Dear all,
1. Read from p.67 to p.75.
2. Post a journal entry. You entry should focus specifically on one aspect of the novel (character development, plot development, symbol, narrative voice etc...).
Remember to mention page number and line, please.
Thank you.
Mrs Gougeon
1. Read from p.67 to p.75.
2. Post a journal entry. You entry should focus specifically on one aspect of the novel (character development, plot development, symbol, narrative voice etc...).
Remember to mention page number and line, please.
Thank you.
Mrs Gougeon
Page 77: Line 13 “I can’t hear. I can’t even hear the guys around me breathing and I realize all of a sudden it’s because that drumming’s gradually got so loud I cant hear anything else. We must be square in the middle of it. I go at clawing at that damned sheet tied across me and just about have it loose when a whole wall slides up, reveals a huge room of endless machines stretching clear out of sight, swarming with sweating shirtless men running up and down catwalks, faces black and dreamy in firelight thrown from a hundred blast furnaces.”
ReplyDeleteThe passage I picked is about Chief Bromden in his room at bedtime after not taking his medication. I picked this section as his character is developed further as we know for a fact he is under no medication and the understanding of schizophrenia and the role it plays in Bromden’s character is developed. The way in which this is shown is through the use of the description of the hallucinations. “I go clawing at that damned sheet tied across me” from this description we understand the paranoia and distressed feelings Bromden goes through during the novel. From the quote “when a whole wall slides up…sweating shirtless men” we further understand the extent of his hallucinations and we question how reliable his judgment is during his time without medication. From his description of the machines and the men we understand his state during it and the deafening erratic thoughts that consume him during this time. From this passage we understand the role that schizophrenia plays on Bromden properly and the extent to which it takes over him.
Page 68: Line 7 "The Big Nurse is able to set the wall clock at whatever speed she wants by just turning one of those dials in the steel door; she takes a notion to hurry things up, she turns the speed up, and those hands whip around that disk like spokes in a wheel."
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, chief Bromden was describing Nurse Ratched's 'time control' he was also informing the reader how Nurse Ratched has the ability to "set the wall clock to whatever speed she wants" by speeding it up or slowing it down at a turn of the dial. This time metaphor gives the reader a machine imagery,which means control. This also further tells them that Nurse Ratched is controlling in different ways.This passage also reminds the reader the power and control she has and how patients in the ward tend to lose track of time. By having this power and control over everyone in the institution, she is able to generally slow down the time to keep the patients at her mercy.
"i don't know- I was always a pretty shrewd customer at twenty-one, but you birds may just be too tough for me." page 73, line 4
ReplyDeleteIn this line Ken Kesey uses different dialogue depending on which character is speaking. McMurphy's character is developed through this line. McMurphy's dialogue is not very formal and is usually in slang terms as he refers to the patients as "birds" and does so quite a lot since he has entered the asylum. McMurphy's dialogue is a lot more out going and relaxed and compared to the other patients dialogue being dreary and dull, he gives more life and energy into the ward as he hasn't been stuck their for 8 years or so.
"times like that, times you'd like to hold and have stretch out. That's when she speeds things up" page 68, line 20
This line shows more character development of Big Nurse. The care and thought that should be put into the patients isn't, especially with Big Nurse. Clearly Chief Bromden and the rest of the patients would like to have more time when people visit. The sympathy that is felt for them can be greatly grasped within Big Nurses character and her attitude especially when Chief Bromden explains "times like that, times you'd like to hold and have stretch out".
From page 72, “I could of watched McMurphy at that blackjack table…”
ReplyDeleteTo page 72, “So both of you are getting what you want.”
This passage focuses on the character McMurphy, faked insanity so that he could get out of a normal prison. It is from the third person narrator and McMurphy talking about his past experience as a gambler. This shows the personality of McMurphy, how he’s very arrogant, referring to himself as a ‘top-notch conman’. This gives the reader a better idea of McMurphy and maybe, how he will behave when confronted with the big nurse’s authority. In addition to McMurphy, the passage also has chief bromden using first person language. He says ‘I could of watched McMurphy at that blackjack table all night,’ showing that he is lucid and can form his own opinion.
Pg.68 4th paragraph- “About the only time we get any let-up from this time control is in the fog; then time doesn’t mean anything. It’s lost in the fog like everything else.”
ReplyDeleteThis passage furthers plot and character development as there is more mention of the “fog”. The fog is previously mentioned when Chief Bromden, the narrator, is not on his medication and is hallucinating and therefore the two can be associated. In this instance, the fog is also linked with time and it seems to be his only escape from the time freeze he thinks himself to be previously in. The fog seems to represent freedom of thought and freedom from the Nurse’s control as Bromden says “It’s lost in the fog like everything else.” This tells the reader that the fog is representative of freedom as well as an escape from reality. It seems that through it, Chief Bromden is in his own world, unaffected by any external source, including time and the Outside. While Chief Bromden says “we” when mentioning the gap from “time control” it is assumed that he is the only one that can see the fog and the only one who experiences it. Therefore, he thinks that everyone else is also affected by this time freeze that the Nurse apparently sets when really it is just him. This coincides with his mental illness, schizophrenia, which is further being understood in this passage by the reader.
