One thing that has been made pretty clear is that power is an important thing to have in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In Part III, the patients are able to take a trip into the outside world and gain a different perspective on what makes a person powerful. Let’s see what our characters learn during this fishing trip.
Reader #1-On the way to the fishing trip, the patients come to realization that their illnesses aren't necessarily a bad thing. Mcmurphy talks all of them up by giving them fake felonies and making them look tough. this empowered all of them, and gave them confidence. Mcmurphy says that “ The doc wouldn’t lie like that about just any patients, but we aint ordinary nuts; we’re every bloody one of us hot off the criminal-insane ward, on our way to San Quentin where they got better facilities to handle us.” (Kesey 236). Clearly those men aren't what Mcmurphy says they are, but it doesn't matter. Mcmurphy knowingly granted power to the other patients. Being on the outside of the ward the patients experienced thrill when they stole the boat for the trip. They all enjoyed laughs together and got along. Which is something that never happens on the ward under the Big Nurse’s watch. This was truly a turning moment in the story for the patients. Reader #2-Before they went on a fishing trip McMurphy had a lot of power over the patients. Not with telling them what to do, but what the patients did reflected off of how McMurphy viewed things. During the fishing trip, all of them had “equal” power I guess. There wasn’t really power in my opinion though because they were all laughing with each other and no one was upset about anything. I think being in the outside world causes the patients less stress and makes them feel more free. Atmosphere really has a big impact on the whole power thing. Reader #3-Before the fishing trip, McMurphy holds a lot of power. I believe this because McMurphy declares that George will be captain on the boat and when he found out Chief Bromden was the only acute going, he tried to convince more acutes to come. However, the acutes were stern with their decisions when McMurphy said ¨C´mon, loafers, I need one more mate to round out the crew, I need one more goddam volunteer..¨(Kesey 227) When they were on the boat however, not one single person held power. All the boys were laughing together and connecting. From being on the boat and in the outside world, the boys felt less stressed and attacked then they usually do. When they are in the ward they always feel watched by Nurse Ratched, but on the fishing trip they felt free. Power and perspective are related because they both are connected with ones attitude and how one addresses something. For example, one can use power to influence someone to agree with their perspective on something. This is shown through McMurphy in the story. Reader #4-McMurphy got the approval to take the patient's out to the real world, he could only take them out if there was enough chaperones. so Dr. Spivey agreed to come with. when they stop for gas the workers ask them if they're from the asylum and the Dr tells them they're construction workers. McMurphy tells them that there indeed criminally insane. they finally go fishing and they take the boat because the captain denied them without a waiver. so they all jump on and fish. they return back and the cops were waiting but the captain didn't press charges because of what the Dr told him. they return back to the asylum and they pass McMurphys old house and he has flashbacks. this showed that people can act the same even if they're insane. Reader #5-The fishing trip was more for the patients rather than McMurphy, even though he did all the planning. MOst of the power comes from McMurphy on the trip. The patients only go outside of their comfort zone when McMurphy influences it. They want him to be their leader. Power is shown when the patients start laughing, this is because they are showing signs of independence and freedom. Bromden describes that you must laugh so that “the humor will blot out the pain.” Although McMurphy has the power, he is helping the patients realize that they have some as well. Being in the outside world helps show the patients that being independent and happy is possible. Power can be given to anyone, it just depends on how you look at things. The perspectives you take help determine who has power. Reader #6-in the story the glass in nurse's office keeps breaking what could the be symbolizing? it could symbolize many things such as bad luck or a warning to her. i don't think mcmurphy is breaking it just to break it. the reason he breaks it is because he realizes that the other men rely on him, and they are caged in. before mcmurphy walked out of the nurses station: “he would thank her again walk out of nurses’ station and blow the whistle loud enough to break windows for miles around” (kesey 206) Reader #7-Power and imbalance of power is general. “Everybody is a genius; but if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” (Einstein). The patients of the ward have already been alienated in the real world and feel like they are incapable of functioning on their own. They depend on Nurse Ratched to take care of them and protect them and she does so because it feeds her hunger for control. When McMurphy takes them on the fishing trip, he gives them a different perspective of the outside world. It seems less frightening and more inviting. McMurphy represents how power can affect (an) individual(s). His taking control of the group was with the intent of betterment while Nurse Ratched plans to internally mess with the patients. Through discussion with Harding, McMurphy realises that the manipulation of the ward is more of an institutional issue than just with Nurse Ratched: “McMurphy doesn't know it, but he's onto what I realized a long time back, that it's not just the Big Nurse by herself, but it's the whole Combine, the nation-wide Combine that's the really big force, and the nurse is just a high-ranking official for them.” (Kesey 2.7.33) Chief sees that McMurphy is coming to terms with the fact that Big Nurse’s power extends far beyond her, she’s just part of society.
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While Chief and McMurphy have had somewhat of a relationship up until this point, in Part III of the novel this relationship reaches a turning point. Let’s look at the changes in their relationship and think about the effects of becoming closer on each of them.
