one flew
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a very enthralling book. It has many strengths and few weaknesses. Its major strengths are the unique viewpoint of the narrator; the vivid personality of the characters; the many scenes that are often humorous and highly dramatic at the same time; and the struggles and major changes that occur for most of the characters. The weaknesses of the book are its slowness of pace in part and the black and white comparison between the protagonist, McMurphy and the antagonist, Nurse Ratched.One strength and probably the most interesting aspect of the book is the point of view from which the story is told. In most books, the story is told from the point of view of the main character, a narrator, or an omnipresent point of view. Instead, we see this story through the eyes of Chief Bromden, nicknamed Chief Broom. Chief Broom is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffers from fear of technology, women, and blacks. These three fears are represented by the staff of the ward. Technology and women are both represented by Big Nurse also known as Nurse Ratched, who, in his mind, manipulates the ward through the use of machines and his fear of blacks is represented by the three black or
Indeed, the character, McMurphy, is a metaphor for the freedom of the individual and the character, Nurse Ratched, is a metaphor for state control over the individual. A weak point of the story is when the Chief is working through some of his demons. The narrator has an interesting point of view. When she returns, she finds he has committed suicide. After the lobotomy, Chief Broom smothers McMurphy with a pillow to put him out of his misery and so that Nurse Ratched will not have McMurphy as a trophy to say that she won. An example of this is when McMurphy accuses the other patients of being too scared to stand up for themselves. McMurphy decides to take it upon himself to disrupt her attempts to have total control over the inmates and to challenge her at every turn. To prove his point, McMurphy appears to change the subject to gambling. McMurphyÕs will is too strong for Miss Ratched to manipulate and instead she reveals what she is to McMurphy; namely, an extremely controlling, manipulative person. Chief BroomÕs distorted perspective provides a truly unique point of view as we see his delusions intertwine with reality in such a way that it is not always obvious what is reality and what is part of the ChiefÕs delusional system. The slowed pace at times and the lack of a gray area between good and evil are weaknesses that do little to take away from One Flew Over the CuckooÕs Nest being a thoroughly enjoyable book. As he walks away, hands bleeding, from his effort he says, ÒBut I tried, though. This whole sequence of events was very powerful. Goddamnit, I sure as hell did that much, now, didnÕt I?Ó Another strength is the evilness of Big Nurse.
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Acceptance Essays
