Activity 5.2 - Study Questions
For each chapter choose two (2) questions and answer them in your blog. (This does NOT substitute for your weekly reflection)
Chapter 1 - 5
1. When Chief Bromden says "its the truth even if it didn't happen" he is referring to a couple things. For one, we have already seen at this point that the Chief has quite severe paranoia, so he is in general very unsure of his surroundings despite being in the ward the longest. We have also seen that the Chief does undergo hallucinations when he hallucinates that an Air Raid has begun in the ward while aides try to shave him, so not everything that the Chief is describing about the ward is totally realistic.
However, this passage is really the first in which it feels the Chief is the narrator of the novel, talking to the readers. So as he tells the story of what happens in the ward he is urging that we, the readers, trust that all of what he has to say is important even though it may be hallucinated to a certain extent. It gives a hint that perhaps his hallucinations do have some metaphorical value especially when it comes to certain themes in the novel. Chief means that although not everything he sees may be real, it is still truthful and important that we take it seriously.
4. Ruckly is a former Acute (temporary) patient of the ward who then became a Chronic (lifetime) patient after receiving very intense electroshock therapy or EST. This therapy takes place in a "shock shop" where essentially they are lobotomizing patients of the ward by sending electrodes or electricity through people's brains, then they come out looking dazed and function-less. Many of the Acute patients in the ward often turn into Chronic patients after going through this therapy for a period of time. After receiving so much of this therapy Ruckly is basically lobotomized and can only utter the words "ffffuck da wife" over and over. The shock therapy that the patients in the ward go through is what is being referred to as a "head installation".
Chapter 6-10
4. The doctor really seems to be a friend to McMurphy more than anything. They discover that they've gone to the same high school, and McMurphy's charismatic and positive attitude seems to rub off on Doctor Spivey like it has on the other patients of the ward. They reminisce about their high school, and about the carnivals that the school used to have every year, and the doctor suggests that maybe it'd be fun for the ward to have a carnival. This shows that the doctor is much more upbeat and confident than he was before with McMurphy energizing the ward now. He starts to plan and push for activities in the ward that will help them live a more normal life such as the carnival, with McMurphy's help.
One theme that is really pushed forward with the aid of the doctor is the theme of freedom and rebellion. With the arrival of McMurphy, the doctor and the patients both experience a sense of rebellion against Nurse Ratched and her dictatorship on everything in the ward. Everyone in the ward starts to feel like perhaps they deserve to have more freedom and live more normal lives in the ward. The doctor has been under the same dictatorship, and has had to watch all the patients suffer and never had the stomach to stand up to Nurse Ratched, letting her control what he does for the most part. But now with McMurphy he starts to propose new ideas to break the routine of the ward, such as the carnival, turning up the radio so that anyone hard of hearing can now hear it, and also using the unused storage room as a game room for some patients. The nurse would usually never even think of allowing this, but all the patients and the doctor really get behind it and start to rebel in search for that sense of freedom.
5. The purpose of chapter 10 may seem rather pointless at first but really there is quite a bit of importance to having it. Sure it's really just a few of the patients from the ward playing a monopoly game using pennies instead of dollars. But it's the simple fact that for that stretch of time, the patients that are playing Monopoly game with McMurphy just seem happier and more normal than they have at any other point in the novel to this point. As they sit around joking and laughing with each other while playing, it seems as though perhaps the simple game is better therapy for the patients than the group sessions they have.
Another thing that this chapter brings a bit of attention to is the fact that McMurphy obviously wins all of the money in the end and collects all the properties. Much like in the game, McMurphy has control over his own mind and individuality, which allows him to win in the game and get what he wants in the ward. His "monopoly" on himself allows him to succeed in the ward much more than any other patient.