Reader #1-While McMurphy is talking to one of the black boys he learns that Chief is getting gum, but no one knows how. The black boy explains that Chief sticks the gum to the bed posts, and then removes it to chew it again. This ignites a relationship between McMurphy and Chief: “Juicy fruit is the best I can do for you at the moment, Chief…. before I realized what I was doing, I told him Thank you”(Kesey 217). Although this event doesn’t seem like much to start a friendship, nor does it look like they could help each other. However, this friendship is exactly what they both need to fix the society of the ward. In this scene, McMurphy sharing his gum could be symbolizing the start of something new in the ward. Also, Chief talks to McMurphy for the first time proving that he is not what everyone thinks he is. Everyone in the ward believes Chief is stupid, dumb, deaf, and has no idea what is really going on. That is not the case; however, Chief knows exactly what happens in the ward, and what is going to happen to McMurphy. Chief tries to warn McMurphy about what is going to happen to him if he is not carefully about his actions. Especially when McMurphy punched Nurse Ratched’s window more than once. McMurphy and Chief’s friendship could be exactly what the patients in the ward need. Two people who could do real damage to the “perfect” society and to Nurse Ratched. It is going to be very interesting to see what the two of them are going to do to shake up the ward. Reader #2-During a section in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ Chief Bromden and McMurphy begin to have a change in their relationship with each other. Before this though, McMurphy was beginning to ease down a little on causing a ruckus in the ward, and Chief was still just a pretend deaf indian janitor. So they never really had any kind of contact up until this point. In the time when McMurphy was finished talking to a black boy about Chief’s secret gum stash, he went up to Chief at night and said, “Here” and gave him a piece of gum and replied “Thank you,”(page 217). For the first time in the book, we actually see Chief Bromden speak and talk with McMurphy. So it would seem that the sharing of the gum was a way of McMurphy telling Chief that he can trust him. And this is significant because we get to see Chief and McMurphy, the narrator of the novel and the main protagonist, actually interact with each other and say what their views are about the world. And this, they both get a new relationship where McMurphy gets back into being himself again, and Chief getting more self-esteem and courageous to do things against the wards norms. Reader #3-Chief was rudely awoken by an orderly scraping the gum off the bottom of his bed. Chief asked the orderly what he was doing and he responds with admitting that he had been watching chief for a number of years, and had never seen him visit the canteen. The orderly naturally wondered where Chief got his gum from seeing as he never visited the canteen. Once he leaves Mcmurphy whispers to Chief and starts to sing a song about the gum. At first Chief was angry at Mcmurphy but he soon realized it was funny and he started to laugh. Mcmurphy jumped up and gave Chief a fresh piece of gum. The gum represents the beginning of Chief’s first friendship in the ward, and Mcmurphy and Chief start to talk and even though Mcmurphy tells Chief he is as big as a mountain, Chief says he is too small and weak to escape. Reader #4- In part III McMurphy gives Chief Bromden a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. This symbolizes their friendship. McMurphy shares a story with Bromden about a time where he was also silent. McMurphy wonders if Bromden is saving all the information about everyone and one day he will use it against them. This is a turning point in their relationship because they’re sharing things together. Bromden tries to do something he’s never done before: “I tried to laugh with him, but it was a squawking sound, like a pullet trying to crow” (218 Kesey). McMurphy makes Bromden laugh, and that shows the he likes his company. Their relationship has definitely formed into something deeper after this. Chief Bromden has made it clear that he has a pretty serious mental illness which makes him view the world in a very unique way. One thing that he has avoided up until now though is how his life outside of the mental ward has influenced him. Let’s take a closer look at the significance of this flashback occurring now in the novel.
Reader #1-Bromden remembers something about his childhood. Before he remembers, he is about to sign the list for the fishing trip but he is afraid it will blow his cover that he is faking that he is deaf. This is clear in the text when: “Bromden wants to sign the list, but he is afraid to blow his deaf-and-dumb cover, realizing that he has to “keep acting deaf if [he] wanted to hear at all.” (Kesey part 3) This relates to the childhood memory he thought of. He remembered that when he was a child he spoke to people that came to his home, but they acted like he had not said a word. I think he thought of this memory because it relates to the fact that he is acting deaf. He is acting deaf because he doesn’t feel he will be heard if he speaks, and he hears more when he is deaf because people think he can’t hear anyways. Reader #2-The flashback to Bromden’s childhood was a significant moment for his character. This moment is important because it represents something that he remembers. He hasn’t had a memory of his childhood in a long time. It was about his Dad; he was selling land to three people. When Bromden spoke to them, they seemed like they didn’t hear him. Bromden thought back when, “About 10 years old” and he was “in front of the shack”(Kesey 210). This is meaningful to him because it was a memory with his dad and childhood that never occurs to him. Nothing has reminded him it until that moment. Reader #3-Chief Bromden has a flashback to his childhood. This flashback is when he is little a group of people come and are trying to take over his indian land. This is like the ward how McMurphy is trying to get rid of the nurse. His flashback explains his last name and the difficult childhood he had and how it might make him the way he is today. “As my sociology professor used to emphasize, there is generally one person in every situation you must never underestimate the power of” This is a good quote to relate to the ward and nurse ratched vs McMurphy. This flashback is meaningful to bromden, because it is the first time he has ever witnessed the brutality of people and what they can do. Reader #4-In Part III Chief has a significant experience, he is able to remember something from his past. This started with Chief remembering that he was not the one that started acting deaf, in fact he just felt he was never heard. This triggered a flashback to his childhood and the day the government came to his tribe’s camp to appraise the property so they could buy it and build a dam on the waterfall they were on. This flashback could have been triggered by the huge changes in the ward, or him asking himself why he chose to start acting deaf and mute. Either way this was an important and meaningful moment for Chief because he was “amazed that I’d remembered that. It was the first time in what seemed to me centuries that I’d been able to remember much about my childhood.”(Kesey 215). Reader #5-In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Bromden had a flashback and remembered something. Bromden remembers that people came over to talk to his dad about buying the land.”But someone should inform them of the government's plans” (Kesey 212).This is significant because this is the first time he remembered something from his childhood. This is meaningful to Bromden because he is slowly starting to remember things from his past and about his family. Before he had his flashback he was going to sign something but he couldn’t so he can hide his deafness. Slowly Bromden is starting to regain some memories he has from his past. The Fog is an important symbol in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Not only that, but The Fog also has an important meaning to the Chief. Let’s explore why this Fog is so incredibly meaningful.
