“If you’re going through hell, keep going” (Winston Churchill). When Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain says this in 1941 when the Nazis are winning the start of the second world war, England is experiencing great loss, damage, and famish. He motivates the nation with his speech in order to win the war and to overcome the hardships related. He lets his people know that even when all seems hopeless, the only option is to continue to persevere to it. This same notion is apparent in both Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon. In both works the main characters struggle with mental illness, which affects themselves and their loved ones, all the while the characters never lose their ambitions
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To begin in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon, an inspection of the secondary characters’ relationships with the protagonists reveals that McMurphy and Charlie are dealing with the challenges of mental illness, these illnesses influence all the characters that are emotionally close to them, moreover McMurphy and Charlie resilience and independence remain. The secondary characters in many ways prove the insanity of the main characters through their social interactions with them. McMurphy insanity impacts others through manipulation, however, Harding begins to realize this and says to McMurphy “I forgot to add that I noticed your primitive brutality also this morning. A psychopath with definite sadistic tendencies, probably motivated by an unreasoning egomania” (Kesey 59). In addition, the way Alice treats Charlie demonstrates his mental issues this is observed when Charlie says “He talks slow like Miss Kinnian dose in her class where I go to lern reeding for slow adults”(Keyes 12 ). The way Harding and Alice deal with the illnesses is very different …show more content…
She talks slowly so that he can understand her and would never tell him directly what is wrong with him. These characters are also affected emotionally by the primary characters’ illness. To clarify, after the meeting, Harding is harassed by McMurphy's psychopathic nature, he disrespects Harding and believes he is more important than him by calling him a Rabbit in a wolves’ world. In this analogy, McMurphy depicts himself as a wolf and Harding as a rabbit thus making Harding feel useless, redundant and manipulated. ( Kesey 64) The way Charlie affects Alice is much more indirect. (For example, she says “I [want] to help you and share with you—and now you've shut me out of your life” (Keyes 124). The impact of their Illness on Harding and Alice is apparent. McMurphy's ego causes the people in his life to be emotionally insulted as indicated by how he treats Harding. Contrary to McMurphy, Charlie deals with depression and isolates himself from Alice. She is affected negatively by Charlies’ illness as Charlie abandons her leaving her to worry about him. Finally, the primary characters never end their ambition and resilience. They both have nearly nothing to live for, and yet this does not stop them from achieving their goals, for
To begin in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon, an inspection of the secondary characters’ relationships with the protagonists reveals that McMurphy and Charlie are dealing with the challenges of mental illness, these illnesses influence all the characters that are emotionally close to them, moreover McMurphy and Charlie resilience and independence remain. The secondary characters in many ways prove the insanity of the main characters through their social interactions with them. McMurphy insanity impacts others through manipulation, however, Harding begins to realize this and says to McMurphy “I forgot to add that I noticed your primitive brutality also this morning. A psychopath with definite sadistic tendencies, probably motivated by an unreasoning egomania” (Kesey 59). In addition, the way Alice treats Charlie demonstrates his mental issues this is observed when Charlie says “He talks slow like Miss Kinnian dose in her class where I go to lern reeding for slow adults”(Keyes 12 ). The way Harding and Alice deal with the illnesses is very different …show more content…
She talks slowly so that he can understand her and would never tell him directly what is wrong with him. These characters are also affected emotionally by the primary characters’ illness. To clarify, after the meeting, Harding is harassed by McMurphy's psychopathic nature, he disrespects Harding and believes he is more important than him by calling him a Rabbit in a wolves’ world. In this analogy, McMurphy depicts himself as a wolf and Harding as a rabbit thus making Harding feel useless, redundant and manipulated. ( Kesey 64) The way Charlie affects Alice is much more indirect. (For example, she says “I [want] to help you and share with you—and now you've shut me out of your life” (Keyes 124). The impact of their Illness on Harding and Alice is apparent. McMurphy's ego causes the people in his life to be emotionally insulted as indicated by how he treats Harding. Contrary to McMurphy, Charlie deals with depression and isolates himself from Alice. She is affected negatively by Charlies’ illness as Charlie abandons her leaving her to worry about him. Finally, the primary characters never end their ambition and resilience. They both have nearly nothing to live for, and yet this does not stop them from achieving their goals, for