Be sure to write your first and last name on the first line of your response.
This week write down a quote from the book Cuckoo's Nest, give the page number of the quote, and then write about that quote.
What is its significance to the rest of the story?
What on-going theme does it help develop?
What type of on-going imagery does it represent?
Choose a quote different from others and make your entry creative and unique. Thank you.
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ReplyDeleteBridget Cook
ReplyDelete"I indulged in certain practices that our society regards as shameful. And I got sick. It wasn't the practices, I don't think, it was the feeling that the great, deadly, pointing forefinger of society was pointing at me - and the great voice of millions chanting, 'Shame. Shame. Shame.' It's society's way of dealing with someone different." (pg.257, Harding)
I thought this quote really explained why the men in the ward were in there to begin with. Many of them don't have the "problems" usually connected with a mental ward. Harding for example is gay, he doesn't have mental issues or any real health problems but pressure from society has made him believe that his feelings towards other men require him to be admitted. This represents the ongoing theme of society's role in determining acceptable behavior and who is really "sick" and in need of ajustment.
Kiera Wesley
ReplyDelete"Harding drank and watched and shook his head. 'It isn't happening. It's all a colaboration of Kafka and Mark Twain and Martini.'" (page 254)
I found this quote to be quite amusing. It captures Harding's more mature outlook on the rowdy situation on the ward. When the prostitutes sneak and the patients start making a mess and having a party, Harding is more level-headed that the rest. While he follows along in their behavior, he is also the one who plans their way of making it look like it wasn't everyone's fault and also plans McMurphy escape. Even though his plan does not work out his efforts show a good balance between the crazy and fun situation and the reality that their actions will have major consequences.
Anna Billmaier
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
"I've finally realized what is happening. It is our last fling. We are doomed henceforth. Must screw our courage to the sticking point and face up to our impending fate." (page 254)
First of all, the line "screw our courage to the sticking point", comes from Shakespeare's Macbeth. In both the context of Macbeth and here in this story, it means that they must be men and face their fears. This is the point in the book when Harding is talking to all of the drunk men in the ward during their party. He is coming to realization that this party of theirs was fun while it lasted but there is not turning away from it or hiding it now. He knows that it will be known tomorrow by the entire ward what happened that night. He is realizing that there is no defeating the Nurse, and the best way for them to win is by giving into her. He feels that sneaking around that night was their last big breakthrough and that tomorrow, they would have to man up and face the facts of life again.
Derek Decker
ReplyDelete"Only at the last - after he'd smashed through that glass door, her face swinging around, with terror forever ruining any other look she might ever try to use again, screaming when he grabbed for her and ripped her uniform all the way down the front, screaming again when the two nippled circles started from her chest and swelled out and out, bigger than anybody had ever imagined, warm and pink in the light - only at the last...did he show any sign that he might be anything other than a sane, willful, dogged man performing a hard duty that finally just had to be done, like it or not." -Bromden, pg. 267
This scene at the end is significant because it depicts McMurphy overpowering the Big Nurse, which has been his goal for most of the book. Particularly notable is the attention given to her breasts. Throughout the book, Ratched had been portrayed as a totalitarian dictator with cold, machine-like precision and the ability to dominate the male patients, earning her the title of "ball-cutter" from McMurphy. But here, when McMurphy assaults the Nurse, the top of her uniform is ripped off, revealing her large breasts. As breasts are an inherently feminine feature, their depiction (which, I might add, has obvious sexist connotations) is symbolic of McMurphy taking away her dominance and making her submissive to him. Since time immemorial, the female has been portrayed and stereotyped as submissive to men, and thus here, McMurphy is reducing her to this "proper" place.
Gina Tuthill
ReplyDelete"What about McMurphy? What made him go on like he was, do the things he did? Some of the guys wondered if maybe that tale of him faking fights at the work farn to get sent here wasn't just more of his spoofing, and that maybe he was crazier than people thought. The Big Nurse smiled at this and raised her hand(221)."
