One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Questions

What were Kesey's intentions in titling the book what he did?
The phrase "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" both comes from a nursery rhyme and also has come to mean that one has gone too far. This seems an interesting title because it can be applied to more than one situation in the novel; it could be interpreted toward McMurphy or Nurse Ratched. McMurphy made trouble continually, and even though he kept receiving electric shocks as treatment, he continued. He went so far that he received a lobotomy that turned him into a vegetable, and out of mercy, Chief killed him. A case could be made saying that it was he that went too far, but it can also be argued that Nurse Ratched "flew over the cuckoo's nest." For instance, she did everything that she did because she believed that it would produce better citizens for the society, but excessive shock treatment and pointless lobotomy on a rebellious patient could be seen as going too far, as well.


Why did so many of the patients stay in the ward if they were merely voluntary?
Many of the patients found some sort of closure or sense of place, however twisted, at the ward. For instance, Billy Bibbit had never had a relationship that really lasted or went anywhere. Had he not lived in the ward, it can be assumed that he would have lived with his mother, despite the fact that he was about thirty years old. In addition, Harding had much trouble with his wife, and chose to remain at the ward. The Chief stayed because he had grown up-from the time he was ten until about halfway through the novel-pretended to be deaf and feeling that no one ever listened to him; it can be assumed that the ward provided some sort of place for him, even if it were really no home at all.
 
How effective was Kesey's portrayal and characterization McMurphy as an antihero?
Kesey's choice to characterize McMurphy as an antihero seemed very effective. McMurphy is a character who could never be a true hero, though he could attempt to overthrow the "combine." Indeed, he did attempt this, but as opposed to being viewed as the villain (through his rebellion), we as readers are much more likely to side with him as opposed to Nurse Ratched. His motives are to help himself get out of the ward, to demean the power of Nurse Ratched, and (much later) to help the others in the ward. He smashed the Big Nurse's window several times, attempted to switch around their work hours to watch the World Series, and more (some merely to annoy the nurse). The drastic measures that he takes become justified in our eyes because of his massive impact on the other patients.

What support is there/isn't there for the prospect of McMurphy being a Christ figure?
McMurphy, it seems, can certainly be interpreted as an allusion to Christ. For instance, McMurphy comes into the ward and plans to go against those who are in power; while this does not necessarily seem like a motive that Jesus would have in the Christian faith, he does go against the traditional views and is considered blasphemous. He takes them fishing-and including himself and Candy, there are twelve on the boat, which can be considered a reference to the "fishing of men" that Jesus took with the twelve disciples. Finally, he fell at the end through multiple electroshock therapies and a lobotomy (and a mercy killing from the Chief), and soon after, all but about three patients left the ward. He showed the others how to live, and they went on with the lives that they deserved, (and the Big Nurse's power diminished) though he made the ultimate sacrifice for them: himself.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Blog #2

It seems that currently, in the conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy, the latter is winning. After the initial refusal of Nurse Ratched to let the patients watch the World Series, he talks with the others angrily about wanting to "bust out of [the ward]" (p. 103) and goes on to discuss possible ways of escape with the others (who doubt that he could make it). Additionally, he asks them who would vote in favor of watching the Series and "about half the Acutes nod yes, a lot more than would really vote." Later, at one of the therapy meetings, McMurphy brings up the topic again, saying, "'I'd just kind of like to see which of these birds has any guts and which doesn't'" (p.117). When all twenty of the Acutes put their hands up, McMurphy is convinced that he has won, but Ratched points out the fact that twenty out of forty is not majority. McMurphy persuades Bromden to raise his hand as well, breaking the tie, but Ratched refuses, saying that the voting was closed. When the World Series comes on, McMurphy turns it on, and Ratched turns it off from her control room, but McMurphy pretends it is still on. Soon, "Cheswick goes and gets him a chair, and then Billy Bibbit goes, and then Scanlon and then Fredrickson and Sefelt, and then we all put down our mops and brooms and scouring rags and we all go pull us chairs up...and we're all sitting there lined up in front of that blanked-out TV set, watching the gray screen just like we could see the baseball game clear as day, and she's ranting and screaming behind us." In this, it seems that McMurphy has won his bet and his ongoing competition with Ratched; he caused her to lose her composure completely, despite the doubts of the others.

At this point in the story, the Chief's reliability as a narrator is swayed both ways. It is obvious that the "fog" that he frequently feels caught in is not literal, even if he perceives it as being so; this leads to the idea that he is not entirely to be trusted as a narrator due to his condition mentally. However, he also demonstrates that he is extremely observant in his descriptions, particularly of McMurphy. He frequently sees his intentions when others don't; for example, Bromden says that "[McMurphy]'s making sure none of the staff sees him bothered by anything; he knows that there's no better way in the world to aggravate somebody who's trying to make it hard for you than by acting like you're not bothered." As a whole, Bromden seems reliable enough as a narrator, for even when he feels that the fog is closing in on him, he reports the dialogue of other characters and other events.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Blog #1

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey seems to have developed an environment in which the new inmate, McMurphy, who intends to outsmart Nurse Ratched, is the hero of the story (though an antihero). His rebellion is new to those in the ward--according to Bromden, his laugh is the first that they have heard in years--and they respond first with some sort of reluctance for even listening to him. Nurse Ratched, who is the villain of the novel, has practically reigned over them with complete control for many years, and they know her power and her punishments. McMurphy suggests to Harding that they be rude to her at the next meeting, and Harding replies (starting a whole new conversation) that she is too powerful and too abusive to allow such a thing to happen.
McMurphy's rebellion is what makes him an antihero--he doesn't do what is morally right, but his actions of attempting to outsmart the Big Nurse are justified through her cruel treatment to him and the other patients.

