Dear all,
Please read Part 2 from p.129 to p.172 by Friday 6th December (reading for the week).
Post one entry (you may choose the focus) by Thursday 5th December and reply to at least one from another student.
Thank you all.
Mrs Gougeon
Please read Part 2 from p.129 to p.172 by Friday 6th December (reading for the week).
Post one entry (you may choose the focus) by Thursday 5th December and reply to at least one from another student.
Thank you all.
Mrs Gougeon
Pg. 132 “Then she realizes that she’s being stared at too- by all the rest of the staff. Just like she’s wondering about me, they are wondering about her and what she’s planning to do about that redhead back down there in the day room. They’re watching to see what she’ll say about him…”
ReplyDeleteThis passage at the beginning of Part 2 demonstrates the respect that the staff still has for the Big Nurse and her control over them. They seem to be aware that the “redhead’s” fate is in her hands and that she will be making the final decision about the consequences of his actions. The suspense felt by the reader as the staff are “watching to see” and “wondering about her” drags the scene out and further develops the Big Nurse’s character. She seems to be showing signs of weakness through her silence as she is either in shock or feels that she has relinquished some of her power and control over the patients. The reader is made aware of this scene through the eyes of the narrator, Chief Bromden. This is because he is in the staff room to clean during the meeting. I personally dislike Kesey’s choice in placing him there because I do not believe it fits in with the story line. I fail to comprehend why Bromden would stand up and return to his duties while he is in the middle of protesting. I was especially when he was going on about being afraid of being caught for not actually being deaf ever since he raised his hand in the meeting as surely this would lead to him sticking to the act of rebellion and staying in front of the blank screen. I do however believe it was important for Kesey to place Bromden within the staff meeting as the issue of McMurphy will be discussed and the reader made aware of the staff’s side and point of view.
Very insightful! I feel the same way about Kesey's decision to place Bromden in the meeting room, feels forced.
Delete“…if they were going to knock a man in the head, they needed to use something surer and more accurate than a hammer; they finally settled on electricity.” Pg 163, line 15
ReplyDelete“And you say it don’t hurt?”
“I personally guarantee it. Completely painless”
- page 163, 3rd line
This passage I chose as it seems to have a link with a paradox. Harding describes EST to be somewhat compared with using a hammer, which would be a very painful process, then, contradicts himself by saying it’s ‘completely painless’. In Harding’s statement he does not seem to make any sense but however states the true reality of the EST. A hammer if it where to be hit into someone would be excruciating at first but it would heal later on, whereas with the EST it is permanent, the patients are stuck with it and left miserable, just like the vegetables in the ward.
“I figured the fog machine broke down in the walls when they turned it up too high for that meeting on Friday, so now they weren’t able to circulate fog and gas and foul up the way things looked.” – page 140
The fog to me seems to be a protectant for the patients and they try to hide under it from the doctors and nurses. It also seems to be a barrier/shield that the Big nurse has put up when said “and foul up the way things looked”. Big nurse does not seem to want the patients to know about the outside world and that is used through the fog to hide from the patients. It seems to have been used so much that it has finally come to the point where the patients are even comfortable behind it meaning they have accepted the fact they may not get out.
Page 171-172
ReplyDeleteSecond to last line on page 171 to end of Part II (page 171)
“The Big Nurse’s eyes swelled as he got close. She hadn’t reckoned on him doing anything. This was supposed to be her final victory over him, supposed to establish her rule once and for all. – The ringing in my head had stopped.”
In this section we see a shift of power and control as well as a change in McMurphy's character. Before this section the situation of control seemed to be completely taken by Nurse Ratched as McMurphy starts to abide by the rules and no longer rebelled against the rules. The Big Nurse has believed that she has won her “final battle against him” but then there is a sudden explosion in McMurphy's character and a dramatic change takes place. His character returns to rebelling and he continues to be a leader and provide hope for the rest of the patients when he reacts by punching the glass window. In this section McMurphy has not simply just angered the Big Nurse like he has done in the past but he has actually left her petrified. Which is something that has not happened in the past and I think has caused a huge impact on not only the situation of control but as well as Ratched’s character. Through using his physical power he has left her terrified and she is described as “her face shifting and jerking,” the impact of this turn of events has led McMurphy to believe that he can take over her and take over the control, he now believes he can break her. I think this event is a beacon of hope for not only the patients in the novel as well as the readers just as we were disappointed with him following the rules along with the other patients, through this event he has sacrificed himself and has made his decision to stick up for them even if it does lead to him not leaving the ward. Bromden also describes the ringing in his head to have stopped, this is because McMurphy is the hope for them and I think influences them and is not necessarily the best of people but I think he is slowly healing them and steering them away from the loneliness and repetitiveness of the life under the control of Nurse Ratched.
In part 2 we finally get to see more of Nurse Ratched's power and how she uses it. Now in part 2 the patients are more cautious and even more scared because of Nurse Ratched and the fit she had. After McMurphy learns of her true power—her responsibility for his release and her ability to administer inhumane treatments—no one wants to behave or maybe even be friends with McMurphy now after knowing what his actions brought upon. Now Big Nurse can never allow McMurphy to leave because if he does allow him to leave the ward it would mean that McMurphy, against all odds, would win the war.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing is that we see the patients change in their behavior and character. Chief Bromden now is getting out of his shell and we past more layers and layers learning something new about him, although he never tells us we can see, this is all thanks to McMurphy and his polite anarchist behavior.
