their hunting permits, and giving them their Native Status card to
further make their lives a bit easier. I
think that it’s great that they still try and protect their culture, although
there has already been an enormous change compared to how everything used to
be. The only thing that I disagree with
is when people abuse these benefits that are given to them. I think that if they are used in the ways
that they are intended that it is a wonderful thing. I disagree when people take
advantage of the fact that extra bonuses are given to them to help them. It does slightly anger me when people who
aren’t Native-American may have to work extra hard to get where they want to
be, without extra assistance ever even being an option for them. Other than that I hope in the years to come,
that the Native civilization continues to be preserved, and does not become a
memory of what it used to be.