(page71, paragraph1) “We seldom hear the radio. The world news might not be therapeutic. And we’ve all heard that recording so many times now it simply slides out our hearing, the way the sound of a waterfall soon becomes an unheard sound to those who live near it.”
ReplyDeleteThis is when Harding explains to McMurphy about the music heard from the speakers in the ceilings. While McMurphy complains about the music, Harding isn’t able to hear it as he has “heard that recording so many times now it simply slides out their hearing”. The focus of this passage is the themes of confinement and judgement. The recording played repeatedly is almost a daily routine, an order which cannot be avoided by anyone. The comparison with the waterfall allows better understanding for the readers. Waterfalls are usually very harsh and loud, and to be not able to hear this highlights how the patients are so confined with the regulations made by the nurses and over time they come to be used to such treatments. Also the authorities (nurses) decide on which is appropriate and beneficial for the patients to listen to. They think their music is better suited to the patients than the world news and they think “the world news might not be therapeutic”. This makes the readers question ‘who has the ability to make such judgements and how’.
(page 75 last paragraph) "Why, you sure did give a jump when I told you that coon was coming, Chief. I thought somebody told me you was deef."
ReplyDeleteHere, Mc Murphy finds out Chief's secret accidentally but his discovery allows both the reader and Mc Murphy to see that Chief Bromden could be cured and that his ability to overcome his fear of speaking is crucial to his recovery. From the start of the novel, there is a very strong connection as they first shake hands and how Chief feels a sort of transfer of power. However, there is nothing that explicitly states that McMurphy knows that the Chief is pretending to be deaf and mute. Basically, this line shows how the Chief is so empowered by and drawn to McMurphy that he begins to let his guard down around him.
During the reading the most significant event that takes place during this section is the black jack game that McMurphy plays in the hospital. This is the first time in the novel that patients in the hospital are having fun and we see them as if they were normal, and when by normal I mean what was socially acceptable during the 1950's. Also Chief Bromden seems to be more sane and becomes a more reliable narrator.
ReplyDelete(Pg 68 paragrah 5 line 7) "...awful scramble of shaves and breakfasts and appointments and lunches and medications and ten minutes of night so you barely get your eyes closed before the dorm light's screaming at you to get up and start the scramble again..."
ReplyDeleteThis passage is a short summary of the routine at the mental hospital, the alliteration, "scramble of shaves", emphasizes the mixture of things to do, the word "scramble" suggests that though the schedule is fixed, the patients feel flustered to carry out the routine and activities planned for them. The repetition of "and" represents the perpetual routine and how it is never ending. The personification, "dorm light's screaming" describes the impact of waking up every morning and "screaming" suggests that the patients feel like they are being screamed at when they wake up which is not a good feeling.
(pg 64 the top of the first paragraph) "Man has but one truly effective weapon against the juggernaut of modern matriarchy, but it is not laughter." McMurphy says this as he attempts to rally his compatriots to rise up against the nurse. The use of politic, war-like diction create a feeling of fighting a righteous war of freedom. The reason being is that McMurphy sees this as a revolution but the revolutionists do not wish to rebel; they refer to themselves as "rabbits" weaklings who could not and will not stand against the nurse, thus they believe McMurphy's cause is a lost one. However McMurphy wishes to make his small legion of "chronics" and "acutes" realize that if they truly want to break out of this oppressive life, they needed to do something, for laughing about it was ineffective. By saying this, it seems that the society has become a great, yet not invincible adversary (the implication of an ultimate weapon that is effective against the "matriarchy" proves this) rather than a rigid, restrictive system which they will never be freed from.
ReplyDelete“It’s simple enough. There aint nothing noble or complicated about it. I like to gamble. And I like to win. And I think I can win this gamble, okay?” Pg 66, paragraph 6.
ReplyDeleteIn the following passage, McMurphy has just challenged the other patients to a bet concerning Nurse Ratchet’s temper. The purpose of the chosen extract is to develop McMurphy’s character profile. From the quote, we can see that he is confident and treats the issue of the nurse’s temper with triviality. This is achieved by the author through the use of sentence structure; the short sentences used by the character make him appear convincing. In addition to this, it is revealed we see that the character appreciates the nature of gambling which suggest that he is reckless because he is well of the consequences if he were to loose. This possibly is used by the author to foreshadow possible events that may take place in the novel.
The scene in the picture –screen windows goes through rapid changes of light to show morning , noon and night.. But generally it’s the other way, the slow way. She’ll turn that dial to a dead stop and freeze the sun… You sit solid and you can’t budge. – Page 68
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of this quote demonstrates the “power” that Nurse Ratchet apparently has, the power to manipulate the time around her with the special use of machinery. The increasing use of reference towards machinery increases this idea of great order and control in the facility. But once the reader begins to continue a struggle appears in the readers mind towards the actual situation. With the Nurse just being able to control time but then also changing the light rapidly, or stopping time completely freezing the patients. This creates a realization that develops the character of Bromden, showing how incredibly untrustworthy he is. The hallucinations in his mind can manipulate the actual fragments of time, freezing his world or speeding it so fast. This begins to create doubt within the reader to either believe such paranormal activities can occur or a man tells his bias thoughts on the events of the story to make himself a victim, creating empathy for the characters as he is the narrative voice. So it brings up a question whether Nurse Ratchet has all the power, or does Chief Bromden?