Reader #1-One of the major symbols in the novel is the “fog machine”. “I’m not cold anymore. I think i’ve about made it. I’m off to where the cold can’t reach me. I can stay here for good. I’m not scared anymore. They can’t reach me, just the words reach me, and those are fading.”(Kesey 138). This quote is a description of Chief Bromden, of what it feels like to be in the grasp of the fog. Bromden appears to be the only one in the ward who sees the fog. The first time he experienced the fog he said he felt lost inside it, and screamed out to be found. This continually landed him in for shock treatment, until he learned to surround himself in the fog. In the fog, time no longer exists, and reality is clouded over. The fog is the state of being that Nurse Ratched forces on the patients to subdue them, keep them in a mind numbing state, and make them more agreeable. The patients also seem to accept the fog as a means of escape, McMurphy seems immune to the fog, and has the ability to drag people out of it. In my opinion “the fog” is relatively a good thing for the patients because sometimes they may need to lose control of reality in order to get better in an odd way. Reader #2-Whenever Chief has mentioned the fog, there was no explanation as to the origins of it. But finally, Chief explains a little bit more about the fog as said from the text, “We had a whole platoon used to operate fog machines around airfields overseas. Whenever intelligence figured there might be a bombing attack, or if the generals had something secret they wanted to pull, they fogged the field.” (Page 130) So whenever Chief sees the fog come up into the ward, it’s usually when he wants to remain hidden and safe from the others. Chief feels that the fog is a safe area from the reality of life in the ward. Now when chief explains how some of the other patients, more towards chronics, seem to be in the fog with him, they are not really experiencing it as Chief is. So from this, it seems that the fog seems like a good thing, but it seems like it’s just making Chief loose more of himself and be nothing more but a mindless walking janitor. But the one thing that seems to be trying to pull Chief and the other patients out of the fog would be McMurphy. For when he goes and opposes the big nurse and asks the patients for a vote to watch a seasonal sports match on T.V., all the chronics and vegetables and such were the only ones who would not come out of the fog to help McMurphy, all except Chief who raised his hand in for the vote. Reader #3-The “fog” represents the safety blanket that everyone is under. Mcmurphy is trying to get the patients out of the fog that’s holding them back. Bromden is the one who observes him doing it all. he says “That's what Mcmurphy can’t understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we’d be easy to get.” (kesey 128) FOr many of the patients, the fog is where they feel safe and protected. They don’t want anyone to disturb that fog because they know that removal from it could put them in danger. Chief is also scared about being taken out of the fog because he doesn’t want to blow his cover. ALthough he did have a breaking point when he raised his hand when Mcmurphy told him to. The fog can be both good and bad. It’s good because it’s useful when someone needs to hide away from something. But, it’s bad because it holds someone back from doing what they actually feel. The fog is the mask of their insecurities. And many of them have never stepped out of that fog because they’re scared of the consequences that might follow. Reader #4-The fog that Chief sees is a medically induced state that is a fog of the mind rather than an actual fog.The fog keeps the patients from acting out and makes them satisfied with their lives. As Chief says, “the men hide behind the fog because it is comfortable.” This means that the patients won’t rebel because of this mentally induced state. The fog represents the control and fear that Nurse Ratched has over the ward. Chief hallucinates the fog and he is the only one who sees it, but everyone experiences the effect of it. Chief used to be afraid of the fog because they used it in the war to reduce visibility and he use to scream when he saw, hoping to be found. Reader #5-what is the fog? the fog is all in chief's head. but he thinks the big nurse controls the fog, he says that everyone hides in the fog because it’s comforting chief says “you had a choice: you could either strain and look at things that appeared in front of you in the fog, painful as it might be, or you could relax and lose yourself” (kesey 131). to me this is showing what chief thinks about the fig and why it’s comforting. The drugs that the nurse gives the patients is what the fog is, and they think the feeling you get from taking them is comforting. Reader #6-The fog represents an escape from the real world. Chief Bromden sees it when he takes his medication and begins to hallucinate. Bromden likes the fog because he feels like it takes him away from everything so he doesn’t have to deal with anything, but he believes the staff works the fog machine through the vents of the ward. Chief Bromden states “ I know how they work it, the fog machine” (Kesey 130) Chief Bromden however, is not the only one who experiences the fog. Each patient sees it but Chief Bromden is the only one who refers to it in the story. In my opinion, the fog is a bad thing because it’s just a way for the patients to escape what is actually happening in the real world. Due to them escaping to the fog, the patients will never be able to get better because they will be living in the fog which is a safe place for them. Reader #7-The fog represents a get away, Chief Bromden sees it when it comes into the ward. He thinks that Nurse Ratched and other workers have them everywhere in the facility. Chief “uses” to escape from the atmosphere and everything going on around him. He is not the only patient who experiences it,but he is the only one that knows it’s going on. The other patients brains’ aren’t comprehensive enough to acknowledge it. To Chief Bromden, the fog seems like a good thing. He thinks he can use it to escape from reality. Although, from Nurse Ratched’s perspective, it’s just another way she can control the other patients without them knowing. If all the patients realized that, it would definitely be a bad thing in their minds. Reader #8-The fog represents an escape from reality. Chief sees the fog when he wants to go to a safe place and ignore reality. Other patients experience the fog, but they don’t call it the fog like chief does. McMurphy is “getting all the patients out” of the fog. He wants them less vulnerable. In chapter 13, the fog is talked about when it says, “ Nobody complains about the fog. I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe. That’s what McMurphy can’t understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we’d be easy to get at.” (Kesey chapter 13) Reader #9-“The fog” Chief Bromden claimed was made by Nurse Ratched. The fog represents how the Nurse makes the ward and her attitude unclear. One can infer that the fog was not literally there in the ward. We can predict that it’s a symbol of rebellion against Nurse Ratched. The Chief says that the rest of the patient's hide behind the fog because it makes them uncomfortable. “I kept looking at anything that appeared out of the fog as long and hard as I could, to keep track of it, just like I used to do when they fogged the airfields in Europe” (Kesey 131). This shows how characters in the ward try their best to stay out of “the fog.” The question is, will they ever get out? Reader #10-Throughout the novel, the Fog has played a huge role