Joey Barcia
Bagdanov
AP Literature & Composition
23 September 2015
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Section 1: (pages 1- 28) part 1:1 We are first introduced to Chief Bromden, a long-time patient of a psychiatric hospital run by the intimidating “big nurse”, Nurse Ratched. Chief Bromden is the son of a native-american man and white woman, who despite his large stature is terrified of the nurse and the ward employees. Because of Chief’s passiveness, most of the employees assume that he is deaf, so they talk freely around him. Chief Bromden is constantly affected by hallucinations, he believes the ward is controlled by the “Combine”, a mind that runs the ward and lives within the walls. Upon waking up, Chief enters the hallway and …show more content…
So she really lets herself go and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load.”(5)
Chief Bromden likely has schizophrenia, which would explain his hallucinations and his made up theories about the ward. He plays along with the assumptions that he is deaf, allowing him to be an observer and learn things he might not have …show more content…
Ratched refuses to send him to disturbed or transfer him to another ward, because she is afraid he will become a “martyr” for the patients. She is convinced that if they give it some time, the patients will soon see through McMurphy’s facade and no longer follow him. Later, the ward is taken to a pool to swim. At the pool McMurphy learns from a staff member that those are committed in the Hospital cannot leave until the staff allows them to. McMurphy is shocked to learn this, since he came to the hospital thinking he could finish his prison sentence there. He begins to act more careful around the staff, and doesn’t support Cheswick when he when he complains about cigarette rationing during a group session. Cheswick is sent to disturbed to receive treatment because of his outburst. Later at the pool he drowns, which seems to be a suicide.
Passage: “Would removing him undo the harm that he has done to our ward? I don’t believe it would, not after this afternoon. I believe if he were sent to Disturbed now it would be exactly what the patients would expect. He would be a martyr to them. They would never be given the opportunity to see that this man is not an - as you put it, Mr. Gideon - ’extraordinary person.’”(136) It is clear that McMurphy has some significant control over the ward staff. He has become so important to the patients, that the nurse has to be very careful around
Bagdanov
AP Literature & Composition
23 September 2015
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Section 1: (pages 1- 28) part 1:1 We are first introduced to Chief Bromden, a long-time patient of a psychiatric hospital run by the intimidating “big nurse”, Nurse Ratched. Chief Bromden is the son of a native-american man and white woman, who despite his large stature is terrified of the nurse and the ward employees. Because of Chief’s passiveness, most of the employees assume that he is deaf, so they talk freely around him. Chief Bromden is constantly affected by hallucinations, he believes the ward is controlled by the “Combine”, a mind that runs the ward and lives within the walls. Upon waking up, Chief enters the hallway and …show more content…
So she really lets herself go and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load.”(5)
Chief Bromden likely has schizophrenia, which would explain his hallucinations and his made up theories about the ward. He plays along with the assumptions that he is deaf, allowing him to be an observer and learn things he might not have …show more content…
Ratched refuses to send him to disturbed or transfer him to another ward, because she is afraid he will become a “martyr” for the patients. She is convinced that if they give it some time, the patients will soon see through McMurphy’s facade and no longer follow him. Later, the ward is taken to a pool to swim. At the pool McMurphy learns from a staff member that those are committed in the Hospital cannot leave until the staff allows them to. McMurphy is shocked to learn this, since he came to the hospital thinking he could finish his prison sentence there. He begins to act more careful around the staff, and doesn’t support Cheswick when he when he complains about cigarette rationing during a group session. Cheswick is sent to disturbed to receive treatment because of his outburst. Later at the pool he drowns, which seems to be a suicide.
Passage: “Would removing him undo the harm that he has done to our ward? I don’t believe it would, not after this afternoon. I believe if he were sent to Disturbed now it would be exactly what the patients would expect. He would be a martyr to them. They would never be given the opportunity to see that this man is not an - as you put it, Mr. Gideon - ’extraordinary person.’”(136) It is clear that McMurphy has some significant control over the ward staff. He has become so important to the patients, that the nurse has to be very careful around