Lauren, in my first post, I meant to comment on how transparent the character of Gene was portrayed as in A Separate Peace. Although his friendship itself was not that strong, I think that the best thing about the character of Gene was that he was honest with himself. The quote “Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone” (page 37) showed that Gene did not want to lie to himself about his relation with Phineas. In our first book, I think that the honesty was lacking between the two main characters. I say this because Bromden had tried to ignore the fact that he was sane and could hear even though McMurphy saw through him. In the second book, Gene does not deny his actions to Finny as Bromden denied being able to hear the outside world by continuing to act as if he was deaf even after McMurphy had met with him regarding his hearing ability.
Contrary to your belief, I do not think that One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was as bad as you described it in your posts. Even though it was not as cheery and interesting as we had anticipated, it is still a good story. When we actually think about it, these ugly events are actually happen in the real world. There are people who are mentally unstable who are sent to such dangerous mental wards. I would also like to give commend the author, Ken Kessy for taking a stab at writing through a different perspective. At times, the book was much more difficult to understand in comparison to our later book, but I think that even through a mental perspective, Kesey was able to effectively deliver the storyline to his audience. One reason that I think that the first book may have been more difficult to understand may have been because of the age differences between the two sets of characters in both books. A Separate Peace may have been easier to understand because it is told from a teenager’s point of view. Currently, we are both in our teen years, and just like the Gene and Finny, we also have high school drama experiences. For example, we both know how jealous plays out between teenage friends because I assume that some type of experience like that may have also happened to us. The terminology which was used in the first book came from adult men. I know for a fact that I was stumped by the lingo used for describing events in the first book. For example, I had a hard time determining what the author meant when he said “that little hustler would of actually burnt me to a frazzle by the time she reached the legal sixteen” (page 43). McMurphy says this when is telling the other men in the ward about his sex life. The sex interest that the men show in the first book makes it harder for people like us to concentrate to their story because we have different priorities.
This previous example leads me to the difference between two main themes in both books. Sexuality is present in the first book while athletics is very important to the story line of the second book. Sex with Candy at the end of the book, for example gives Billy confidence and power. Also, the patients take a lot of pride in discussing their sexual lives with each other at the mental ward. The importance of sex in the first book proves that the characters are under the wrong influences and it also goes to show how the people in the first book viewed each other. In the end when McMurphy takes the mental ward for an outing with two item girls, he gives the impression that the girls were objects that could be used to appease the other men, and they later could be ignored. In the second book, the theme of commitment to athletics sets characters as rivals. This can be seen when Gene becomes jealous that his friend was good in both academics as well as athletics while Gene was only good in academics.
I hope my post was able to give you a different perspective on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
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