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.
5 Comments
Kiara Jones
12/7/2015 12:32:24 pm
I agree with Reader #1. The gum seems minimal but it represents a lot between the two of them. It lets McMurphy know where Chief's mind is at and his intent. They become partners in crime in a sense.
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Danielle morrissey
12/7/2015 12:34:51 pm
I agree with reader number 1, the relationship between chief and mcmurphy is going to lend the brokenness that is the ward. The two of them put together can change the way the ward works for good.
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charli burgess
12/7/2015 03:33:57 pm
I agree with reader #2 because chief would have never been so talkative before this. this was the first time chief actually really communicated which is a huge change in his relationship with McMurphy. it also seems right that McMurphy sharing his gun was trying to show chief he can be trusted.
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Hanna Smith
12/7/2015 10:15:58 pm
I have to disagree with reader #2 because they have had contact before and it's clear that Mcmurphy knew that he wasn't ever deaf. he kept going along with it because he knew it was Bromden's security blanket. So when they end up talking, Mcmurphy isn't at all surprised that he can hear him. He treats him like the normal person that he is. Mcmurphy has developed a lot of selfless characteristics in the last few chapters.
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Bridget
12/8/2015 10:29:41 am
I agree with reader 1. Then sharing the gum started a new friendship towards Eachother
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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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