Page 73-150
While reading this book, I had not given any thought to the author like you had. It was interesting to learn that Ken Kesey was a wrestler. Although you took the time to research him, I don’t really see any significance of his character towards the book. Maybe the strength that Ken had may have influenced him to write a story where physical strength has no value. Since the story we are reading takes place in a mental ward, I think that it would be safe to assume that the physical characteristics of the patients has no importance, and instead mental strength is important. I really like how you compared this book to the Book Of Mice and Men. I have not read it, but based on your description, I can relate to the story. While describing the book, you mentioned that the two main characters were in a way outcastes. In this story, I feel that this is not the case. I do not really see the Chief as an outcast. I feel this way because I never felt that the character of the Chief was asked to do something that the rest of the ward was not asked to do. In terms of his role in the cleaning of the ward, everyone had a cleaning job, however since the Chief is the main character, as readers, we know the most about his job.
While reading this book, I had not given any thought to the author like you had. It was interesting to learn that Ken Kesey was a wrestler. Although you took the time to research him, I don’t really see any significance of his character towards the book. Maybe the strength that Ken had may have influenced him to write a story where physical strength has no value. Since the story we are reading takes place in a mental ward, I think that it would be safe to assume that the physical characteristics of the patients has no importance, and instead mental strength is important. I really like how you compared this book to the Book Of Mice and Men. I have not read it, but based on your description, I can relate to the story. While describing the book, you mentioned that the two main characters were in a way outcastes. In this story, I feel that this is not the case. I do not really see the Chief as an outcast. I feel this way because I never felt that the character of the Chief was asked to do something that the rest of the ward was not asked to do. In terms of his role in the cleaning of the ward, everyone had a cleaning job, however since the Chief is the main character, as readers, we know the most about his job.
In terms of the writing style, in my first post, I commented that the character of the Chief is more like a narrator as well as a main character because of his mute and deafness. The Chief is very detail oriented, because he picks up a lot of information that others may miss. For example, when watching the other patients play cards, he noticed that McMurphy may have been winning against the other patients, but he also let them win in the end. “Then just before nine-thirty he started letting them win, lets them win it all back so fast they don’t hardly remember losing” (page 79). The Chief also noticed that ever since McMurphy came in the ward, the fog machine was going on a lot less. I think that this observant nature of his may come in handy for the rest of the story.
I noticed that the fog machine is mentioned again in this section of the book. I think that the fog machine is part of his craziness. When the fog machine affects Bromden, it seems to not affect the rest of the patients. My real question would be, what is happening to the Chief whenever he mentions the fog. In my first post I thought that it might be some after effect of some type of medicine or something, but that does not really make a lot of sense because these reactions had no fixed time for the Chief and also, the arrival of McMurphy made these reactions come less. What do you think Lauren?
When we first left of in the story, McMurphy made a bet with the rest of the patients that he would make the head nurse lose her temper in a week, and I think that he was able to complete that bet in this section. First, McMurphy tried to make the head nurse made through humor with the towel incident. “You can’t run around here—in a towel!” (page 93). And he also tries to anger the nurse with his demand of a vote for the baseball tournament. And finally, when he gets the rest of the hospital to join him in his “non-violent” methods of protest, the nurse finally breaks down and yells at the patients. I am really curious as to why McMurphy went to such an extent to anger the head nurse. To be in the position of nurse in this type of situation must have taken a lot of will power. I really commend the nurse’s efforts to keep her feelings of distress a secret from her patients for so long.
Now that the McMurphy and the head nurse are types of rivals, I wonder if the two will ever come to a friendly end.
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