Empathy and compassion are important qualities for a person to have, however certain situations call for a stricter approach. How does each approach for treatment work in the mental ward? Let’s see what our readers think.
Reader #1-‘A gentle hand does more than a harming one’ -Unknown. This is true in all things. ‘A gentle hand’ refers to peaceful times, or an individual who has brought peace. A harmful hand seeks to destroy and wreak havoc across what it touches. Nurse Ratched’s fear inducing rampage is harming the patients more than healing them. Very early on in the book, we get an idea of how Nurse Ratched is when she thinks no one is looking; “So she really lets herself go, and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up, bigger and bigger….” (Kesey 5)If the Nurse was not supervised at all by anyone, she would beat and subdue the patients with violence. However, if she tried once to be nice to them, the patients would respond better. Wary at first, yes, but she has to retain the niceness, and continue to speak softly and nicely. Everyone is more responsive when they believe they are treated better. Reader #2-In ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ McMurphy and Chief are showed some kindness from one of the nurses when she went ahead and “undid our cuffs and gave McMurphy a cigarette and gave me a stick of gum.” (page 278) Now when you show compassion to people, it shows that you care and are trying to do more for them and others, but may have you being taken advantage of by others. As for a more stricter approach it does keep things in order nice and tightly but it makes people start to seem like nothing but puppets. So far it seems that compassion have been more beneficial for the patients, for they seem to be more alive and be more of themselves than they ever have been in a long time. And in my personal opinion, i would prefer compassion because it can make you express more of yourself to others. So overall, I think the compassionate approach to treatment is more beneficial and most effective than Nurse Ratched’s Stricter approach.
5 Comments
Ryan W
12/10/2015 12:00:59 pm
Reader 1's quote really captures the essence of this book. A harming hand, The Nurse and Black Boys, don't show compassion for the patients. The helping hand, McMurphy, seems to care about each patient. For some patients he has helped them more than any of the staff has.
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shannon heraty
12/10/2015 12:42:27 pm
i agree with both readers. both of them say if u show compassion it makes other people feel comfortable and open up. If u approach as strict most people wont feel comfortable.
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Allie david
12/10/2015 09:11:12 pm
Nurse ratcheds manipulative and rampages dont make the ward feel safe and infact it makes you feel like this is not place you should be.
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Danielle Morrissey
12/10/2015 09:14:56 pm
I agree with reader #1, Nurse Ratched is only so fake nice because other people are around. If it were 100% up to her these patients would be in electroshock everyday. She thrives off of the power.
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Hanna Smith
12/15/2015 10:29:27 pm
I agree with reader #1 because approaching someone with a gentler hand, would most definitely make the patients more comfortable. they know what to expect from her and it's usually not good. When she talks to them in a nice voice, they assume trouble is coming, so maybe it would make the patients a little uneasy at first, but if she kept up her act, the ward would definitely run smoother.
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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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