The Death of McMurphy

pages 311-325/ July 30,2010

Reading Response #12

By the end of the novel, the reader can see, even though McMurphy says otherwise, that his body and mind is affected from all of the electrotherapy shocks that he has received. The men can also sense this change in him as well. They tell him to leave because they know what will happen if he does not leave, they know will become of him if he does not. Since McMurphy had arrived at the hospital the patients have become men, they are not “rabbits” anymore, and were pulled out of the fog that the nurse had spread through out the ward for many years. Although McMurphy has won many of the battles with the nurse, he cannot dodge the inevitable, even though he tries. After the attack, he is given a lobotomy. This causes him to become a vegetable. Bromden dignifies McMurphy by killing him at the end. I agree with what was done here. If he would not have killed McMurphy then the nurse could have used him as an example of what could happen. This gives her the power back that she lost. All the defying of the rules that the patients did was for nothing if McMurphy would not have forfeited his life. This may seem very brave for him to do but the other men view him as some kind of a god and he knew this. The Nurse used her ultimate weapon to destroy McMurphy.

Should the Patients get in Trouble?

pages 291-310/July 30,2010

Reading Response #11

If these patients truly have mental problems then why are they getting in trouble when they were under the care of a person that works at the ward? Turkle is the one that had the marijuana and allowed the patients to have some of it. He also knew that there was alcohol and drank with the other patients. Turkle may have been tired and maybe a little delusional but I think that if the patients are really as disable as the nurse plays them out to be then why are they the ones that are always getting in trouble. Disabled people often do not know right from wrong and that is why they have people around them to tell them no. I know that what they are doing is wrong but they were not told no when they brought up the idea to Turkle. The nurse needs to be more careful with the people that she hires to work at the ward.

Electrotherapy Shock Treatment

pages 272-290/July 25, 2010

Reading Response #10

Nurse Ratched ordered the Chief to have one electrotherapy shock treatment while McMurphy was given three in one week. The Nurse continually ordered the treatments for McMurphy because she did not like that he wakes up/ recovers from them as fast as he does. Nurse Ratched is threatened that the other patients on the ward look to McMurphy as a role model. She wants the patients to follow her rules and either do what she says or be punished. Although they acted in ways that were inappropriate at the ward, I believe that for any person to be given this shock treatment is cruel and unusual punishment. After the treatment, it usually takes most patients days to recover but they never fully get back to the person that they were before the shocks. Eventually after so many of these treatments, the person is virtually numbed and physically cannot do anything. Chief Bromden described men at the beginning of the book (Ruckly) where their body and brain was so destroyed they might as well be dead. If they want to punish the patients they should keep them in rooms away from others for a while or find alternative ways that do not involve killing the patients body, brain and spirit.

Should we be skeptical of McMurphy?

pages 251-271/ July 24, 2010

Reading Response #9

If I were one of the characters in this novel, I think I would have to side with what Nurse Ratched said in their most recent afternoon meeting. Throughout the novel so far I have believed that what McMurphy had been doing for the guys has been good for them. However, I can see where Nurse Ratched could be right with some of the things that she said. McMurphy may be doing good for these guys but it is not without something positive resulting for him (i.e. money). I would be skeptical of McMurphy from here on out if I was a patient at the ward. At the beginning of the book, I thought that what he was doing was fair and not just for the kick back of money that he was receiving from all of his patients. When McMurphy allowed the guys to bet on Bromden as to whether or not he could lift the control panel was not fair when he already knew that it could be lifted. As a character in the book, I would feel let down by Randle because I expected more out of him. As he finishes out his time in the ward, I do not think that any of the characters should bet any of their money against him because it is almost guaranteed that they will lose it and there is always some kind of mischief that follows his actions.

