The first quarter of "On flew over the cuckoo's nest" was very enjoyable. The author Ken Kesey does an amazing job describing the mental institution along with it's staff and patients.
The point of view that the book takes is very unique, you see what is happening from Chief Bromden's eyes. Meaning he has to be in every scene and listing to every conversation. Even though the beginning of the book seems very dark and emotionless when the character Randle McMurphy is introduced a lot of humor is introduced as well. As the book continues we find out more about McMurphy. We learn he is a very loud man as well as a gambler and that he also strives for being to top, be it the top loony or the man in charge. Not even 50 pages in to the book does the struggle between Miss.Ratched or the Big Nurse and McMurphy begin. The constant negotiating between to two of them is quite an enjoyable thing to read about. Throughout the first quarter you get a feel how disobedient and unwilling McMurphy really is.
McMurphy reminds me of a small school boy, unwilling to do his school work even when the big teacher tells him to. Gossiping about how terrible she really is and how if you listen to her you are doomed, while patients like Harding are the good students who do as they are told.
Some of the other thing I find most interesting about "On flew over the cuckoo's nest" is as we are seeing the story from chief Bromden's eyes we are seeing things that I could only assume are not in fact actually there. For example when Harding and McMurphy are arguing about all the patients being rabbits, Bromden sees another patient turn into a rabbit, or at least that is how it is decided. Another instant is the fog. When Bromden talks or rather thinks of the fog and how he describes it I think his mind is only thinking that the staff is putting fog in the hospital. There is clearly something wrong with Bromden, something more then we can see at the moment but he is also the sanest in a sense of what is going on in the real world.
Journal entry 2
The second quarter of the book I find is the slowest part of the book to read. Or rather the least exiting in my opinion.
I found it quite confusing with Bromden seeing things that are not real. For example, when he was walking around the ward at night and sees a worker cutting open an old patient named Blastic. I had a hard time deciphering what was real and what was Bromden’s imagination. In this section of the book we find out more and more about McMurphy and what he is like.
The sheer amount of negation that goes on between Miss Ratched and McMurphy over baseball seemed like the highlight of the section. You really get an idea of how unwilling McMurphy is to the rules of the ward. I do agree with the Big Nurse on the fact of is schedules are changed it could really mess up some of the men. I personally don’t really don’t think McMurphy wanted to watch the game that bad, as he after being told no, sat in front of the black TV set and the other patients joined him. If he really wanted to keep up with the game he would have asked if it was possible to listen to the radio of the game over the intercom instead of music. This was just another act of rebellion on his part.
The entire section was McMurphy causing trouble and angering the staff. I did finds it amusing to see the staff members failing to take control of the situation. McMurphy over all reminds me of a spoiled kid who has gotten everything he has ever wanted and then all of a sudden his mother hires a nanny (Miss Ratched) and all of his toys (baseball) are taken away so he starts having tantrums and won’t listen to a word the new nanny says. He tries to take control because he hates the new nanny and will do anything to overpower her.
Journal entry 3
The 3rd section of the One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest was the longest section to read because the last chapter was much longer then the rest. While reading this section I found, of the first two sections it had the most events.
I really enjoyed finally reading about Bromdens past and figuring out one of the possible and most likely one of the reasons leading up to him acting deaf and dumb. Throughout the book I tried to figure out what made Bromden tick, what where the reasons for his actions. And finally making sense of it all was a relief. I have further read on the internet that Bromden had schizophrenia.
And it was the reason for him seeing the fog and machine workers.
I can only imagine that Bromden has been completely silent for many years as a result to him acting deaf and dumb. It was quite amusing to see Bromden open up so fast to McMurphy and talk so much. p to that point, we as the readers have only seen his thoughts and his interpretations of the events around him. It was probably a big relief to Bromden that he was finally able to talk to someone. To Bromden McMurphy is the biggest strongest man he knows. The one guy who will put stop to the Combine. And McMurphy thinks he can too.
One of the events that made McMurphy seem much bigger that he really was when he was able to convince the big nurse to allow him to take ten of the patients (who had paid) on a fishing trip. You would think out of all the trouble he makes for the nurses in the ward that they would never let him leave their sight. But in all honesty I think Miss Ratched let him leave to keep him out of trouble. If she had said no she probably assumed he would brake the glass...again. So getting him out of the ward with supervision by one of the doctors was probably the best idea to keep McMurphy in line, as he still has not let the no baseball rule slide. But overall I enjoyed this section.
