One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Part 3)

1. What purpose do Chief's hallucinations serve in the story?

• Chief's hallucinations, though at times fantastic and hard to follow, they serve a very literal manifestation of the things he and the other patients are feeling. It allows for an engaging and explanation of what the characters feel that we wouldn't get without it. Chief says something on the way to the fishing trip that explains this: "Maybe the guys weren't able to see it either, just feel the pressures of the different beams and frequencies coming from all directions, working to push and bend you one way or another, feel the Combine at work - but I was to see it" (Kesey 205). Even Chief is aware of his ability to truly see the forces at work.

2. Why does McMurphy eventually die?

• Unlike in The Great Gatsby, McMurphy's death was not the death of the ideas he represented. McMurphy was simply a martyr who had to die to further his cause and help the other patients. In the end, it was clear that the only way that he could truly defeat the nurse was to force her to lobotomize him. His death made it clear that Nurse Ratched was unable to handle him, and he inspired the others to change.

3. What exactly is the fog?

• The fog was all of the various forces that impeded on the characters' reality and kept them weak. Chief was often engrossed in the fog when he was asleep or experiencing harsh hallucinations. McMurp4,hy was the only one who was able to pull them out of this fog. He helped them to break free from this massive haze that clouded their minds and kept them docile and complacent.

4. Why are the divisions of hero/villain not entirely clear?

• I think that Kesey wanted to make a statement about dichotomies such as this and emphasize the more probable presence of grey areas. He avoided creating an absolute hero and villain because it makes the reader realize that not all conflicts are a struggle between the arbitrary good and evil but neutral forces that simply want some neutral outcome. This aversion to dichotomies is also displayed through the seamless changes from reality to hallucination that keeps that reader from ever knowing what it truly real. However, if analyzed, you realize that every event has aspects of both reality and fantasy. It's all grey areas.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Part 2)

• At this point, McMurphy is definitely winning against Nurse Ratched. At the end of the section, his latest act defiance was finally able to break her. When he sits there watching the blank screen, and the other patients join him, she loses it. One of the final lines displays this perfectly: "a fifty-year old woman hollering and squealing at the back of their heads about discipline and order and recriminations" (Kesey 126). Thus far, the nurse's biggest source of power has been her ability to remain calm and patient and not react to McMurphy's antics, but this latest act was too much for her to handle.
• I am becoming more fond of Chief at this point in the story because the presence of McMurphy and his actions have inspired Chief, and he is beginning to become a more active person rather than the wallflower he has been for so long. McMurphy is making him more lucid by yanking him from the fog that so often consumes him.
• I am wholeheartedly rooting for McMurphy at this point. This is perhaps, in part, due to Chief's obvious favor towards McMurphy and how it affects his narration. However, I genuinely believe that McMurphy's defiance towards the nurse is an attempt to both break her and to liberate the patients from oppression and their helplessness. He truly wants to help these men.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Part 1)

• So far, none of the characters seem to display the sort of flawless benevolence necessary to be a traditional hero. Though McMurphy may be the closest to this position, he far too flawed to be a hero.
• This brings me to my assertion that McMurphy is an antihero. Even though he is partially joking, he immediately makes his friendly nature clear upon arrival to the ward: "Yessir, that's what I came to this establishment for, to bring you birds fun an' entertainment around the gaming table" (Kesey 11). However, his past speaks to the "anti" part of his actions: "a history of street brawls and barroom fights and a series of arrests for Drunkenness, Assault and Battery, Disturbing the Peace, repeated gambling, and one arrest - for Rape" (Kesey 40). Despite this long list of offenses, he appears to simply be trying to help the patients in the ward stand up for themselves and fight back against the Big Nurse.
• The Big Nurse herself is definitely a villain. When describing the two groups in the ward, Bromden explains how her motivations are not therapeutic success: "Not in the hospital, these [the chronics], to get fixed, but just to keep them from walking around the streets giving the product a bad name" (Kesey  14). This seems to imply that she is only "treating" these patients to gain some sort of reputation, not to actually help them. Bromden also goes on to describes multiple scenarios in which she has done horrible things to patients.