in symbolizing a few different things. In real life, fog is something that clouds our vision of seeing the outside world. In the book, then fog represents an escape from reality. Chief usually sees the fog either due to his medication, out of fear, or when he is trying to escape what is truly happening around him. It is Chief's safeplace. He can hide here and ignore reality. Besides for Bromden, other patients are kind of lured into the fog by nurse Ratched's harsh ways and treatments. McMurphy helps by “dragging” patients out of that fog, back into reality. For Bromden, the fog is a good thing, (although sometimes frightening). He is able to escape everything and let go. The fog is what is covering up the real world from all of the patients. The truth is being hidden from the patients, using the fog. Reader #11-The fog is a common occurrence in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. This fog represents a time of comfort, satisfaction with life, and solitude. Chief often sees this fog when he is alone or content. Chief doesn't quite know how to feel about the fog. He doesn't hate it and doesn't like it, he just tolerates it. Although Chief thinks everyone can see this fog, for example when the fog rolled in on the first day that McMurphy arrived he thought he was just ignoring the fog. This fog is most likely a recurring hallucination from his schizophrenia. This fog is not necessarily a bad occurrence for Chief. It allows him to relax and have time to himself(which is hard to get on the ward). Chief even goes as far as wanting to stay in the fog(his comfort zone) when he says” He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out of the open where we’d be easy to get at”(Kesey 128) Reader #10-In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest the fog is very significant. Bromden says “even the spies on the base couldn’t see what went on- they fogged the field” (Kesey 130). I think they use the fog when something big is going to happen and they don’t want the patients to know what they’re doing. The hospital staff uses it to hide their secrets in the ward from the patients. Bromden tries to stay away from it as much as possible so he doesn’t get too deep in it and get lost. Based on that I think the fog is a bad thing because the patients can’t see and they deserve to know what’s happening around them. The fog is going to be a symbol of importance throughout the book. Reader #11-the significance of ‘The fog” in terms of Chief Bromden is that it keeps him or other patients living there lives like they want to. Chief Bromden is believed that “the Fog” is made by nurse Ratched. Chief says that men hide behind the fog because it’s “comfortable” but they are just scared to live there life. Chief sees the fog around every patient. It keeps all the patients satisfied and it doesn't let the know if certain things are real or not real. The Fog can be viewed as good and bad. But I see this as a benefit to the patients because they don't experience anything that could be harmful to them. Reader #12- Imagine a safe space where you’re comfortable, worry free, and taken care of. For the patients of the ward, this is essentially what the “fog” provides them with. Since we know Chief is schizophrenic, we can assume this fog isn’t literal but a metaphor. Chief describes it as something the staff controls and exists in the vents but it’s one of the few methods of control he’s comfortable with. What it probably is, literally at least, is a medicinal dosage Nurse Ratched uses to keep patients from turning against her and disguising some of the brutal behaviors that go on in the ward. “When the fog clears to where I can see, I’m sitting in the day room. They didn’t take me to the Shock Shop this time. I remember they took me out of the shaving room and locked me in Seclusion. I don’t remember if I got breakfast or not.” (1.2.1 Kesey) Here Chief shows a state of disorientation and uncertainty due to the “fog”. This fog is something that constantly surrounds them and if they think nothing is wrong, they won’t feel the need to fix anything. They’ve been content with it because it provides security even though Chief finds it a bit frightening sometimes. This isn’t exactly the best thing for the patients though they may feel like it. It represents the big nurse’s ability to humiliate and alter the minds of the patients. McMurphy’s plan to corrupt Nurse Ratched will essentially take the patients out of the fog. We’ve already established that Chief Bromden, because of his mental disability, sees the world differently. Let’s look a little more at how his mind works by examining his hallucination of the ward coming alive at night.
Reader #1-Chief Bromden is a patient that has schizophrenia and has constant and very strange hallucinations within the ward. One of these hallucinations happens when it’s night time in the ward and suddenly the bedroom became sorta like the inside of a dam with machines and faceless workers everywhere. Plus there were also many furnaces around the room as well as hooks that look like they’re in a butcher's warehouse. This scenario then moves along to the sleeping patients beginning to get strapped to a hook by the foot, starting with Blastic, and old vegetable in the ward. Blastic was flapping out his arms and free leg to get free but then he gets supposedly gutted from one of the workers with a scalpel and appears to be dead right after. Then Chief gets pulled out of the hallucination by an old negro man named Mr. Turkle who takes a late shift and begins to very carefully and gently “lift old Blastic onto the stretcher and carry him out, covered with a sheet-handle him more careful than anybody ever handled him before in all his life.” (Page 90) So the irony behind Chief’s hallucination is that Blastic was gutted dead, and he awakens to find doctors on the late shift carry Blastic’s corpse out of the ward. Reader #2-Chief Bromden hallucinates because of his medication they give him because of his medical problems. every time he takes his medication he sees fog drifting into the wards, the medication makes him hallucinate hard and makes him feel like he's in a different world or out of reality. He believes that the staff have hidden fog machines in the vents that make the patients hallucinate. Some reason the chief feels like it's a safe place for him because he can escape reality and feel himself. there's a character in the story that chief bromden sees but dies, but at the end of his hallucination he seen old blastic right in front of him alive. It had chief speechless and confused over what he seen and does during his hallucinations. Reader #3-In his hallucination Chief sees the vegetable Blastic being grabbed by the heels and being hung by his the tendon in his heels. The workers then proceed to cut him open, but there is no blood just rust and ash, and the occasional piece of wire and glass. The ironic part of this hallucination is that Blastic died that very night. Chief’s hallucination are a distortion of reality; like how he visualizes Nurse Ratched as a monster because of how powerful she is. This hallucination is significant because he visualizes the ward as a combine and the patients as machines, he sees the workers killing Blastic because of how they don't help the patients at all, they are just mean and abusive towards them. For a lot of people, there is a time in our lives when we don’t quite let others know who we really are. Sometimes, we just don’t really want people to know who we really are. Using One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, let’s explore a little bit why a person might pretend to be not quite as able as they actually are.