Journal entry 4
The last part of the book seemed slow paced for a bit until after the party when Miss Ratched shows up. It is a bit hard to notice but Billy seemed to start to stutter less until Miss Ratched says she will have to inform his mother. I assume this happened because after getting comfortable the stutter, which may have been hereditary or maybe he developed it over time had started to disappear. But due to the stress of Miss Ratched threating to tell his mother, Billy panicked. I had already known from the beginning of the book that Billy commits suicide (someone had spoiled it for me). So the shock was not really there when he killed himself.
After Billy cut his throat Miss Ratched started to blame him for Billy's and Cheswick's. Cheswick's death had nothing to do with McMurphy yet he was still blamed. Most people would take this as Miss Ratched being upset about the deaths because she cared for them, but this is not the case. She did not care for them in a loving way. Miss Ratched was only a nurse set to look after the patients. She used Billy's death as an excuse at an attempt to harm McMurphy mentally. She was very calm through the entire ordeal.
When the post-operative McMurphy is wheeled in the other patients instantly came the conclusion that it was a fake body and that no way something so lifeless could really be McMurphy. A page later Bromden kills the newly Lobotomised Randle. I did further research online to see other peoples opinions on why Bromden had killed him. Lots of people seemed to have different theories on why or how he had the guts to kill his friend, and the thing is that man in the gurney was no longer Randle. He was just the body left over. Bromden knew that after knowing McMurphy for as long as he did, leaving him as a hollow shell was not how he would want to live the rest of his life. He knew that leaving McMurphy would be letting the nurse have the last laugh and Bromden knew that McMurphy would have hated knowing that so he ended his life.
Response to review
The review that was chosen by our group was very interesting to read. The review it self was long but it included many good points and small tidbits about the movie adaptation made in 1975. The author of the review does a very good job describing the book and giving it well deserved compliments.
The review even talks about Ken Kesey and his experience working the night shift, like Mr.Turkle, in a mental heath institution. I agree with the review. The writer clearly has a passion for Ken Kesey and his novel ''One flew over the cuckoo's nest''. The writer stats that the novel is one of their favoured books of fiction, and I have to agree with them. Books that focus on the mentally ill and unstable seem to interest me in many ways.
The first few paragraphs of the review focus on the description and atmosphere of the novel. What I found rather interesting about the review was that they described Miss Ratched as the "villain" of the story and Irish gambling man Randle McMurphy as the "hero". Sure, most of us thought that Miss Ratched was a bit over the top and strict, but we have to remember the story takes places in the 1950's and mental health hospitals where more like prisons that gave you pills. The staff was meant to be hard on the patients to try and rehabilitate them. I also feel "rebel" is a more appopriate title for McMurphy rater then "hero". The definition of a hero in the dictionary is "A person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities". I personally think that McMurphy is admired for his "courage" to stand up to the nurse and rebel against the rules of the ward. McMurphy is also unfit to hold the title hero because he does every thing to his own advantage. Nothing that McMurphy has ever done has been out of pure kindness, he always gets something in return.
Journal entry 3
The 3rd section of the One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest was the longest section to read because the last chapter was much longer then the rest. While reading this section I found, of the first two sections it had the most events.
I really enjoyed finally reading about Bromdens past and figuring out one of the possible and most likely one of the reasons leading up to him acting deaf and dumb. Throughout the book I tried to figure out what made Bromden tick, what where the reasons for his actions. And finally making sense of it all was a relief. I have further read on the internet that Bromden had schizophrenia.
And it was the reason for him seeing the fog and machine workers.
I can only imagine that Bromden has been completely silent for many years as a result to him acting deaf and dumb. It was quite amusing to see Bromden open up so fast to McMurphy and talk so much. p to that point, we as the readers have only seen his thoughts and his interpretations of the events around him. It was probably a big relief to Bromden that he was finally able to talk to someone. To Bromden McMurphy is the biggest strongest man he knows. The one guy who will put stop to the Combine. And McMurphy thinks he can too.
