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.
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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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