This showed us how the Big Nurse came up with her plan to get final power over McMurphy. Getting information on McMurphy and having everyone question why he did things and if he was really crazy. The Big Nurse might've used this information to get him to react insanely later in the book so she has good viable excuse to do something that could make him stay there forever.
Samielle Foltz
ReplyDelete“I can't speak for them,” Harding said. “ They've still got their problems, just like all of us. They're still sick men in lots of ways. But at least there's that: they are sick men now. No more rabbits, Mack. Maybe they can be well men someday.” (Kesey 257)
On pages 60-61 in the class set of books, Harding describes people by using an extended metaphor of rabbits and wolves. He described the patients of the ward as rabbits and for someone like the Big Nurse and McMurphy as wolves. The wolves are there to hunt the rabbits but at this point McMurphy has been around enough to turn the rabbits into men. They're now capable of standing up for themselves in a way that they're not prey to society. Sure the members of the ward may still get “pointed at” but at least in their own frames of mind they can believe in themselves enough to not let anyone like the Nurse belittle them. However, even up to this point, Harding still believes that they are still sick. Don't get me wrong, some of the patients really do need some help, they're coo-coo's, but for someone like Harding and maybe even Brombden “society's chastising was the sole force that drove one along the road to crazy.”(258) making them prone to being rabbits. But for someone like McMurphy, a strong man, Harding said something else would drive him down the road to being crazy. That is “Us.” the members of the ward. Which holds a great deal of truth to it because the reason McMurphy got the lobotomy in the first place was because he lost his sense of control over the death of Billy and the Nurses blame on him. As a wolf, so to speak, he was hunted down like prey himself.
Lexy Kaftan Period 3
ReplyDelete"The ward door opened, and the black boys wheeled in this Gurney, reading with a chart at the bottom said in heavy black letters, RADNLE P. POST-OPERATIVE. And below written in ink, LOBOTOMY." p.269
The big nurse used this as a way to regain power in the ward since McMurphy was the one who led all the patients to rise up against the Nurse and become non conformists or how they said in the sixties "stick it to the man". Mcmurphy in sacrificing himself actually won in the end against the big nurse even though she thought she had regained control over the ward finally. Much like jesus sacrificing himself for all men.
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ReplyDeleteChristine Nafziger
ReplyDelete"If you don't have a reason to wake up you can loaf around in that gray zone for a long, fuzzy time, or if you want to bad enough I found you can come fighting right out of it. This time I came fighting out of it in less than a day, less time than ever." (page 242)
This quote shows how McMurphy has come into the ward and changed everyone there especially Brombden. Brombden now chooses not hide in the fog when he used to for days and he does not act deaf anymore; he has changed. I see this quote representing the theme of conformity and how people can learn they don't have to hide themselves. In this book there is a lot about how people must conform to fit into society but when McMurphy came, everyone in the ward sees that you do not have to be the same as everyone else. Brombden has chosen to let the world see him as who he is because of the impact McMurphy had on him.
Nik Toor
ReplyDelete“What is it?” he says. “Conductant,” the technician says.”Anointest my head with conductant. Do I get a crown of thorns?” (237)
McMurphy and Chief are just about to get their EST and the doctor is hooking the machine to McMurphy when McMurphy makes a reference to Jesus. This is just one of the many references to Jesus in the book and in every quote, including this one, it relates back to McMurphy. This seems to be on going throughout the book that McMurph is some sort of Jesus figure and is almost trying to liberate the patients from the nurse and the wards powers over them. This quote brings up a lot of imagery of when Jesus was nailed to the cross and had a “crown of thorns” placed on his head.
April Dick
ReplyDelete"And when the fog was finally swept from my head it seemed like I'd just come up after a long, deep dive, breaking the surface after being under water a hundred years." -Bromden (242)
For the Chief, this is the turning point in his character. Something about the sequence of memories he had during his shock treatment had the final effect on his perspective of living in fog or in reality. Now that he has emerged from the fog as a person with human traits such as a sense individuality, masculinity, and freedom, he is ready to step outside the ward and resume the life he once had.
