In Lorca’s Blood Wedding, gender is brought up through out the story. The mother of the bridegroom seems to represent this subject. After her husband and son were killed by a knife, she associates all men with knives. She seperates girls from knives and outside work. This is evident early in the story as she talks to her son. She explains to him she does not like him with a knife and wishes he was a woman instead so they can embroider.
In class, a point was brought up about the race issues in novels we read especially in the Alexie readings. Alexie is not only bringing up stereotypes people have on Indians, but he is also pointing out the stereotypes of white people. As a white reader, this does frustrate me. Not the fact that he is hating on white people, but the fact that some white people really do act this way and are ignorant to other cultures. Alexie does a good job of pointing out these stereotypes and making white people take a closer look at themselves.
In the story “Amusements”, Victor and Sadie are the “tricksters”. Dirty Joe seems to represent the stereotypical drunk Indian. He is the butt of Victor and Sadie’s joke, amusing the crowd of white people that have gathered. Victor looks at his crazy trickster self in the fun house and realizes he is helping the white man remember why he is master of ceromonies by being the Indian who offered up the other Indian.
There is also a form of trickster in “Fun House”. The form the trickster takes on is a mouse. The mouse stirs things up after a fart from the son. The mouse acts as the catalyst for the change in the family after the aunt has time to herself while her husband and son beg for her to come back.
Ken Kesey’s take on a psych ward goes much deeper than brain dead patients who piss on themselves. There are patients there who do not even belong. What keeps these patients there is the Big Nurse. The Big Nurse continuosly digs at patients insecurities until the patient thinks there is something wrong with them. I believe McMurphy and the Cheif are the most sane patients of all. McMurphy catches the flaw of the ward the instant he gets there, while the Cheif has known the flaw the whole time. The flaw is that the Big Nurse and Combine keep sane people in the ward. McMurphy tries to fix this flaw but going toe to toe with the Big Nurse. After all the little battles though, the Nurse seems to be victorious. McMurphy has won the battle for the patients by helping the sane realize they do not belong there, but he has lost the battle against the Big Nurse and the Combine. He eventually does not escape, and after he is taken to recieve is lobotomy, the Big Nurse goes back to ruling the ward as she always did. This inner struggle within the ward does suggest a broader struggle with human agency and the Combine. The Cheif already experienced the powers of the Combine when the white men came to take over his reservation. The Combine wore down his father, just like McMurphy. The Combine can also be compared to the government and legal system. There are rules you must abide by, and if you do not follow the rules, you are punished. You must follow these rules even if you do not agree with them. The president can be compared to the Big Nurse. If you do not agree with a presidents decision, you must live with it. You can’t buck the system.
Although McMurphy may seem crazy by taking on the Big Nurse, he is actually very sane. Him and a few others in the ward. The only difference is him having the balls to do something about their imprisonment. After he sits back knowing he cannot fight the system, he realizes this fact. While the rest of the ward begin to believe he is just a con-man, he is devising ways to get them out. He may of took their money, but he gave those patients hope and eventually freedom. This wears him out the most. Not the Nurse. The Cheif first notices he is worn down after the fishing trip. A time where he should be happy, he is feeling the power of the Combine on him with the pressure of living up to his heroic stature. He could have just laid low and wait until he was free, but instead finds ways to help the others become free with him.
I also believe the Cheif is very sane because he had his own plan to get out of the ward.