"But me, I know why. I heard him talk to the lifeguard. He's finally getting cagey, is all." page 150, paragraph 2)
ReplyDeleteChief Bromden has yet again heard something he would not have if he did not fake his deafness in the first place. This actually helps him and he can take advantage of it. At first glance you see the obvious, McMurphy has seemed to give up. But, finding out he is a committed patient actually just makes McMurphy realize he can go out, so there is no point to him fighting the system any longer. This is the Big Nurse winning the battle, making McMurphy realize she has all control, which is what the Big Nurse wants and does with every patient. She does not even need to enforce any rules too harshly once she defeats the fight of every man that walks through the institution ward's door.
page 140 "I was seeing things different. I figured the fog machine had broke down in the walls when they turned it up too high for that meeting on Friday, so now they weren't able to circulate fog and gas and foul up the way things looked. For the first time in years i was seeing people with none of that black outline they used to have, and one night I was able to see outside the windows."
ReplyDeleteChief Bromden says this in order to tell the reader about how life is currently like in his perspective. This inner monologue happens after McMurphy has settled in and the staff meeting about what to do with McMurphy had already concluded. This was effective as this was symbolic in showing how life had drastically changed ever since McMurphy came into the institute. Before, Chief constantly saw images of a fog, this may be an metaphor for the lack of direction his life had. The idea is that a fog obscures the vision for what lies ahead, thus meaning the person in said fog will have no sense of direction; before, Chief Bromden had lived his life devoid of any ambition or anything above just continuing life. However when McMurphy came, he began seeing life in a more optimistic perspective, as he says earlier that he would see patients gather around him as he tells great anecdotes about his own life, heavily contrasting the monotony before he arrived. This 'clearing of the fog' signifies that.
“Her face is smiling, pitying, patient, and disgusted all at once- a trained expression.” Pg 152, 1st paragraph, line 8
ReplyDeleteIn the following sentence, the nurse and black boys are attempting to make Sefelt take his medication. The literary focus here is evidently the deceitful expression the nurse is capable of using upon command. Her ability to do this suggests that she is good at masking her emotions and has a high emotional tolerance. The sentence itself has a few oxymorons within it, such as ‘patient’ and disgusted. These words help creates tension as they both generate different atmospheres- positive and negative which collide with each other. In addition to this, fear is also instilled in the reader because of the nurse’s ability to smile regardless of her feelings of disgust. As a result of the atmosphere created, the plot is stimulated due to the visual image that is generated in the reader’s mind. A secondary purpose of the chosen sentence could be to develop the nurse’s character profile and to show how deceitful she is. However there is no doubt that the ‘trained expression’ she has is a testimony of her experience and her professional attitude towards her work.
(Pg.163, paragraph 7, line 5) "It's as if the jolt sets off a wild carnival wheel of images, emotions, memories. These wheels, you've seen them; the barker takes your bet and pushes a button. Chang! With light and sound and numbers round and round in a whirlwind, and maybe you win with what you end up with and maybe you lose and have to play again."
ReplyDeleteThis passage describes Harding's perception of the EST, Electro-shock therapy. Harding perceives the EST as being in a carnival, this makes the EST sound like something fun and enjoyable despite it being jolts of electric shocks. The EST may be a way of helping the mental patients recall memories that they've forgotten from before they were admitted into the mental hospital, "..a wild carnival wheel of images,emotions, memories. These wheels, you've seen them;" The feeling of going through the EST is also described as "a whirlwind", this suggests that the patients would feel a mixture of feelings and confusion in the process. "And maybe you win with what you end up with", this suggests that the patients consider it a prize if they are able to obtain some kind of memory at the end of the EST. "And maybe you lose and have to play again." However, the patients consider it a loss if they end up with nothing at the end of the EST and may have to go through the therapy again to get something out of it.
(page172, 2nd last paragraph) “He turned and left her sitting there with her face shifting and jerking and walked back across the day room to his chair, lighting up a cigarette.”
ReplyDeleteThis sentence, by the end of Part2, describes the reaction of Nurse Ratchet caused by McMurphy’s continuous rebellious behaviours. It is implied that Nurse Ratchet feels a strong sense of irritation and disruption. The focus of this passage is plot development. It foreshadows a later incident, most likely caused by McMurphy which agitates Nurse Ratchet even further and leads her to take a larger oppressive action, and its dangers and seriousness. Despite previous numerous disturbances and annoyances leading to this event, Nurse Ratchet has always been able to be unbelievably composed and strict, with an unchanging facial expression and very often described in comparison with machinery. However this time, “her face shifting and jerking” as it’s described, she clearly exposed her feelings which is an extreme change from her usual controlled portrayal. This tension caused allows readers to expect an upcoming uproar in the hospital in the following part.
Towards the end of part 2 Harding and McMurphey discuss Electro Shock Therapy and a Lobotomy. At this moment, McMurphey finally realizes how the nurse has more authority and control over the ward and the patients than he had anticipated, mainly regarding his release. The reason behind the EST and lobotomy is to set fear to the patients regarding the consequences of crossing the line. It helps set the boundaries between what's right and wrong in the matriarch system. When reading the discussion between McMurphey and Harding, McMurphey has a change in attitude towards the ward and is more uneasy.
ReplyDeleteI felt the tile with my feet and wondered, how many times, how many thousand times had I run a mop over this same tile floor and never felt it at all. Page 141.
ReplyDeleteThis quote shows how Chief Bromden what he feels after being stuck in a mist for so long, this seems quite relatable with the fact of McMurphy starting to bring Freedom into the ward. The fact that he finally receives all his senses allows us to realize the new freedom that he achieves. This shows the effect of McMurphy has on Chief Bromden, but also foreshadows the plot as the scene of the car and the dog is presented, with the car as the system and the dog as the patients.