Leslee Fall
ReplyDelete"He gave a cry...A sound of cornered-animal fear and hate and surrender and defiance, that if you ever trailed coon or cougar or lynx is like the last sound the treed and shot and falling animal makes as the dogs get him, when he finally doesn't care any more about anything but himself and his dying." (pg. 267)
At this part McMurphy has finally given the last of his strength to completely dominating the Nurse and cries out afterwords because he knows this is the end. Everything that has happened to him at the ward built up into violence against the Nurse. Even though he overpowered her he was losing his life in the process. McMurphy's sacrifice helped the others who were stuck at the ward by giving them the strength to move on with their lives.
Gina Chenoweth
ReplyDelete“I ran across the grounds in the direction I remember seeing the dog go, I remember I was taking huge strides as I ran, seeming to step and float a long ways before my next foot struck the earth. I felt like I was flying. Free.” (272)
This is the final scene in the book where the chief has finally escaped from the asylum. He is running as fast as he can even though he knows he will not be pursued. The theme of freedom is a big part of this scene because the chief is finally free and has set McMurphy free. As the chief runs across the grounds, some imagery in the scene is that he feels his long strides as if he were flying.
Crystal Nybo
ReplyDelete"I, however, have a plan," Harding said. He got to his feet. He said McMurphy was obviously too far gone to handle the situation himself and someone else would have to take over. As he talked he stood straighter and became more sober. He spoke in an earnest and urgent voice, and his hands shaped what he said. I was glad he was there to take over." (pg 256)
Throughout the book McMurphy has tried to loosen up the guys and make them take a charge and stand for things they believe in and know are right. This quote helps draw out the picture of McMurphy and his impact on the ward. Harding is finally taking charge and making decisions on his own. This action is a huge improvement and a great example to the other guys in giving them hope that they can do it as well. Later on in the story multiple other guys take charge and do deeds that they probably would not have before. One example is when Chief ended McMurphy's suffering and took off from the ward on his own.
Brody Hovatter
ReplyDelete"I told them all I could, and nobody seemed to think a thing about me all of a sudden talking with people - a guy who'd been considered deaf and dumb as far back as they'd known him, talking, listening, just like anybody. I told them everyting that they'd heard was true, and tossed in a few stories of my own." (243)
After discovering what the nurse had been doing to McMurphy, Chief Bromden tells the whole story to the other patients, and even throws in a few jokes to the tale. For the first time in the book, Bromden is not only talking and interacting with others, he is the center of attention. This shows how much Bromden has changed since the beginning of the book. To go from shy, secluded, and pretending to be deaf and dumb, to telling stories to groups of people and joking around is a huge change. Bromden's newfound confidence is testimony to the positive influence McMurphy had over the patients.
Kirsten Zoba
ReplyDelete"I indulged in certain practices that our society ragards shameful. And I got sick. It wasn't the practices, I don't think, it was the feeling of the great, deadly, pointing forefinger of society pointing at me- and the great voice of millions chanting, 'Shame. Shame. Shame.' It's society's way of dealing with someone different." (Kesey 257)
This quote is significant because it brings up the idea that some of the men are not actually sick while others are. The issue of being gay or having other certain mannerisms or tendencies different from the majority of society can lead one to admit themselves to a ward like the one we read about. Many of these men aren't sick, but are actually just different from the majority of the men in real life. The pressure they face from society to conform is so strong they break down and admit themselves instead of dealing with the harassment.
Garrett Johnson
ReplyDelete"The big, hard body had a tough grip on life. It fought a long time against having it taken away, flailing and thrashing around so much I finally had to lie full length on top of it and scissor the kicking legs with mine while I mashed the pillow into the face." (270)
This quote is significant because it portrays the dramatic death of McMurphy, who throughout the book was viewed as being indestructable. It helps develop the theme that McMurphy was a hard, strong man, and it took the nurse nearly everything she had to take him down. When McMurphy had the lobotomy it signified that the ruling authority is most often the power that wins when it is up against the rebelious power. After the Cheif saw the state that McMurphy was in he decided that he would do him a favor by ending his life. The imagery that this scene creates is that McMurphy died an idol and a legend. Instead of growing old into a vegetable, he dies with the image of a hero that is still in all the men's minds.