The Great Gatsby Reading Blog #3

For what purpose did Gatsby intentionally become the legend that he was regarded as in the beginning of the novel? In other words, why did he move to his enormous house, host his parties, allow rumors to fly, etc.?
Gatsby's life was entirely motivated by Daisy Buchanan. He moved to his house to be closer to her; her house was just across the water, and he was seen reaching across the water to her dock, where a green light shined. He hosted his many parties as a means of trying to reconnect with Daisy, hoping that one day she would come or that someone that knew her would. The rumors that regarded him, many of which were utterly ridiculous, did not seem to really affect him; in fact, they built up who he was, and it can be inferred that he did not entirely mind being mysterious.

Why didn't Wilson kill Tom, considering that it was he who had been Myrtle's lover?
Wilson, mad with grief and confusion, searched the town to find out who owned the yellow car that struck Myrtle. While he initially assumed that it had indeed been Tom, he realized that it could not be, because Tom had driven by later in a different car. Later, Tom told him that it had been Gatsby, and Wilson assumed that Gatsby had therefore been Myrtle's lover. As he never knew that it was with Tom that Myrtle had an affair, he killed Gatsby and then himself.

The eyes of Dr. Eckleburg are mentioned frequently throughout the novel. What might they symbolize to various characters?
Wilson stated explicitly that the eyes were God, and that God was always watching and that Myrtle could not possibly hide from him, even if she could hide from her husband. Indeed, throughout the novel, there seems to be the theme of a higher power of some sort watching through the eyes on the billboard. On page 24, Nick describes the eyes as "dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain [that] brood on over the solemn dumping ground [of the valley of the ashes]." Daisy and Tom move away at the end of the novel, and though it never mentions it specifically, this means that they are out of the range of the eyes, and that they are no longer watched by them-though what the eyes mean to them, specifically, is not clarified.

Analyze Daisy's love for Tom and for Gatsby. Did she love either exclusively?
Daisy loved Gatsby as a young woman, and she did seem to regret her engagement to Tom on the night before their wedding. However, it seems that she did love Tom, to some extent, because of her dedication to him through their marriage, even when he was unfaithful, and through the quarrel between Gatsby and Tom. For her, loving Gatsby was stepping back in time, to when she was loved by someone who would not cheat on her and whom she loved as well. 

The Great Gatsby Reading Blog #2

Meyer Wolfsheim seemed to be introduced as a character to show that Gatsby's past was not as glamorous as Nick had been told; he is a gambler who in fact helped to fix the World Series in 1919, and Gatsby is connected to him in some way that, while unexplained, shows that he is indeed associating with someone so shady. Wolfsheim offers Nick a "business gonnegtion" but then realizes that he mistook Nick for another friend of Gatsby's, showing that he does not hesitate to extend his profession to others.
The backstory regarding Daisy and Gatsby instilled a sense of pity for me personally as a reader; it seemed that neither ever got over the other, and yet they could not be together. Daisy even regretted her engagement to Tom on the night before her wedding, and of course Gatsby is still in love with her. It altered my view of Gatsby as a person as well; it shows that he has a chink in the armor, and that he is not as perfect and mysterious as he seems.
The story of the rest of Gatsby's life also showed that he is not as perfect as he might seem. For instance, he came upon his money neither through inheritance from a wealthy family member nor that of his best friend, Cody, who he helped on a ship. Instead of growing up in a rich family, he grew up in North Dakota and worked as a janitor at university to pay for his tuition. This past shows that he worked hard to get to where he is now, and that much of it was for Daisy, so that they might be together.
Overall, this set of chapters has altered my view of Gatsby for the better. Though I did not dislike him before, there was much left unsaid, and hearing about his true past left me with a different impression of him. He seemed to have a somewhat difficult past, and he never let go of his love for Daisy, which leaves him with a rather pitiful appearance. His past shows who he really is, and as a reader I like him much more now.

Black Bottom Stomp-Jelly Roll Morton

-What stands out to you about this music?

-How do you think this song would have meshed with the mood of one of Gatsby's parties?

-Why does it work/not work?

This song has a very cheerful feel and seems to almost bounce. It seems that it would have gone well with one of Gatsby's parties; it gives off the feel of many couples dancing happily and quickly together. It promotes the happy mood of Gatsby's parties-even if he himself only really watches others enjoy themselves. The song seems to also fit the time period and the preferences of the people living during the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby Reading Blog #1

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway seems to be both the protagonist and the hero of the story. He writes (having given the impression that it was he who wrote the book) that he is "inclined to reserve all judgements," (p. 1) as well as the fact that he "is one of the few honest people that [he has] ever known" (p. 59). This leaves him with a sense of honor that the audience cannot help but like; he is simply someone who does right.
Jordan Baker, to whom Nick was introduced by his cousin, Daisy, seems to be an antihero. She is extraordinarily dishonest and has cheated in a golf tournament-and yet Nick and the audience still seem to like her.  Nick says that "she was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body." (p. 58) In saying this, he implies that she seems to have grown up with this dishonesty and was unable to let go of it.
Gatsby himself is a mystery so far in the book. He seems to be a bit of a hero due to the description of his personality; "He smiled understandingly...one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It face-or seemed to face-the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey." This implies that he has an aura of simple understanding-and yet, at the beginning of the novel, he seemed to be a complete mystery to Nick, leaving the reader with mixed feelings about Gatsby and his intentions.