Chapter 11 - 15
2. The obvious irony in the "A man that would run away from a place as nice as this, why; there'd be something wrong with him." statement by the Public Relations man has to do with the "something wrong with him" part. While the Chief does explain that the new hospital is much better in comparison to the old one, clearly it is still not ideal at all for the patients. The irony in the statement obviously lies in the fact that everyone in the mental hospital is in there because something has been deemed wrong with them. So going by that statement by the Public Relations man, maybe they all want to run away from the hospital they're in. Even more irony is that by the way people are treated at the hospital and the conditions they live in, it seems that anyone in their right mind would want to escape from it. This is further proven by the fact that McMurphy says he wants to escape badly, and he truly is the most sane person there.
4. The significance of the way that Old Rawler committed suicide is quite evident. Chief hears that the man cut off his testicles and bled to death while on the toilet. This method of suicide was symbolic of perhaps how all the men in the mental hospital feel somewhat emasculated not only by Nurse Ratched but by their overall confinement in the ward. This suicide is definitely trying to push the theme of confinement in the play and what it can do to a man. With things like the strict routine all the patients follow, and the shock therapy that they undergo often, they clearly have all been fairly emasculated or constricted by the ward. Nurse Ratched has basically total control over all the men in the ward and what they do on a daily basis, thus the cutting off of the testicles is very symbolic in the way the men are emasculated throughout the novel.
Chapter 16 - 20
3. Cheswick's death in the novel comes shortly after McMurphy realizes that he might want to start being nice to Nurse Ratchet so that he can actually one day leave the mental hospital instead of having the Nurse keep him there forever like some of the other patients. So when Cheswick decides to stand up to the Nurse about how she controls their cigarettes even though they are the ones buying their own, he expects McMurphy to back him up during the meeting. When McMurphy keeps his mouth shut because he now wants to be nice to the Nurse, Cheswick throws an incredible tantrum and even though all of the patients (including Cheswick) realize that McMurphy is smart and has to do this, Cheswick still proceeds to commit suicide and drown himself. This shows the amount of influence McMurphy has over the patients in the ward. They all look to him as the one to help lead them to victory in rebellion against Nurse Ratched, because if he doesn't at least help then they simply don't have the confidence to do it on their own. His confidence and audacity to stand up to the Nurse when no one else in the ward could or would was what was giving so many of the men hope that things could get better in their lives. When Cheswick saw that maybe McMurphy had given up, and the Nurse had won, he realized that things would just go back to the way they were and thus he saw no other choice but to kill himself. McMurphy really is the rehabilitation for the patients of the ward, when he wasn't there they had nothing, no hope. With the hope that he gave them, came self confidence as well, so much self confidence that Cheswick decided to bring up the cigarette issue. But with McMurphy giving in to the system, without rebellion, the feeling of having no hope soon returned for the patients and especially Cheswick, causing him to not want to live. That's the kind of influence McMurphy has on the patients.
4. The haggard and puzzled look on McMurphy's face does reveal that he is starting to change as a character to this point. He was once so confident, upbeat, and rebellious towards the system of the ward however with all the realizations he has had now he isn't as confident or rebellious at all. McMurphy agrees with Scanlon's comment "damned if you do and damned if you don't" which is exactly the way he is feeling right now. McMurphy realizes that if he rebels, it'll only get him more time spent in the ward or worse, in shock therapy. Then if he doesn't rebel, well there's still definitely no guarantee that he'll ever get out and he'll have to do basically anything the Nurse tells him to, so there's no winning situation to McMurphy. This is really what the look on McMurphy's face symbolizes in terms of his character's development, he is at a crossroads and doesn't see a path that he can choose where he'll be free again. He is finally feeling perhaps what every other man in the hospital feels, trapped with no way of getting out regardless of what is done. The Nurse is the one in control of everyone's future at the ward, and this realization hits McMurphy hard and is what causes him to be "haggard and puzzled".