Will Quattlebaum
ReplyDelete"'What worries me, Billy,' she said-I could hear the change in her voice-'is how your mother is going to take this'" (266)
This quote is right after the all night party on the ward where Billy lost his virginity. This is significant because before this part, Billy had temporarily lost his stutter and was able to stand up to the Big Nurse. After this, Billy goes through a breakdown, probably the worst of the book, and begs for the nurse to not do this. This ultimately leads to Billy killing himself in the doctor's office. Miss Ratched goes to blaming McMurphy for the suicide, and then he chokes her and almost kills her. This really is a climax of the book, and the quote leads into it.
Savannah Guillen
ReplyDelete“We couldn’t stop him because we were the ones making him do it. It wasn’t the Nurse that was forcing him, it was our need that was making him push himself slowly up from sitting, his big hands driving down on the leather chair arms, pushing him up, rising and standing like one of those moving-picture zombies, obeying orders beamed at him from forty masters. It was us that had been making him go on for weeks, keeping him standing long after his feet and legs had given out, weeks of making him wink and grin and laugh and go on with his act long after his humor had been parched dry between two electrodes” (267).
This is a significant quote because it occurs right before the final confrontation between McMurphy and the Big Nurse, and it describes the reason why McMurphy hasn’t given up fighting the Nurse’s authority. This quote is an example of the on-going theme of Bible references, with the specific image of Jesus sacrificing himself to save mankind, which is exactly what McMurphy did for the other patients on the ward. Even though McMurphy lost his own life to the Nurse, in doing so he saved the lives of all the other patients.
Erik Enselman
ReplyDeleteIt seemed like Billy and I were the only two left who beleived in McMurphy. Pg 224
Towards the end of the book, most of the patients stopped beleiveing in McMurphy. The Big Nurse has figured out what McMurphy is trying to do, and is starting to take back the inmates. It shows that McMurphy is really not as powerful as you think he is, but he is not going to give up.
Laura Ahlrep
ReplyDelete"First Charles Cheswick and now William Bibbit! I hope you're finally satisfied. Playing with human lives- gambling with human lives- as if you thought yourself to be a God!" (266)
This quote really struck me as a good summary of McMurphy in a way but not fully how to the nurse describes it. For example, in the whole book, McMurphy has been put almost as a Jesus figure as the nurse explains. He has been seen as a saint to all the ward members and this has angered the nurse because it has been the first time someone has questioned her authority and pushed her aside. Second the nurse tries to make McMurphy feel like he's the reasons behind the two ward members deaths. She ties his gambling obsession into her words which makes it even more personal and pushes McMurphy even more to him lashing out in the next couple pages. This quote is important because it is the breaking point of McMurphy, the point where he loses it and in the end costs him his life for his actions.
Jaina Shah
ReplyDeleteNo, Billy, I wasn’t implying anything. I was simply observing tht Mr. McMurphy isn’t one to run a risk without a reason. You would agree to tht, would agree to that, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t all of ou agree to that?
No body said anything.
“And yet,” she went on, “he seems to do things without thinking of himself at all, as if he were a marty or a saint. Would anyone venture that Mr. McMurphy was a saint?”(222)
Toward the end of book, I found that McMurphy isn’t strong or powerful. People thought he could do anything to get the power from anybody he wanted from, which is big nurse. Also, in the quote it says Mr. McMurphy isn’t one to run a risk without reason.” And I thought if he wanted power, he didn’t need reason, simply he just not strong as everybody thought he was. In the end of the book Big nurse try’s to find, what the reason behind was it. Also few pages afterwards we find out that he needed the money and if other didn’t get enough he would give them slow grin.