One of the events that made McMurphy seem much bigger that he really was when he was able to convince the big nurse to allow him to take ten of the patients (who had paid) on a fishing trip. You would think out of all the trouble he makes for the nurses in the ward that they would never let him leave their sight. But in all honesty I think Miss Ratched let him leave to keep him out of trouble. If she had said no she probably assumed he would brake the glass...again. So getting him out of the ward with supervision by one of the doctors was probably the best idea to keep McMurphy in line, as he still has not let the no baseball rule slide. But overall I enjoyed this section.
Journal entry 4
The last part of the book seemed slow paced for a bit until after the party when Miss Ratched shows up. It is a bit hard to notice but Billy seemed to start to stutter less until Miss Ratched says she will have to inform his mother. I assume this happened because after getting comfortable the stutter, which may have been hereditary or maybe he developed it over time had started to disappear. But due to the stress of Miss Ratched threating to tell his mother, Billy panicked. I had already known from the beginning of the book that Billy commits suicide (someone had spoiled it for me). So the shock was not really there when he killed himself.
After Billy cut his throat Miss Ratched started to blame him for Billy's and Cheswick's. Cheswick's death had nothing to do with McMurphy yet he was still blamed. Most people would take this as Miss Ratched being upset about the deaths because she cared for them, but this is not the case. She did not care for them in a loving way. Miss Ratched was only a nurse set to look after the patients. She used Billy's death as an excuse at an attempt to harm McMurphy mentally. She was very calm through the entire ordeal.
When the post-operative McMurphy is wheeled in the other patients instantly came the conclusion that it was a fake body and that no way something so lifeless could really be McMurphy. A page later Bromden kills the newly Lobotomised Randle. I did further research online to see other peoples opinions on why Bromden had killed him. Lots of people seemed to have different theories on why or how he had the guts to kill his friend, and the thing is that man in the gurney was no longer Randle. He was just the body left over. Bromden knew that after knowing McMurphy for as long as he did, leaving him as a hollow shell was not how he would want to live the rest of his life. He knew that leaving McMurphy would be letting the nurse have the last laugh and Bromden knew that McMurphy would have hated knowing that so he ended his life.
Response to review
The review that was chosen by our group was very interesting to read. The review it self was long but it included many good points and small tidbits about the movie adaptation made in 1975. The author of the review does a very good job describing the book and giving it well deserved compliments.
The review even talks about Ken Kesey and his experience working the night shift, like Mr.Turkle, in a mental heath institution. I agree with the review. The writer clearly has a passion for Ken Kesey and his novel ''One flew over the cuckoo's nest''. The writer stats that the novel is one of their favoured books of fiction, and I have to agree with them. Books that focus on the mentally ill and unstable seem to interest me in many ways.
The first few paragraphs of the review focus on the description and atmosphere of the novel. What I found rather interesting about the review was that they described Miss Ratched as the "villain" of the story and Irish gambling man Randle McMurphy as the "hero". Sure, most of us thought that Miss Ratched was a bit over the top and strict, but we have to remember the story takes places in the 1950's and mental health hospitals where more like prisons that gave you pills. The staff was meant to be hard on the patients to try and rehabilitate them. I also feel "rebel" is a more appopriate title for McMurphy rater then "hero". The definition of a hero in the dictionary is "A person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities". I personally think that McMurphy is admired for his "courage" to stand up to the nurse and rebel against the rules of the ward. McMurphy is also unfit to hold the title hero because he does every thing to his own advantage. Nothing that McMurphy has ever done has been out of pure kindness, he always gets something in return.
Savannah, your thoughts on the book were really great! Your comparison of McMurphy to a school boy is such a true one. He really does possess some childlike qualities that are prevalent in the beginning of the book, like his gossiping and his getting upset with the rules. I also agree with your thoughts on why Bromden killed McMurphy. Bromden is the type to do what a friend would’ve wanted regardless of their ability to ask him, and I feel that McMurphy really wouldn’t of wanted to live a half-life as a vegetable.
ReplyDelete- Jonelle
Thank you very much Jonelle for yourcomment! I found it amusing how Ken Kesey made McMurphy so childish, it made the book a little lighter to read. Comparing McMurphy to a child was the only accurate comparison I could make! Always wanting to play cards, not taking pills, refusing to work, these are all things that McMurphy kept from his childhood! He will always be a rebel *tsk tsk*
ReplyDelete-Savannah