Reader #1-In the Book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest” by Ken Kesey McMurphy finds out that Bromden isn't actually who he says he is. One night Chief thinks that McMurphy had fallen asleep, his breathing got slower and slower, till he thinks he's been out for awhile. Then Chief hears McMurphy start laughing and he whispers “Why you sure did give a jump when i told you the coon was coming, chief i thought you was deef”. McMurphy is starting to imply that Bromden is lying about him being deaf. Chief may be acting like he's deaf to get information out of people because they’ll think they can talk about certain things in front of him because he can't hear them. The downside to acting deaf is because you can't speak at all or well enough for people to interpret what your saying. It's quite weird that Chief would be faking something like this, as i would think it would be a hassle for him. Reader #2-In reality people tend to act like they’re not capable of doing something to get out of it or to get special treatment from others. Chief Bramden has been pretending to be someone who he isn’t is. He’s pretending to be deaf so people would give him special treatment. Overall I think chief Bramden is pretending to be deaf so people won’t talk to him and also to spy on others. McMurphy soon catches Bramden on the act and I wonder if McMurphy will let out Bramden’s secret later in the book. Overall pretending to be someone you’re not is a waste of time. Reader #3-Chief has a conversation with McMurphy and he indicates that Bromden is faking his inabilities to speak and hear. People might pretend they are less able than they are to avoid being apart of something. In the text Chief says, “You had a choice: you could either strain and look at things that appeared in front of you in the fog, painful as it might be, or you could relax and lose yourself.”(Kesey 131). Chief might pretend to be deaf and have an inability to speak as a way to distance himself from “the combine”. Bromden’s theory of the world is that it is this machine called the combine and people get involved to put people like him in those asylum institutions. Bromden doesn’t want any part of this machine. He just wants to keep to himself away from the rest of the world. Pretending to be less than someone already is could be their way to prevent stress and anything worse happening to them. Reader #5-In “One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” Chief gave a hint towards McMurphy that he’s faking his deafness and inability to speak when Chief quickly hurried to bed when McMurphy said one of the black boys were coming over to their beds. This is proven when McMurphy says, “Why, you sure did give a jump when I told you that coon was coming, Chief. I thought someone told me you was deef.” (Page 84) Now for the benefits of pretending to be deaf is that you could not be targeted as easily for certain reasons. But the drawback on this is that people would probably think that you’re crazy, and you won’t be able to talk to other people. So Chief’s maybe thinking that life on the ward seems to be like a prison where you can get abused easily. So why would anyone pretend they’re less able than they are? It’s probably out of fear of getting attention drawn to you, weather it would be good or bad. Reader #6- In the book Chief Bromden reveals to Mcmurphy that he can speak and listen by actually talking to him. He tells him that he hasn't spoken in years and Mcmurphy believes him. he tells him how his whole life he was ignored and not really payed attention to. he just acted to being death and not able to speak so he can just listen. Chief bromden doesn't really like the way the ward hadels thing with the patients, he thinks the zapping and other so called treatments are horrible. the good thing about people thinking he's death is no one bothers him as much and he's just himself and doesn't have to bother with people's problems. i sometimes pretend i don't know how to do something at work so i won't have to do it and it works or just anthing in general like something at home. Reader #7-A person might pretend they are less able than they are in order to gain power. At the end of chapter 6, Chief Bromden and Mcmurphy are getting into bed and Mcmurphy tells Bromden that someone may be coming. Later in the night Mcmurphy started to laugh and said “Why, you sure did give a jump when I told you that coon was coming, Chief. I thought you was deef.” (Kesey 84) Mcmurphy is finally catching onto Bromden’s act, and he’s figuring out that Bromden may be smarter than her seems. Chief Bromden has been on the ward for years, and he’s adjusted to an everyday schedule. He goes through the motions and hopes that no one will ever realize he fake act he has to put on. The benefits of Bromden keeping his secret would be that he gets to listen in on every conversation and have information that others don’t. But a drawback would be that if anyone found out, he could be severely punished for it, which could lead him straight for the shock shop. For example, some people pretend they’re not good at things so that when they need to use the skill at a crucial point in their life, no one would be expecting it and they would have the advantage. Reader #8-Chief Bromden fakes his deafness, intelligence and his inability to talk. He does this because he just wants to slip through the cracks. He doesn’t want to participate in group discussions, so by pretending he's not able to partake in these activities, he's almost forgotten about. Not completely forgotten about however, McMurphy seems to have notice Chief, and he’s not letting him get away easy. McMurphy says this to Chief, “Why, you sure did give a jump when I told you that coon was coming, Chief. I thought somebody told me you was deef” (Kesey 84). McMurphy says this because he wants Chief to know that he's paying attention to him, that he notices him. This is unlike anyone else, because no one seemed to ever care whether Chief was faking it or not. Reader #9-Chief and McMurphy have a conversation where McMurphy indicates that he thinks Chief is faking his inability to to hear and speak. Someone may pretend they are less able than they actually are, to fit in. Chief has been in the institute so long that he may not want to change his ways. Chief has become accustomed to the day to day life on the ward and does not want to be treated differently if he showed he was able to speak and hear. A of the positive of Chief making people think he is unable to speak and hear are that he is mostly left alone(which he enjoys). There is a drawback to Chief faking this. He may be getting medicine and treatment meant for people who can’t actually hear or speak. This could possibly be making his schizophrenia flare up even more. This can easily be compared to pretending to be good at something that you actually aren't. Reader #10- A person can pretend to be less able than they really are for many different reasons. Chief Bromden has been pretending to be someone who he really isn’t throughout the whole book. He could be pretending to be deaf because he doesn’t want to talk to anyone and just likes to be alone and keep to himself. McMurphy soon catches on to chief pretending when Mcmurphy says “Why, you sure did give a jump when I told you that coon was coming, Chief. I thought somebody told me you was deef” (Kesey 84). I wonder how Chief is going to react to what McMurphy said to him and if McMurphy is going to tell anyone. In conclusion pretending to be someone you're not can eventually cause an impact on you and others. Reader #11-people are always gonna act like someone they arent, or say they are in a situation they really arent in, either to fit in, have more friends, or to get treated differently. chief Bromden has been pretending to be someone he isnt. He wants to be treated specially so he makes people believe he is in a situation where he is disabled in some aspects. Chief bromden is pretending to be to be deaf so people wont talk to him and also to make others feel like they dont have to worry about talking on subjects in front of him. Mcmurphy finds out bromden is just acting. deciding what he will do with that evidential information will be tough for Mcmurphy decide. in the end being yourself and playing fair is well worth it. Groups can be defined as a number of people or objects that are located together or share something in common. Aware of it or not, everyone is classified in some sort of group. For example, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, all of the patients are groups together as ones with a mental illness. Based on the group you are in, it can cause you to act in certain ways. What causes this and why does this happen? Let’s see how we can use the novel as an example.