Brian Gleadle
ReplyDelete""Billy, this girl could not have pulled you in here forcibly." She shook her head. "Understand, I would like to believe something else--for you poor mother's sake." The hand pulled down his cheek, raking long red marks. "She d-did." He looked around him. "And M-M-McMurphy! He did. And harding! And the-the-the rest! They t-t-teased me, called me things!" (264)
This section is significant because the nurse is getting into Billys head and telling him that his mother is just going to be sooo disappointed in him which practically drives Billy insane. I believe the nurse knows what shes doing and knows that one more death she can blame on mcmurphy is one more death that will cause him to be shunned by his peers. This brings up the imagery of the Nurse growing and becoming as big and as powerful as she thinks she can be.
Jenny Hergert
ReplyDelete"I took a deep breath and bent over and took the levers. I heaved my legs under me and felt the grind of weight at my feet. I heaved again and heard the wires and connections tearing out of the floor."
In this scene, the Chief finally gets that big control box moved like McMurphy wanted. Throughout the book, that box stood as a symbol of Nurse Ratched's power, as immovable as the oject itself. Seeing the Chief lift it and use it ultimately to make his escape is how we know the Big Nurse has been put down for good. She won't be a problem for any of the guys anymore, not with the source of her power thrown through a window, laying sideways on the lawn.
Tori Weisel
ReplyDelete“There were five thousand kids in green corduroy pants and white shirts under green pullover sweaters playing crack-the-whip across an acre of crushed gravel. The line popped and twisted and jerked like a snake, and every crack popped a little kid off at the end, sent him rolling up against the fence like a tumbleweed. Every crack. And it was always the same little kid, over and over (204).”
“The only one they noticed was the little kid at the end of the whip. He’d always be so scuffed and bruised that he’d show up out of place wherever he went (204).”
These quotes are significant because it shows how everyone conforms to what society wants them to be. The little kid that is different and that is not totally conforming is like McMurphy because McMurphy doesn’t conform to the Big Nurse’s rules and the ward policies. All the other men on the ward are like the kids wearing the uniforms who are cracking the whip because they are conforming to all the Big Nurse’s rules. These quotes help to develop the theme of conformity.
-Dan McMillan-
ReplyDelete"The big, hard body had a tough grip on life. It fought a long time against having it taken away, flailing and thrashing around so much I finally had to lie full length on top of it and scissor the kicking legs with mine while I mashed the pillow into the face." p(270)
This quote is impirtant becasue it goes to show that the invisible McMuprhy finally found himiself without his invisibility cloak. McMurphy was a tough son of a gun and was able to put up quite a fight for the big nurse. Though McMurphy's death was unfortunate, the scene made it clear that he would not be forgotten.
Maxx Forde
ReplyDelete"And he'd swell up, aware that every one of those faces on Disturbed had turned toward him and was waiting, and he'd tell the nurse he regretted that he had but one life to give for his country and she could kiss his rosy red ass before he'd give up the goddam ship. Yeh!" pg. 242
I thought that this quote was interesting because it just shows how dedicated McMurphy is to overthrowing the power which the Big Nurse has. The fact that he would give multiple lives in order to do this just speaks volumes. It also helps develop the theme of being a Jesus figure ever so slightly in that Jesus himself did have multiple lives. First he lived his human life, which he gave as the ultimate sacrifice, and then he rose from the dead to live an eternal life in heaven. I just thought that it was an interesting quote in this way.
Breanna Taylor
ReplyDelete"She was thrown off balance and flustered so much with everyone in the room laughing at her, that she didn't brinf it up again." Pg. 244
This was an important quote because its symbolizing the big nurses defeat, she is showing weakness by getting flustered and even stops trying, she gives up on this tiny battle. The ongoing theme is the battle with the big nurse, this is simply a good update. The imagery it creates is the nurse with a frazzled look in her eyes looking every which way as she realizes she is losing control, it is a victorious image.