At the end of Part One, McMurphy clearly has the upper hand due to the fact that he is the first to disturb the supposed peace that Big Nurse set forth with her "reign". This is best exemplified when McMurphy moves to allow the men to have a game room of sorts and to allow them to watch the World Series game on TV as well as ending the section with "men watching a blank TV, a fifty-year-old woman hollering and squealing at the back of their heads about discipline and order and recriminations" (Kesey 145). This shows the patients dominance over the nurses, especially because they all defied the nurses orders in order to do so.
At this point, I personally pity Chief more after learning more of the prosecution his people went through and the haze he is always in. For example in his foggy state he states "A furnace got its mouth open somewhere, licks up somebody" believing that to be real whereas he had a nightmare under the potential influence of drugs (Kesey 88). This also gives insight to his twisted thoughts, which evokes pity from the audience as well as being tied up to his bed and unable to move (Kesey 90).
I believe that the presence of McMurphy drew Chief out of his isolation. Before, everybody believed that Chief was deaf and dumb, however McMurphy discovers that that is all an act (Kesey 84). Chief also slowly interacts more and more with the patients with "lift[ing] [his hand]" to vote in order to watch the World Series on TV (Kesey 142).
After reading Part One, I am most definitely rooting for McMurphy. Chief does not seem to play an integral part of the story with the exception of his narration of events and the nurse seems too straitlaced to be liked. McMurphy, on the other hand, seems very fun and outgoing, especially with his prank about not having any clothes issued to him. He also seems to be more of a protagonist due to his daring ways and his charm.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest -- First Blog
Within the first five pages of the book, Ken Kesey portrays Nurse Ratched from a mild mannered nurse to one that is read to "tear the black [workers] limb from limb... she really let's herself go and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blogs up bigger and bigger..." (5). This immediately gives the reader the impression that she is to be the villain of the novel with the violence that the narrator portrays her to have.
McMurphy seems to be the most heroic out of the characters we are introduced to within the first section of the novel. The first real introduction of McMurphy depicts him as a patient with a curable disease (an Acute) and "grinning and shaking hands with everybody he comes to," (Kesey 18) as well as depicting him laughing and winking at the narrator Chief (Kesey 24). The narrator goes on to describe a group meeting where the attending physician "is working so hard to keep from giggling again" from McMurphy's wise cracks (47). This gives him a very amiable and likable personality that the reader would most likely identify with, making him more of the hero of the novel.
If there were to be an antihero, Chief would most likely be it. He doesn't seem very relatable to the audience with his choice to deaf and dumb, which, as the audience, we can tell he is not (24). However, the audience is gathering the story from his point of view and also sympathizing for him on the first page when the black employees are mocking him.
Monday, March 5, 2012
The Great Gatsby -- Final Blog
Why would Gatsby create a fictitious past for himself?
In order to establish himself within a new and fabulous area, Gatsby had allowed rumors of him to circulate, as well as claiming he was the son of a rich family, whom had all died, and was an Oxford man. To further his new background he even changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby in order to create a new life for himself and establish a new legacy. His fake past also could have contributed to his plan to win back Daisy; by reinventing himself into something he never was, Daisy wouldn't have known that it was the James Gatz that she knew in Louisville and therefore would come to his great parties. His new identity also is a representation of the American dream and it's success. By stumbling upon money, Gatz wanted to leave his simple life completely behind and grasp his new found life and in order to do that he felt the need to create an elaborate past in order to hide the fact that he himself was once simple and plain.
Why would Daisy choose to reconcile the relationship that she and Gatsby had in Louisville?
Daisy's love for Tom and Gatsby were two very different kinds of love. Her love for Tom was for the security and money that he would be able to provide her, as well as the status she would have by marrying him. However, her love of Gatsby was much more emotionally driven because he was still James Gatz when they had first met. Once Daisy sees Gatsby's great wealth, much greater than that of Tom, she realized that she could have both a man that was in love with her and that would have treated her well and all the money that she could have dreamed of. This is also is representative of the pursuit of the American dream, with Gatsby representing the American dream and it's success. With Daisy now pursuing a relationship with Gatsby, it shows her pursuit of her idea of the American dream, comfort, security, wealth, and love.
How does Nick choose to explicitly state that all the characters are from the West help the story?
The great American dream originally lied in the West and the potential prosperity that it could bring. With all of the characters moving to the east and establishing a life in New York City, it illustrates the idea of the American dream dissipating as well as the morality of the West losing itself to the materialism of the East.
How does the title The Great Gatsby relate to the story?
With the setting of the story in the 1920's, it was the decline of the idea of the American dream. Fitzgerald depicts a society in which materialism reigns over morals with Nick Carraway, a supposedly very moral person who withholds judgement, telling the story. With the earlier explanation of Gatsby being the American dream, his death represents the end of the great American dream and is ultimately the main theme of the novel.
In order to establish himself within a new and fabulous area, Gatsby had allowed rumors of him to circulate, as well as claiming he was the son of a rich family, whom had all died, and was an Oxford man. To further his new background he even changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby in order to create a new life for himself and establish a new legacy. His fake past also could have contributed to his plan to win back Daisy; by reinventing himself into something he never was, Daisy wouldn't have known that it was the James Gatz that she knew in Louisville and therefore would come to his great parties. His new identity also is a representation of the American dream and it's success. By stumbling upon money, Gatz wanted to leave his simple life completely behind and grasp his new found life and in order to do that he felt the need to create an elaborate past in order to hide the fact that he himself was once simple and plain.
Why would Daisy choose to reconcile the relationship that she and Gatsby had in Louisville?
Daisy's love for Tom and Gatsby were two very different kinds of love. Her love for Tom was for the security and money that he would be able to provide her, as well as the status she would have by marrying him. However, her love of Gatsby was much more emotionally driven because he was still James Gatz when they had first met. Once Daisy sees Gatsby's great wealth, much greater than that of Tom, she realized that she could have both a man that was in love with her and that would have treated her well and all the money that she could have dreamed of. This is also is representative of the pursuit of the American dream, with Gatsby representing the American dream and it's success. With Daisy now pursuing a relationship with Gatsby, it shows her pursuit of her idea of the American dream, comfort, security, wealth, and love.
How does Nick choose to explicitly state that all the characters are from the West help the story?
The great American dream originally lied in the West and the potential prosperity that it could bring. With all of the characters moving to the east and establishing a life in New York City, it illustrates the idea of the American dream dissipating as well as the morality of the West losing itself to the materialism of the East.
How does the title The Great Gatsby relate to the story?
With the setting of the story in the 1920's, it was the decline of the idea of the American dream. Fitzgerald depicts a society in which materialism reigns over morals with Nick Carraway, a supposedly very moral person who withholds judgement, telling the story. With the earlier explanation of Gatsby being the American dream, his death represents the end of the great American dream and is ultimately the main theme of the novel.
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