In, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", the main character is Randle P
McMurphy. He sort of comes off as a New York tuff guy. In my opinion McMurphy is
a hustler, considering his gambling and how he's always trying to manipulate
other patients to his benefit. Chief Bromden is a six foot eight, half bread
Indian. For years, Chief, "as McMurphy calls him", has fooled the
staff and patients in the ward into thinking that he's deaf and dumb. Though it
was by accident, McMurphy is the first person that Chief has spoken to in years.
Throughout the book, Chief seems to open up to McMurphy more and more, inch by
inch. Big Nurse is a picky b**ch. On the outside, she's always smiling, but
inside she's full of hate. The biggest reason she despises McMurphy is because
he threatens her perfect little world. " She must be a Jap". Knowledge
#2 (5 points each) One important event is the vote held on the viewing of the
World Series. McMurphy had actually won the vote, but still wasn't able to view
the World Series because of a technicality brought to attention by Big Nurse.
McMurphy didn't get to watch the game, but in a sense still won, sense he had
influenced the patients to actually vote against Big Nurse. Another important
event is the fishing trip. Big Nurse strongly disapproved the trip, and she
showed it. She posted newspaper clippings of bad weather reports and tragedies
at sea, right next to the sign up sheet for the trip. Despite the fear that some
of the patients felt, they went right ahead and signed up. "Another victory
for McMurphy!" The beginning of the party is somewhat important. It's an
example of McMurphy's manipulating capabilities. Though Mr.Turkle knew he could
get fired, McMurphy was able to talk him into letting Candy Girl and Sandy into
the ward. Billy's tragic death is very important in understanding just what kind
of effect Big Nurse had on the patients psychologically. In reality, Billy
didn't do anything wrong, and shouldn't have been criticized by Big Nurse. But
in Big Nurse's perfect little world, it seemed to be forbidden and disgraceful.
Big Nurse threatened to tell Billy's mother, "who she was close friends
with", what he had done. Instead of suffering through that , which seemed
to be a living hell, Billy got out of it the only way he knew of. Billy grabbed
a tool out of a drawer and slit his own throat. He decided to take his own life,
in fear of what Big Nurse would do. One last event is McMurphy's death. Outraged
by the acts committed by McMurphy, Big Nurse decided to do surgery on him.
During McMurphy's absence from the ward, rumors went around that he had in fact
escaped. When McMurphy was finally returned to his bed, Chief was reassured of
his relationship with him. Chief Knew he wouldn't leave without him. As Chief
spoke to him, he noticed there was no response to anything he says. McMurphy was
a vegetable!! Rather than allowing McMurphy to suffer like that, Chief decided
McMurphy would still escape with him. Chief put a pillow over the head of
McMurphy's corpse and put all of his weight on top, until the vegetable stopped
struggling. Then, with all his strength, Chief lifted the control panel and
hurled it through the window screen, and made his escape. Comprehension #5 (10
points each) In , "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", the main problem
is Big Nurse's selfish, egotistical, narrow minded views. When McMurphy
threatened Big Nurse's traditional ways, she just couldn't take it. She would go
to just about any lengths to stop this radical. Comprehension #6 (10 points
each) If the story had one last chapter, I predict it would just describe
everything going back to how it was before McMurphy entered the scene. Without
McMurphy there, encouraging the patients to think for themselves, Big Nurse
would become a despot, once again. As time goes on, the memory of McMurphy would
eventually fade away, completely. The only person who would remember him is
Chief, who has taken residence in Canada. Comprehension #7 (10 points each) The
main character, McMurphy, didn't exactly admire Big Nurse. Besides being a b**ch,
she was a monarch. Everything was done when and where Big Nurse said it was to
be done. McMurphy wasn't use to having everything done a certain way,
continuously. Big Nurse didn't even allow McMurphy do something as simple as
watching a game on television. Everything had to be done her way. McMurphy
couldn't stand it, but there wasn't really anything McMurphy could do about it,
"so they thought". Application #8 (10 points each) If I was deserted
in an Insane asylum with Big Nurse, I wouldn't be able to stand it. First, I
would attempt to escape from there. If I was to fail at escaping, I would focus
on Big Nurse herself. I would do anything I could to make her life a living
hell, in hopes of getting transferred, even if it risked becoming a vegetable.
Duh, which way did he go George, which way did he go. Application #9 (10 points
each) In the original ending, McMurphy is turned into a vegetable, then is
killed by Chief so that he would still in a way, escape with him. In my ending,
McMurphy somehow, overcoming many obstacles, manages to contact a federal agent.
He would then request an investigation over the ward's staff members. The feds
would discover how the patients were treated and uncover documents relating to
the cruel surgeries. As a penalty, Big Nurse and her assistants would receive
the same surgery they had once performed. Once they had all been turned into
vegetables, McMurphy and Chief would be appointed head of the ward. Candy Girl
and Sandy would become the new assistant nurses, and everyone would be free to
do as they please. Application #11 (10 points each) If this story would have
taken place in California, today, it would have been extremely different. Most
likely, Big Nurse would not have been the despot she was in the book. The
surgeries, "resulting in vegetables", would not have taken place. If
something like that were to take place, the whole organization would be under
investigation, and relatives of the patients would be suing for damages. This
ties in with Analysis, question number 15. Analysis #12 (15 points each) There's
actually not too much you can compare. In the beginning of the story, McMurphy
is the perfect image of New York hustler. Towards the end of the story, he's a
lifeless vegetable, like a body without a soul. The cruel surgery performed by
the staff of the ward is what caused the change. Evaluation #25 (10 points each)
McMurphy wasn't exactly sinless, but he wasn't the devil either. It's true some
of his habits aren't god willing, but many individuals have the same habits.
Though its been proven to cause cancer, thousands of Americans still smoke.
Groups such as M.A.D.D. protest drinking all together, but thousands of
Americans still drink. McMurphy sweared substantially, but today it's excepted
by many members of our society. McMurphy wasn't completely good, but that
doesn't mean he's completely bad either. Evaluation #22 (10 points each) Anger,
Sorrow, Satisfaction are three words describe my feelings. I felt an extremely
high amount of anger just knowing Big Nurse won the battle at the end. Then I
became overcome with sorrow knowing that Chief had to kill the only person he
had opened up to in years to keep him from suffering. Last I felt a state of
satisfaction knowing that Chief or McMurphy wouldn't have to deal with Big Nurse
ever again. Evaluation #23 (10 points each) There is one character that I felt
wouldn't have an effect on the story if he had been written out of the story. He
was occasionally the reason the other patients felt anger, but he didn't do
anything that changed the outcome of the story. The character I'm describing is
Harding. Personally, he annoyed the hell out of me, and I felt he wasn't an
important factor in the story.