Reader #1-The group therapy sessions aren't helping anyone cope with their problems. The acutes stay quiet for the most part and nobody opens up because there are so many people around. Everyone is uncomfortable with the environment and they are afraid of the big nurse. The group focuses on the log book, which is where the patient's pretty much rat out the others, they write down what they say or do. They are pretty much doing all of the dirty work for the nurses. The meetings are the same every time, the nurse asks what the patients have done and never admitted to, nobody answers at first because they're scared, she stares at the acutes and puts them in a “trance” and then they spill. “That triggered something, some acoustic device in the walls, rugged to turn on just at the sound of those words coming from her mouth. The acutes stiffened. Their mouths opened in unison” (Kesey 50). One thing they do is only point out the flaws or stuff that they did wrong, so it’s not a therapy session it’s a forced confession. These sessions are not helpful to the patient's’ mental health at all, it makes them feel worse about themselves. It helps the nurse because they are admitting to things they have done, but they don't come out of these meetings anymore mentally stable or happy then they were before. in some cases they come out worse. The patients are too afraid to stand up for themselves, the big nurse isn’t welcoming or accepting so they just let her walk all over them. She intimidates them so they can’t get better. Reader #2-The group sessions have a sort of passive aggressive cycle, with very little being accomplished. I feel as though it is not helping Chief or McMurphy. People behave rather strangely at times, and this is one of them. As the group continues to erode and deteriorate each other, Chief is beginning to notice more, and in a way, evolve, improving himself and his attitude. Others in the group are helped a little bit, albeit in a non acceptable way. We may not see that right away, but I predict as the story goes on, We will continue to see improvements in both Chief and McMurphy, or at the very least, we will see them beginning to change Reader #3-Various things cause certain people to act out and behave differently. Given on the situation, one might feel threatened or attacked, causing them to lash out or cause a scene. In ¨One Flew Over the Cuckoo´s Nest¨, they gather everyone and have a therapy session. During this session, some people attending were affected and made fun of. Knowing facts about mental illness, teasing and making fun of is a way of coping with your problems. The group was formed so that everyone had a chance to share and talk about their problems. When you attend these groups, you begin to notice a pattern based on the individuals talking. Some like to talk the whole time, some say a few things, and others say nothing. McMurphy was an individual who enjoys talking while Chief was an example of one who doesn't say much. Many times during these sessions someone is made fun of and are made helpless because they cannot defend themselves. These meetings are not always the most helpful. Reader #4-During the group sessions the Big Nurse tries to get the patients to talk by asking them questions continuously until someone answers. During this group session, Pete was a topic of discussion because he wouldn’t stop causing commotion. The text says “Pete never tried anything like that again, and he never will. Now when he starts acting up during a meeting and they try to hush him, he always hushes.” (Kesey 55) Due to Pete acting out the whole group put their effort into getting Pete to be quiet. After a while, the Big Nurse got frustrated and made the black boys take Pete out of the meeting and back to the day room. During the sessions, The Big Nurse has the role of asking the questions, the black boys are their to help out the big nurse, and the patients are their to answer the questions the Big Nurse asks so she can record their progress. However, most of the patients stay quiet during these sessions until one speaks up then they all chime in. These sessions are not helpful because whenever the nurse asks a questions the patients are scared to answer because they feel like they will be judged. Also the nurse asks questions that the patients already know about themselves, so admitting them to her isn’t going to do much to help them. The patients are afraid to stand up for themselves because they fear being moved to a different part of the ward. They believe if they act out against the nurse they will be put into the Disturbed ward, and they might have to endure shock therapy or even an operation. Sessions in the ward, do not help any patients in the ward because they are afraid to be themselves due to the fear of being judge or moved to a worse part of the ward. Reader #5-One day in the ward, the Big Nurse got all the patients together for their group therapy session and it was the first one in the book so far. Big Nurse says to the patients “Now. Who will start? Let out those old secrets.”They all just sat there in silence and didn’t say a word. Since no one decided to speak up, the nurse decided to bring up “past history” from that one book that everyone writes in about each other. That made everyone uneasy and sparked something in their brains to make them want to speak up all of the sudden. They all started yelling out confessions, saying things like “I tried to take my little sister to bed.” and “I killed my cat when I was six…”. It was very