Friday 10 August 2012

The last two sentences of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”  have an enormous amount of significance.
Mostly, I’d just like to look over, the country around the gorge again, just to bring some of it clear in my mind again. I been away a long time.”
The sentences can pre interpreted in many ways. Personally, I believe Chief has found his meaning and purpose in life again, and is ready to experience the world in a new perspective. He has, in a sense, “cured” himself. Chief will travel the country, perhaps visit places from his past, and reminisce about old memories. This is significant because we, the readers of the book, have seen/read of Chief’s character transformation. In the beginning of the book, Chief is portayed as a a meek and docile creature who hides behind his metaphoric “fog” and deaf and dumbness shield. Throughout the book though, the reader connects with Chief’s transformation from a shy and timid individual, to a man who takes action by eventually killing McMurphy. Chief’s transformation of character is entertaining to read, and it surprised me to be quite honest. I feel that Chief came out of his turtle shell that he had been hiding in for so long before McMurphy came along to the ward. Chief’s signs of overcoming his timidity include, fighting the aides in defending George, when he moves the control panel half a foot, and when he tells McMurphy he feels he’s been decieved. The movement of the control panel can be interpreted to mean two two different things: 1) That his phyiscal strength has increased because at the beginning of the book he is unable/phyiscally not strong enough to move the panel, and 2) Chief’s increased level of confidence in himself, both phyiscally, emotionally, and mentally enabled him to move it.
In the end of the novel, when Chief kills McMurphy in order to not let Big Nurse “win” the power battle, it shows that Chief is a man who is capable to take action when needed. Chief transforms from such a nervous character to a murderer; although he kills McMurphy, the reason for doing so is quite meaningful. Chief did not kill McMurphy for pleasure, out of guilt, or because of an argument; Chief kills McMurphy so Big Nurse does not “win”, and I personally think that McMurphy understands this. If Chief had let McMurphy continue to live, the power would be back into Big Nurse’s hand because she was ultimately able to render McMurphy docile. By killing McMurphy, Chief takes away Big Nurse’s power over the ward, he is like the McMurphy 2.0 in a way, by challenging Big Nurse’s authority and by “swimming” against conformity. If Chief did not kill McMurphy, then Big Nurse would still have authority; she would return to running the ward like she did before McMurphy entered, with a strict, severe iron fist.
At first, I had mixed feelings about this book. It was only until mid-way through the book where I actually started to enjoy it. I would definitely read this book again, and see if I could pull some concepts, themes, and motifs I had missed the first time reading. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” turned out to be a very interesting read.

1 comment:

  1. Excellent Matt. I like how you interpreted the second last line - that Chief will tour around and be able to survive (because McMurphy has taught him how). I like that Kesey found a compromise between ending a novel without knowing what happens to the character but still giving a little hint. Great analysis of McMurphy's death as well.

    Just noticed, that if you wanted to look at "action and inaction" in C.N. I think that would work too with your ISU novel. I didn't see it until I read this blog post.

    Glad you liked the book :)

    ReplyDelete