Tuesday 7 August 2012

Blog of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
Matthew Palma
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is an interesting read. Although I don’t like the style of writing by Kesey, the ideas, concepts, and the viewpoint of a mentally ill person piques my interest. I enjoy the themes of good vs evil, fate, destiny, and choices. These are all noticeable in the book.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1NlzOu/:1_SnO-MH.:Ix!-K-Ko/www.appleseeds.org/your-destiny.htm/
According to this quote, a person’s thoughts ultimately become their destiny. I find this interesting because it makes me think if “crazy” people are really meant to be crazy?
I wanted to know what causes mental illnesses because sometimes people are born with one, and sometimes people develop one as they grow.
Non-biologically, I believe what makes a person, a person, is their thoughts, actions, and decisions they make in life...But what about people who have mental illnesses? Is it safe to say that people who have mental illnesses choose to have a mental illness? Or are they all born with an illness that later catches up to the person and engulfs them to a point where they need to be institutionalized? These are some questions that I asked myself while reading “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
I find the character, McMurphy, exciting to read about. Here come in this new patient, (McMurphy), who disrupts the order and authority that Nurse Ratched has among all the other patients. He has a walk that is felt full of swagger, and a laugh that makes the other patients in the ward “...stunned dumb...” (Kesey 16). I feel that the character McMurphy has a hidden agenda planned, and that he will overthrow the control and power that Nurse Ratched has among the other patients.
The storyline of “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” can be comparable to the movie, “Last Castle”. In the movie “Last Castle”, a decorated military general, General Irwin, is sent to a maximum security prison for disobedience to a mission. While in the prison, the warden, Colonel Winter, rules over the inmates with an iron fist and treats the inmates unjustly. The whole movie’s plot is about how General Irwin bands together the suppressed inmates in an attempt to thwart the control that the warden has over the inmates. This can be related to Cuckoo’s Nest in many ways, such as overcoming a higher authority.
I highly recommend watching the movie, "Last Castle", as it ties in very well with some of the themes of Cuckoo's Nest

1 comment:

  1. Hi Matt,

    Great idea to branch out and conduct your own research. You raise some important points about nature versus nuture. Are people predisposed to mental illness and it eventually catches up to them, or can anyone develop it given the "right" circumstances. Interesting... I need to ponder this some more.

    If you do look at the example of McMurphy, then it means that people are predisposed to mental illness. This is because McMurphy is exposed to the environment of the institution but still keeps his wits about him enough to go after Big Nurse... We should revist this idea near the end of the text. Perhaps a good idea for a culminating debate :)

    Thanks for the movie recommendation :)

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