chaotic and odd because it seemed like they were all trying to out-do each other with what they have done. One patient, Pete, was sick of hearing everyone yell out all these things to please the nurse and he belted out saying, “I’m tired!” He kept saying it over and over again. The Big Nurse got aggravated and called the black boys to take him away since he was causing unnecessary commotion. I don’t think there’s roles in the group therapy sessions because it depends on their emotions that day. Obviously, there will always be one patient to talk first but, I don’t think it will always be the same. The sessions seem pointless to me because the patients don’t get to talk about their feelings and Big Nurse doesn’t give them advice on how to cope or encourage them to do good. The whole time they were confessing she repeatedly said yes and it was creepy. She made it seem like she was satisfied with it. All of the patients are honestly helpless because if they do decide to stick up for themselves, Big Nurse will just call in the black boys and they will do something to torture the patients and then nothing is solved. They’re all terrified and stay quiet because they don’t want to have to interact with the black boys. Reader #6-Chief bromden’s experience in the therapy sessions is weird. The group sessions are basically them talking about what they have done or tried to do in their life for them to get into the mental institution. The group focuses on them trying to deal with them being in there and overcoming the things that they had done. The patient’s don’t stand up for themselves because their scared too. They think that standing up for themselves is going to cause something bad. When the patients are talking about what they did to get in there as said in the quote ‘’ I tried to take my little sister to bed’’ there all talking about what they have done and overcoming what they did so can atleast get some grief about it. Reader #7-the group therapy sessions seem to be kind of awkward. i don’t think anyone really talks. they seem afraid. in the past, pete tried to tell them something about himself for once, but he just got punished for it. so now him and the others are probably just afraid to open up. nurse ratched is always the one to start criticizing or “picking on” someone. In the text, it says “Mr. McMurphy… my friend… i’m not a chicken, Im a rabbit. The doctor is a rabbit. .... All of us here are rabbits of varying ages and degrees… we need a good strong wolf like the nurse to teach us our place.” (Kesey 64) Nurse racthed is the wolf and the patients are rabbits. those are the roles people take during these sessions. Reader #8-People act in certain ways when they are in groups for a variety of different reasons. Like in the therapy group they all were silent for a very long time. In the text it states “ And, she’d put all the acutes in a trance by sitting there in the silence for twenty minutes after the question, quiet as an electric alarm about to go off.” The group is probably acting this way because it is hard to talk about your feeling in front of people you’re are not familiar with. Especially when you have a mental illness like the people in the group. When the group finally cracked they all started talking about doing insane and illegal things. for example “I tried taking my sister to bed.”. That is something that you don’t normally tell people. But this probably helps them because the can get the bad things they did off their chest without getting in trouble. Reader #9-I think that the group sessions are very awkward. None of the patients enjoy participating, and no one is willing to even make eye contact with Nurse Ratched except for McMurphy. He is the only one who who will talk and share his opinion. Patients are taken back by this. The group focuses on the big nurse and McMurphy because they are interested that he is actually standing up to Big Nurse. Everyone is always silent, but Pete always complains about being tired. No one ever stands up for themselves because they don’t want to get in trouble and be sent for a lobotomy. Although, McMurphy is determined to get under Ratched’s skin without being sent to the disturbed ward. Reader #10-In the book so far, we learn a lot about how the patients can be and act, especially during their group therapy sessions. These sessions usually consist of silence but at the most recent therapy session, they started to complain and ask tons of questions such as "Why does the dorms have to be locked on the weekends?". For some odd reason the staff seems to just let them do so instead of stopping and controlling the patient's. This is a very significant part of the book because it is showing how the staff tries to keep them contin so they have no say in anything. That is why McMurphy finds this very strange considering the staff and nurse Ratched normally would have dealt with this situation by now. There are a lot of different types of conflicts that people encounter in their daily lives. It may be just a small argument with a friend, but it could also be something a lot bigger than that. While there may be many reasons for these conflicts, one of the biggest causes of them is power and who has more of it. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, there is a very clear division between who has power and who does not have power. Through this novel, we can start to explore how people gain power, where they get it from, and why it is so important to have power. Let’s see how the readers answered this question!
