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.
6 Comments
Paige Callahan
11/11/2015 04:50:39 pm
I agree with with reader #1, truth is an important aspect in life. I think that chief Bromden is hurting himself by not being truthful with himself and others in the ward. He isn't def and he's smarter than people make him out to be.
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Hanna Smith
11/11/2015 10:03:08 pm
I agree with writer #3 when they mention that "i think it means even if you say something that isn’t true there is still a little bit of truth in the lie. " Because the truth can be disguised through a lie. It can show how a person is truly feeling and unmask their insecurities. I thought that was really interesting and optimistic the was they analyzed the meaning of a lie.
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Christian Pishotta
11/12/2015 08:30:01 am
I to agree with how truth can be disguised as a lie and show how people truly feel. As well as telling the truth when one doesn't have any power and tries to gain it. But the one problem i see with this is that reader #3 mistook McMurphy for being deaf when it was Chief Bromden who was pretending to be deaf.
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lauren seidenzahl
11/12/2015 09:43:54 am
i agree with reader 1 because i agree that the truth is very important, and by lying you are only hurting yourself and you would be much better off to just be truthful with yourself and with everyone else around you. cheif is pretending to be deaf and lying to everyone, but he would really be so much better off just telling the truth.
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Ryan W.
11/12/2015 10:16:56 am
I would have to disagree with writer #3 when they say "telling the truth is how one gains power" because in current times people can gain power by telling lies also. For example look at our government, on many occasions our government has lied to us to avoid further issues. I do agree with everything else the writer talks about though.
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Dorian
11/24/2015 10:03:18 am
I agree with Ryan in the fact that Reader three is a little confused and wrong with what they said
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