English 245
3-07-06
Paper One
Chief Bromden vs. Nasdijj
In the literature that America has produced there have been many portrayals of Native Americans. Sometimes Indians are portrayed as the noble savage, strong “braves” who charged American Soldiers in a last ditch effort to save their land, other times they have been portrayed as addicts and drunks. No matter what Indians are seen as, there is always some kind of tie to the land around them. This portrayal can be seen particularly well, but differently, in two very interesting books: The Blood Runs like a River through My Dreams by Timothy Patrick Barris (a.k.a. Nasdijj) and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.
First of all it must be clarified that for this paper that The Blood Runs… is considered a piece of fiction. Although the book claims to be a memoir, recent investigations discovered the author of this book, who claimed to be an Indian named “Nasdijj”, is actually a white man named Timothy Barris. Although the story isn’t true, I believe it is still an excellently crafted book and deserves to be written about.
Social rejection is a major recurring theme in both novels. Both pressed to the edges of society, these men struggle trying to find dignity and strength from within. With tremendous amount of heartache and sacrifice the painful growing process makes them better, stronger people.
The two novels have many similarities. Although they were both written by white men, there is a degree of effort but into both books that makes the reader believe the speaker is a Native American. There is nothing cliché or blatantly erroneous about either novel that makes them classifiable as stereotypical, racist, or offensive.
The first and most obvious similarity is that the narrator of each book is Native American. In One Flew Over… the narrator is the legendary Chief Bromden, a Native American from the Northwestern tribes along the Columbia Gorge. He is sent to the psych-ward after his father is forced to sell their tribal lands to the government to put in a dam, displacing the people who spear salmon in the waterfall where the dam is placed. He hides inside himself at the psych-ward because Bromden believes it is his only chance to survive. He is made an example to the other members of the ward as patient Harding points out:
“Look at him: a giant janitor. There’s your Vanishing American. That my friend is what we can be threatened with.” (Page 67).
The Blood Runs… is narrated by Nasdijj, a member of the Navajo tribe. This book details the struggle he undertook trying to give his adopted son, Tommy Nothing-Fancy, a good life in the short time before the boy died as a result of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Through fishing and camping and many other adventures, the two bond before Tommy dies during a seizure.
The theme of their relationship is summed up in the following quote from the scene where Tommy is diagnosed with FAS:
“So I did exactly what I think all parents should not do: I spoiled him rotten. I wasn’t rich but I could give him certain things…I would not allow fetal alcohol syndrome or whatever to ruin that for me, or for him.” (Page 5).
Both of these novels tell a story of a hard life. The main characters have problems dating back to their childhood. Shunned by society they have to make the best of their grim situations. Although they handle it differently, both characters do the best they can in situations that the average person would crack under.
Bromden’s dilemma began in his childhood with the loss of the land he loved. During the most formative years of his life he goes from living a simple fulfilling life as the son of a chief to being booted off his own land in the name of “progress.” He watches his father go from hero to villain, finally drinking himself to death in the woods around the village.
Eventually Bromden ends up in a mental institution, drained of his desire to be part of the outside world. Pretending to be deaf and dumb, he cleans the same floors and walls everyday. He feels depleted. During the famous scene where Bromden speaks for the fisrt time in years, he confesses to the novel’s protagonist, Randal Patrick McMurphy, his father’s end.
“And the last I see him he’s blind in the cedars from drinking and every time I see him put that bottle to his mouth, he didn’t suck out of it, it sucks out of him…” (Page 209.)
Nasdijj was born a nomad. He spent his formative years traveling with his drunken family around the country doing migratory jobs. From the beginning things were tough. He never had a permanent home and his mother gave him baths using a washcloth or her own saliva. During his rocky childhood he feels invisible, much like Bromden.
“Kids traveled light. One bag. Kids never asked why. Kids did as they were told or else.” (Page 32).
His life gains some semblance of meaning when he takes the child Tommy Nothing-Fancy into his heart and life. He resolves to give the boy everything he can until Tommy dies. Not being wealthy he spoils the boy everyway he can, determined not to let FAS ruin Tommy’s life. He teaches Tommy to dribble and fish and tries to provide all the other knowledge and happiness that comes along with the father-son bonding Nasdijj never received.
“You learned to gulp for breath between the rages sent your way by an angry god with his work boots and his whiskey.” (Page 31).
Both Nasdijj and Bromden are mixed bloods. This is important because they are both stuck in a kind of Purgatory. With one foot in both worlds, this leads to feelings of isolation and separation. Being unable to give themselves a race to call solely their own, they stand alone between the two worlds.
These novels maybe similar in a variety of ways, but their differences also need to be accounted for. Although the speakers have enough commonalities to compare them, their differences are just as interesting.
One major, and obvious, difference is tribe and region both of these speakers come from. Bromden is from the Evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest. He grew up among water falls and salmon. Nasdijj grew up in the arid desert of the Southwest. These differences also contribute to the childhood each speaker experienced.
As is common in the region, Nasdijj spent years of his life doing migratory work just trying to survive. He went around the region and country on several occasions. In chapter three he guesses that he has been around the country at least twenty times.
Nasdijj’s migratory nature is a stark contrast to Bromden’s. He grew up in one village. He didn’t move around a lot (prior to his village being sold). He spent years immersed in his people’s single-location way of living. The green beauty he came from was so important to his people that his father was given the name “Tee Ah Millatoona” which means “The Pine That Stands Tallest on the Mountain.”