Reader #1-The power and control is what is most important in Nurse Ratched’s view. In the combine, Ratched holds most of the power inside the institution, and no one can take it away from her. Even though, she has to okay her actions with the person who is incharge of the whole institution from the outside. Inside, the patients see her as a bully, the enemy, and someone to be afraid of. Nurse Ratched enjoys using fear to control the patients. “She doesn’t need to accuse. She has a genius for insinuation. Did you ever hear her, in the course of our discussion today, ever once hear her accuse me of anything?”(Kesey 64). This text example shows that although Nurse Ratched doesn’t actually accuse anyone of doing anything, somehow she has a way of making the patient feel as if they did something terribly wrong. In the real world women like Nurse Ratched do not get as much authority as she does, and if they somehow get to a big job. They are watched over and treated differently because of their gender. In the world of business if a person is not on top of the pyramid. They do not have any power over anyone. Cuckoo’s Nest has a different story however. Even though Nurse Ratched isn’t actually in charge in the eyes of the outside world. In the institution that is a very different story. She is in charge and has the power to do anything if she really wants to. Reader #2-The patient's view Nurse Ratched as the symbol of power in the ward. Nurse Ratched is more powerful than even the doctor because she can get him fired with just one phone call by saying “that the doctor seems to be making a great number of requisitions for Demerol” because if the supervisor heard that then she would suspect that he was using it himself. The patient's are afraid of her because she has the power to do whatever she wants to do. Chief Bromden hallucinates and thinks that Nurse Ratched is a gigantic monster that was gonna punish the aides but she changes back to human before the patients can see. Chief views her like that because she is an intimidating figure that over uses her power. The emasculation is what Nurse Ratched does to the male patients by make them feel like less of a man because they are being controlled by a woman. That is how the patient's view Nurse Ratched. Reader #3-where do people get their power from? power can come from a lot of things in the real world. In the book nurse ratched “calm as anything, puts the log book back in the basket and takes out another folder and open it and starts reading. McMurry….a series of arrests for drunkenness, assault and battery..” (kesey 45). This is how the big nurse uses her power. At anytime she can pull out someone's file and start reading it to shut them up, or make them understand that she is the boss and can do what she wants. There isn't really a power difference between the power in the book and in real life. Just as in the book people do that in real life too, They abuse their power to show the authority they have. Reader #4-Emasculation, more generally speaking, is to make a man feel less masculine and to deprive him of his strength. McMurphy immediately feels the effect of this upon entering the institution and after attending a meeting. He’s stunned by Nurse Ratched’s ability to manipulate and brainwash all the patients. They fear Nurse Ratched greatly and are aware of her extensive powers in the ward so they do all they can to avoid one of her punishments. She’s carefully thought out and executed who she hires to help her, methods of discipline, etc. Ratched is simply a control freak. The patients know that if they resist any of her regulations they could end up in the Disturbed Ward, the Shock Shop, or have a lobotomy done and that’s enough to keep them in their place . Harding says the only way to control a woman like her is through sex. A misogynistic view point but McMurphy takes it into consideration and continues to devise a plan of resistance against her. This scenario in the book is much different than in the real world where men typically are in positions of power, especially in the time period the book takes place, but then again that’s just how Nurse Ratched likes it. Reader #5- People gain power in society from how much they know. McMurphy has tried to take control of the Big Nurse by talking about his uncle. “Ma’am, McMurphy says, have I told you about my uncle Hallahan and the woman who used to screw up his name?” (Kesey 48). This shows that McMurphy is trying to take control mentally over the nurse. The patient's view Nurse Ratched as someone who’s in charge, but can be taken advantage of. McMurphy says, “Our dear Miss Ratched? Our sweet, smiling, tender angel of mercy, Mother Ratched, a ball-cutter?” (Kesey 60). She is perceived as a pretty, motherly like woman to the patients. Most patients call her a “Veritable angel”(Kesey 61). To gain the power in society, they try to take control and advantage of the ones that are in charge. Reader #6-People gain power in society by using anger and intimidation. Nurse Ratched is a perfect example of this. In the ward, everyone knows that she gets furious when something isn’t going her way. “The Big Nurse tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine. The slightest thing messy or out of kilter or in the way ties her into a little white knot of tight-smiled fury.” (Kesey 28) Nurse Ratched’s main motivation is order. She wants things in order and she wants things her way. To achieve her desire for order and power, Nurse Ratched practically has a meltdown when even the slightest thing is out of place. Reader #7-In this group discussion a lot is going on between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched they are both key players, fighting for dominance. McMurphy feels emasculation in the way all the patients are not allowed to show any real emotion. For example when Mcmurphy arrives and Chief Bromden says it's the first real laugh he has heard in years. McMurphy doesn't really notice this until the meeting, where all he gets are a couple of grins. Nurse Ratched has an advantage in the way that she controls the place. The patient's view her like a big machine because of her on schedule consistency. She also has a very short fuse when people Interupt her smooth flow. Mc Murphy though is about to challenge her. “that's a good rule for a smart gambler; look the game over awhile before you draw yourself a hand. Truth. What is it? Why is it important? Why do we value the truth so much? Our society hates liars, however everyone lies once in awhile right? What is our motivation to do that? In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, telling the truth has great value to Chief Bromden. Why is truth so important to Chief Bromden and society, especially when one is not in a position of power? Let’s take it to the readers!
Reader #1-Truth is important in all areas of life. Not telling or sharing the truth hurts people and could affect the outcome and possibly hurt you in the end as well. The importance of truth is all around us. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Chief Bromden mentions “But it’s the truth, even if it’s not real” (Kesey 8). He pretends to be deaf to avoid contact and conflict, but people treat him differently because he's ‘deaf’. This is a good example of how not telling the truth can affect him. He should learn soon that lying can and could affect him negatively. After dealing with this problem for awhile, he’ll learn that you can't always assume lying will get you through life. Reader #2-When there is imbalance of power, victimised groups must be spoken up for as they can’t do so for themselves. Chief has been fooling the people of the asylum into thinking he’s deaf and dumb. They believe the act and in turn treat him poorly. He’s waiting for his perfect chance to expose Nurse Ratched, the orderlies, McMurphy etc. He describes how liberating it will feel when he finally does but admits he doesn’t have a crystal clear memory of the events that took place. Fear is probably what has held Chief Bromden back in the past from telling the truth (possibly an effect of his schizophrenia). “...you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen” (Kesey 8) Although he may not remember clearly things that’ve happened, he feels whatever he says will still be accurate as far as how brutal they’ve been to him. His intents are most likely to improve treatment of patients in the asylum. Reader #3- it is important for the truth to told in a circumstance where a person doesn’t hold a lot of power because telling the truth is how one gains power. The truth that needs to be told is that McMurphy is not actually deff like everyone thinks. When everyone talks about things in the hospital and they talk about it in front of McMurphy, they don’t know he actually hears everything they are talking about. When chief Bromden says “but it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen”? i think it means even if you say something that isn’t true there is still a little bit of truth in the lie. McMurphy hasnt told the truth yet because he probably feels no one will listen or care. Thats how i would feel about the situation. He feels like he has t tell the truth now because now he feels everyone is looking at him differently in the hospital. |
AuthorWelcome to Miss Hardie's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Blog! Here we will be posting our thoughts and discussing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Please join in on the discussion! ArchivesCategories
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