Outsiders

pages 225-250/July 24, 2010

Reading Response #8

The day finally came when McMurphy and his crew were scheduled to leave to go on the fishing trip. However, the Big Nurse had found some trouble to give them. Even though they started off having some trouble at the beginning of their day; McMurphy and his crew were finally accompanied by the doctor. As they left the hospital, the outside people stared and talked about them because they could tell they were from the ward due to the green uniforms that they were wearing. The “outsiders”, as the Chief called them, would continually judge them the entire morning. As the group stopped to fill the car tanks up with gasoline they got mocked and were treated unfairly. The two attendants at the gas station raised the price for their gas and threatened to make them buy unnecessary items such as sunglasses. Everyone that morning recognized the men because they were still wearing their green uniforms from the hospital. The “outsiders” in this novel, were very judgmental of people that were different from themselves. In society today we also seem to be like the “outsiders”. We judge because of people’s appearance (clothing, race, etc.) and their actions. Seeing the way it affects the other person makes me realize that what all of us do needs to be reevaluated. People often can not help the way they dress and act because they do not know any different and they was the way that they were either born or raised. We judge others but we do not realize the consequences. The guys began to feel worse about themselves and they just wanted to return back to the world that they know which is being stuck in the mental hospital for the rest of their lives. They did not want to have to face the real world ever again.

"Deaf and Dumb"

pages 197-224/ July 24,2010

Reading Repsonse #7

While reading, the friendship between Chief Bromden and Randle Patrick McMurphy began to unfold. The Chief broke out of his “deaf and dumb” role and talked to McMurphy; this is the first time he had talked to anyone in many years. The Chief felt comfortable to break out of his shell with McMurphy. Bromden has led everyone to believe that he can not talk and does not want McMurphy to know that he truly can hear and talk to others. With the “deaf and dumb” role that he plays enables him to hear everyone’s secrets; while in meetings the directors discuss things that they would normally not in front of other patients because they believe that he can not hear anything that they are saying. I believe that as the novel continues on we will see this friendship develop even further. The Chief and McMurphy are very similar in the way they think and act sometimes. The Chief knows what will happen to McMurphy if he continues to act out the way that he has been. He knows this because similar consequences occurred to his father. McMurphy can learn a lot from the Chief because he knows what the Big Nurse can to do McMurphy. Bromden has been at the hospital long enough to know what will happen; he has also heard the nurse talk about McMurphy while the staff was having a meeting. I think that the Chief could help McMurphy become discharged from the ward. If this friendship is further explored in this novel I think that great thing could happen.

Cagey

pages 164-196/July 14, 2010

Reading Response #6

The author, Ken Kesey, repeatedly uses the word “cagey” throughout the book. I think that it is interesting that he frequently uses the word in different contexts, which allows the word to have different meanings. This word corresponds with the characters in the text almost being confined to the ward until it is appropriate for them to go back and live their lives in the “normal” world; almost as if they were animals caged and secluded from the outside world forever. In the book, on page 3, it says, “They don’t bother not talking out loud about their hate secrets when I’m nearby because they think I’m deaf and dumb. Everybody thinks so. I’m cagey enough to fool them that much. If my being half Indian ever helped me in any way in this dirty life, it helped me being cagey, helped me all these years”. Chief Bromden is telling us about the situation that has been created. Within this context, the word cagey has been used to describe the chief as smart or intelligent enough to make others believe that he is deaf and dumb. Throughout the book, this word appears again, but with the meaning of being quite and kept inward. I think that Ken Kesey purposefully chose this word because it could be used in many different contexts but is also relevant in the setting of this novel.

The Sky For The First Time

" I realize I still had my eyes shut. I had shut them when I put my face to the screen, like I was scared to look outside. Now I had to open them. I looked out the window and saw for the first time how the hospital was out in the country. The moon was low in the sky over the pasture-land; the face of it was scarred and scuffed where it had just torn up out of the snarl of scrub oak and madrone trees on the horizon. The stars up close to the moon were pale; they got brighter and braver the farther they got out of the circle of light ruled by the giant moon."

Does Nurse Ratched Always Win?

pages 131- 163/ July 12, 2010

Reading Response #5

Nurse Ratched actions of keeping McMurphy on the ward is risk but very well thought out. She realizes that McMurphy and the other patients are testing her and that if she gives up and sends him on to the “disturbed” part of the hospital that she is admitting defeat. I wonder if the decision of keeping him there will come back and result in something even worse for her. The nurse has realized that McMurphy is trying to play her. Earlier in the book, Chief Bromden and the patients have realized that she always wins these battles, and possibly this one will be no different. Nurse Ratched keeps McMurphy on her ward because she wants him to realize that she always wins because right now he believes that he can break her. However, I believe that moving McMurphy to a different ward would be wrong would be wrong but not for the reasons why the nurse kept him there. Randle McMurphy has not done anything that would suggest that he is dangerous in anyway. Although he has acted out when he has not gotten his way, like many other patients have, the aides were able to control him and nothing too severe took place.