Another difference is in the way these narrators resolve their problems. Both of these men try to use nature to bring the fulfillment they seek. However, using the “back to their roots” approach to find peace of mind is successful for Bromden and not Nasdijj.
Only after the famous fishing scene in One Flew Over… does Bromden begin to come out of his shell. In the fresh sea air he realizes that he doesn’t need to hide anymore. After this scene he breaks his silence. Regularly speaking with the patients on the ward and getting in a fight with one of the despised aides. When he sees the purity and beauty of nature he is astounded to realize that he was ignoring what he loved.
In the end, in the even more famous scene where Bromden escapes from the ward, he is resolved to go back to his native Columbia Gorge. He loves the land and is tied to it. He cannot survive without it and decides to spend what time he has left on earth in harmony with nature.
“I’ve even heard that some of the tribe have took to building their own ramshackle wood scaffolding all over the big million-dollar hydroelectric dam…I’d just like to look over the country around the gorge again, just to bring some of it clear in my mind again. I been away a long time.” (Page 311).
Nasdijj seeks to bring Tommy into nature, to bond with his son in the wilderness of their people. Sometimes it didn’t turn out too well. In chapter five there is a heartbreaking account of a fishing trip gone horribly awry. On the Flathead Reservation Nasdijj seeks to go fishing with his son. When they get to the cabin they would sleep in, they have an unfortunate run-in. Bears ruin the trip. It starts out simply. Tommy and Nasdijj are fishing and the bears are in the area. Although nervous, the two parties have the “we’ll leave you alone if you leave us alone” mentality. However, one night two bears get into a massive territory battle and Tommy and Nasdijj listen to a dominate-male grizzly slaughter a mother and her two cubs. This makes Nasdijj feel like a failure.
“Sometimes I think I do everything wrong. This includes parenting. I wanted to introduce my young son to the magic of the wilderness. I didn’t count on bears.” (Page 40).
Both narrators are used to illustrate the protagonist, the type of protagonist and the relationship that the narrator has to each. Nasdijj has a father role towards Tommy as opposed to Bromden who has more of a child role to McMurphy.
Nasdijj, as previously stated, takes Tommy into his life and resolves to give him everything that his meager income will allow, sacrificing, as so many fathers do, for the good of his child. He teaches Tommy about life.
In contrast, Bromden is like a child to McMurphy. He decided to live below the radar of the institution. Resigned to hiding in his lie, it takes McMurphy’s antics like smashing the glass of the nurse’s station or stealing a boat to show Bromden that the “Combine” he is afraid of isn’t invincible.
Alcohol is used differently in both books. The devastating effects of alcohol are shown to different degrees in each novel. In One Flew Over… it is touched upon less than in The Blood Runs… Bromden’s history with alcohol is traumatic, but not a major part in the book. However, it is limited compared to its involvement in Nasdijj’s life.
Bromden only has one major issue with alcohol, it killed his father. After “Tee Ah Millatoona” is strong-armed into giving up his way of life, he hits the bottle and begins a rapid descent into death. Bromden, however, didn’t view his father’s death as a result of alcohol. He saw it more as the end result of the “Combine” tearing him apart to get what it wanted.
Bromden himself actually enjoys alcohol. On the car ride to the boat trip, he downs a few beers and actually enjoys it, as of the end of the novel he is not struggling to overcome an addiction to it. Bromden is sober and ready for a new life at the end of the novel, not mired in a cycle of alcoholism. His experience with alcohol is positive, reflecting his time spent on the ward.
“I had forgotten that there can be good sounds and tastes. Like the sound and taste of a beer going down.” (Page 226).
Nasdijj’s life is a constant struggle with alcohol. His never-ending war begins in the womb. He is born into Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It moved on to his travels where his mom would entertain him with stories while she downed whiskey. It came to him when he met Tommy’s mother, Mary Potato, the drunken whore. It came to him with Tommy, who also had FAS.
As a whole, Nasdijj is subjected to more difficulties than Bromden. A major reason behind this is the time period differences, locations and time span. One Flew Over… takes place in the sixties, when many of the problems Nasdijj faces were unheard of. Bromden’s story takes place over a period of months where as Nasdijj’s story is over a period of years. Bromden’s story is in a much more confined environment, the psych-hospital, where Nasdijj’s story is all over the country.
One time period-based experience Nasdijj has to deal with that Bromden doesn’t is AIDS. In The Blood Runs…, Nasdijj details the horrors and taboos of this dreaded disease.
“Indians on the reservation with AIDS are truly the invisible among the otherwise invisible…” (Page 177).
Bromden isn’t exposed to this because in the early sixties AIDS was unheard of. He is also limited to a psych hospital where he is around the same forty people everyday. The characters he meets outside the ward are casual relationships that wouldn’t divulge that information. Since the novel takes place is one area and doesn’t spend much time on reservations, the odds of him meeting someone with AIDS are very slim.
In conclusion, these novels take a different look at Native Americans. Using complex back stories Bromden and Nasdijj cease to be stereotypical Indians. They become real human beings with desires and needs. Even though they are different from each other, they are both interesting and realistic portrayals of Indians, going beyond the simple ideas of drug addicts and warriors.
Bibliography
Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. New York: Penguin, 1976.
Barris, Timothy Patrick. The Blood Runs like a River through my Dreams. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
