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What Is Ken Kesey's Perspective Of A Troubled Native American

637 Words3 Pages

Throughout Ken Kesey’s novel the readers see the perspective of a troubled native american man, yet Kesey wrote this book as a white man. This is an extremely controversial topic. Can a man that was not born or raised as a native american speak on the experience that a native american has had? Or can a human being speak on his perspective on the life experiences of another human being? Kesey flourished while navigating this topic, he shared his perspective as a man living in society, expressed his opinion through literature, and gave his artistic interpretation on life in a mental institution, while proving that literature will always be controversial. Although Ken Kesey is a man that has not had the experiences of a native american, he is still a human. Kesey interprets what he views what life has been like for a native american, but also interprets what he views as the experience of a person in society. This can be seen when the main character, Bromden, is taking time to appreciate life as a (temporarily) free man. “I had forgotten that there can be good sounds and tastes like the sound and taste of a beer going down. I took another big drink and started looking around me to see what else I had forgotten in twenty years.” (Kesey, 239). This joy is not something only a native american man could experience, this is a feeling any person could …show more content…

Any author who takes a risk can be called out of touch or offensive, but Kesey makes sure to write Bromden’s experience tastefully. All-in-all Kesey isn’t trying to input his opinions on what the Native American experience is, he wants to show what his character is going through. There are many times when an author is attempting to describe what they would think it feels like to live as another race, culture or gender, but Kesey takes a step back and only shows the outlook of his character and his character's life. Literature will be just that,

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