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Conformity

The patients at the ward have no personality anymore, they had it taken away. They have become nearly lifeless and are living life as they are told.

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"You lose yourself in the fog"

page 137/July 11, 2010

Quote #1

Quote:“I’m further off than I’ve ever been. This is what it’s like to be dead. I guess this is what it’s like to be a Vegetable; you lose yourself in the fog. You don’t move. They feed your body till it finally stops eating; then they burn it. It’s not so bad. There’s no pain. I don’t feel much of anything other than a touch of chill I figure will pass in time.”

Chief Bromden had been in this state of fog for most of the day. He barely sees anything that had been going in the ward. He experiences this most of his days while in the hospital but they do not normally last this long. Chief Bromden is hallucinating about this fog but truthfully, it may as well be true with all the rules and regulations that are enforced in the ward. The patients are numb from the loud music, which prevents conversation, and the patients virtually are not allowed to think by themselves they are told what to think most of the time. They are corrected and punished if they refuse to change their minds. The fog they are in seems like it will never end to them. This quote represents the way the characters are feeling at the beginning of the novel before Randle McMurphy comes and helps to pull the patients out of this fog.

Randle McMurphy

page 98-130/ July 11, 2010

Reading Response #4

Randle McMurphy has one of the strongest personalities of all of the characters. He knows who he is and will not change to conform into what Nurse Ratched believes is the perfect patient. McMurphy is strong willed and tries to help the others stick up for themselves. When McMurphy and the other acute patients are in the old tub room they do not believe that Randle will or is able to pick up the cement control block. With his strong will and determination, McMurphy picks up the block and proves everyone wrong. McMurphy likes to prove people wrong when they do not think that they can do something. The others have placed bets against him in challenges and they have lost. When Randle first arrived to the ward he said that part of the reason, why he had transferred there was because he likes to win and he “needed new suckers” to win against. At the facility he was before he had won the bets, so many times that he had nearly taken all of the people’s money. I have begun to admire the courageousness and will power of Randle McMurphy. The other patients can look to him to help find their inner voice. I believe that he will influence the others and they will take action and stand up for what they want and believe in.

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Dreams: Real or Fake

pages 65-97/ July 11, 2010

Reading Response #3

I wonder why Chief Bromden continually experiences “fog” like instances. Is this supposed to symbolize something and if so I wonder if it will be further explained later in the book. Chief Bromden explains this occurrence two or three times. Is he truly crazy or is something really going on behind the walls of this ward? The patients could be experiencing some type of abuse. However, these patients may have a distorted perception and are making “a mountain out of a molehill”. The Chief describes his dreams as if he had actually gone through these circumstances. I wonder, does Chief Bromden’s childhood involve an abusive household? In one of these dreams, he describes the ward transforming into a slaughterhouse. The character, “Vegetable Blastic” is hung upside down and skinned in Chief Bromden’s dream. These are very weird dreams to be having. I have begun to question if the Chief is truly crazy or if these dreams are foreshadowing what will come later.

Movie Trailer

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Movie Trailer

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Constant Routine

pages 33-64/ July 3, 2010

Reading Response #2

As I continue on in the book, Chief Bromden discusses the daily routine that all of the patients follow. Each day they do the same thing at the same time. There is barely ever any change. The only change that the patients in the ward experience is the change in faces of the outsider people that come to visit. The outsiders view these patients as if they are animals in a showcase at a zoo. This may be very degrading or upsetting to the patients in the ward. However, some of the patients are so disabled that they might not even realize this is happening. I would feel very disgusted if I were treated like this. The constant routine in the ward makes me feel sorry for the patients and it could possibly be a reason as to why many of the patients act out at times. I know that the patients are disabled but they should be able to experience new things within reasons. The patients have no say in anything that happens. They are not allowed to ask questions about subjects such as their medications without being yelled out by their superiors.