Chapter 21 - 25
2. What McMurphy means by this is that it isn't all the Nurse's fault as to why the ward is run like it is. Sure, she is a part of it but she's really just a part of the whole system in general. Similar to the "Combine Machine" that the Chief often talks about, McMurphy sees the big picture as a large system that is corrupted from the top down, and the nurse is only a small part of this, if she weren't there it would still be pretty much the same. Although most of the patients do not see this, the Chief does understand what McMurphy is saying, that it is all a larger system in place than just the one that the Nurse imposes on everyone. Sure the Nurse is the one taking in everyone to the Shock Shop, but that's clearly what the government or whoever is running the hospital wants. Like Harding says, "The public wants a quick fix" so that's exactly what the Shock Shop gives them. McMurphy sees that the system doesn't really care about how the patients are treated in the ward, in fact they'd probably rather have them all just be like robots that do everything the Nurse asks and never have the guts to leave the hospital, that way the real world doesn't have to deal with them. So while the Nurse is definitely a part of the problem, she is also not the whole problem by any means.
3. I believe that this act by McMurphy was indeed premeditated due to his realization of how important and influential he can be for all the other patients, and that they are somewhat doomed without his leadership. McMurphy realizes that he has succumb to the power of the "Combine" by starting to obey everything he is told to do. Once he realizes this, he decides to take on his rebellion again but this time he knows very well what he is getting himself into. He knows that he is risking potentially having to stay at the ward a lot longer or perhaps forever, however he decides that for the better of the other patients, he needs to be a leader for them in order to help them. Before he was a leader for them without his actual knowledge of how influential he was, but after the Cheswick incident he sees that he really does mean a great deal to the other patients and their well-being. This is what leads him to start his rebellion again and punch the glass of the Nurse's office.
The reason he chooses to do something insanely violent and out of the blue, shows everyone that he means business this time. He is done with the funny little jokes and jabs at the Nurse and all the little games, he is serious this time because he's doing it for the benefit of all the men in the ward, and not just for his amusement like before. The breaking of the glass is symbolic of the fact that yes everyone is aware of the power that Nurse Ratched has in the ward, however everyone should know that this power is also penetrable or "breakable", just like the glass was.
Chapter 26 - 29
2. What prompts Chief to jump into the fight against the orderlies and help McMurphy out is the realization that he and the other patients had once McMurphy decided to defend George. When McMurphy jumped in selflessly to confront the orderly that was giving George a hard time in the shower, it showed all of the men that McMurphy could indeed do things to help them out that weren't for his own benefit. Chief realizes this, that McMurphy is yet again willingly putting his own well-being and future at the ward at risk, solely for the purpose of helping out one of the other men in the ward. This is why Chief jumps into the fight because he admires the bravery and selflessness of McMurphy and shares this bravery to help him out. What this shows in terms of the development of the Chief's character, is that he has so much regained self-confidence and strength now. McMurphy aided immensely in this self-renewal for the Chief, just lifting his spirits and letting him see through the "fog" finally for good. It also showed how much admiration and respect the Chief has for McMurphy, after observing all of his actions throughout the novel. The Chief considers McMurphy not only someone whom he genuinely respects in the ward but also someone that he considers his friend, thus springing him to help out McMurphy in the fight.
6. I believe that the Chief did the right thing by smothering McMurphy, while it must have been hard to do, it was simply something that had to be done. McMurphy knew the consequence that would likely surface from his attacking the Nurse would be death or something close to it. The Nurse tried to play her last card by lobotomizing him for his actions. What this would have done is shown future patients of the ward that she is still to be feared and McMurphy would have been another visible example of the work of Nurse Ratched. He would have been walking around the ward being just a vegetable, just someone that once tried to defy Nurse Ratched and she got the better of him.
This is why what the Chief did was the right thing, and I would have done the same. This way, McMurphy maintained dignity in his death, and could remain a symbol of rebellion and freedom for everyone on the ward. The man who broke down Nurse Ratched and freed almost all the voluntary patients of the ward who would have otherwise been stuck there for their entire life.I think that McMurphy would want to die for some dignified reason, and dying for the freedom of many others is much more dignified than being a vegetable and allowing for the sufferance of many more.
