Cuckoo's Nest Part IV

Leading up to Part IV, Nurse Ratched's authority over the men in the ward declined as McMurphy's influence on them continued to grow stronger, especially on the fishing trip. The men of the ward trusted McMurphy, admired him, and respected him. Nurse Ratched realized how influential he was on the men that she attempts to tarnish his profile by posting the patients' financial statements, highlighting the fact that everyone's finances have been declining except for McMurphy's. Everyone begins to question McMurhpy's character and motives, but Harding points out that McMurphy was never shy about his motives.

However, Nurse Ratched's attempt to divide the patients and ostracize McMurphy fails. The rest of the men, especially Bromden continually stick by his side. When Nurse Ratched orders everyone who attended the fishing trip to be cleansed, Bromden and McMurphy together fight the aides who try to force George to take a shower. Because of this, both Bromden and McMurphy are sent to Disturbed and sentanced electric shock therapy.

In his absence, the men's respect for McMurphy continues to grow, which causes Nurse Ratched to take him out of Disturbed. The guys encourage him to escape, and they formulate a plan after they have a drunken orgy with Candy and Sandy with large amounts of alcohol with the help of Turkle. However, their plans fall through. When the aides discover what happened the prior night, Nurse Ratched does some of her own investigating, finding Billy with Candy. She threatens to tell his mother which leads him to a crying plea to keep it a secret. She sends him to Dr. Spivey's office where he commits suicide on his way there. Then she asks McMurphy if he is satisfied, then retreats to her office. McMurphy smashes through the glass and attempts to strangle her. She is sent to the hospital and returns a week later with a large bandage on her throat, unable to speak. She orders a lobotomy for McMurhpy as a consequence for his attack. When he returns, he is in a vegetative state. Bromden, the one who always stood by McMurphy, despite his ways, smothers him with a pillow, putting his friend out of his misery. Having gone through enough Bromden throws the control panel through the window, and makes his own escape.

Part III

Two significant things happen in part III of Cuckoo's Nest; Chief decides to finally speak, and McMurphy's fishing trip. These two events add some spice to these otherwise somewhat uninteresting characters. Chief opens up to McMurphy at night when they are supposed to be sleeping and finds it difficult to stop talking when one of the black boys comes around to figure out Chief's chewing gum mystery. The fishing trip seems to give the men their metaphorical balls back as they become master of their own domains rather than submitting to Nurse Ratched's orders.

The night before the fishing trip, one of the aides come around and scrapes gum from underneath Chief's bed, claiming that he finally figured out how a broke man like Chief could afford gum. He says he never saw Chief go to the canteen to buy anything because he doesn't have any money, but somehow has gum to chew. After the aide leaves, McMurphy rolls over in the bed next to Chief and hands him a piece of gum, and Chief instinctively thanks him without realizing he broke his long silence. Both Chief and McMurphy exchange anectdotes, but quickly then realize they are making too much noise and that they may get caught. Before calling it a night, McMurhpy convinces Chief to come along on the fishing trip under the condition that Chief follows McMurhpy's workout plan to get Chief buff again.

The following morning, McMurhpy's fishing trip plans almost fall through, but with help from the Doctor Spivey, the guys and Candy, the "chaparone" hit the road. When they go to the gas station, the men follow McMurphy's lead of acting as a tough guy when they run into some trouble at the gas station, which boosts their confidence. However, this confidence subsides on the dock while the men working on the docks begin to verbally harass Candy. The once tough guys fall silent, leaving Candy defenseless. They also run into some legal trouble regarding the boat rentle, but McMurhpy decides to take matters into his own hands, punching out the captain and taking the boat anyway.

On the boat, they enjoy masculine activities such as drinking beer, fishing, soaking up the sun with their shirts off, and enjoying Candy's company, especially Billy, who could be regarded as the sweetheart of the group. They all seem to be somewhat normal, almost not even needing to be institutionalized; quite different than they seemed under Nurse Ratched's care.

With the progression of the plot, the characters further develop, especially Chief Bromden. The rest of the group show a sign of some relative independence rather than incompotence as seen during their days in the Combine. Regardless, they all return to the ward, with even Doctor Spivey enjoying himself.

Cuckoo's Nest Part II

The character of McMurphy really develops in Part II, and his influence on the other members of the ward is evident. He brings a more masculine and rebellious attitude that is in many ways admired and respected by the other patients. Since he arrived at the ward, the other members have been a bit more daring and bold about their grievences that they have kept long silent. However, a shift in his approach to Nurse Ratched changes as he no longer goes out of his way to get under her skin the way he previously did in Part I.
In Part II, McMurphy takes on the role of the main character, as he consumes more of the pages than narrator Cheif Bromden. More of the action of the novel revolves around McMurphy at this point rather than Cheif Bromden, however, because Cheif Bromden is the narrator, only his thoughts appear on the page.
At meetings, McMurphy seems to be the most vocal opposition to Nurse Ratched and the staff. However, his most important meeting was the one in which he silently reacts to the rationing of cigarettes. He strategizes his insubordination in way in which he can go unpunished; a shrewd and clever thought. He remains silent rather than vocally reacting, sticks his hand through the glass window of Nurse Ratched's office (where the cigarettes have been kept), breaking the glass claiming that it was so spotless that he forget it was there. Everyone in the meeting is stunned, and Nurse Ratched is even fearful.
Despite breaking the glass, McMurphy gets permission to assemble and train a basketball team. This establishes McMurphy officially as a leader of his fellow patients. They already admired him, but now he has some given authority over them because he is now the captin of their basketball team. Once the glass is replaced, one of the members intentionally bounce the ball through the glass, causing it to break and also deflating the ball, ending the basketball season. But not before a game between the staff and the patients in which McMurhpy gets a little physical with one of the black boys.
Another nod to McMurphy's leadership is the way Harding seeks McMurphy's approval of his wife. Harding is very excited to introduce his wife to McMurphy and asks his opinion of her after her visit is over. McMurphy however, is disinterested and claims he has better things to worry about.
McMurphy emerges as a leader in Part II whether willingly or unwillingly. His daring demeanor and unpredictability earns him the respect and admiration of his peers, and maybe even a little bit of respect from Nurse Ratched too.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest I

Reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest can be a bit difficult because of the style of delivery from the narrator; a distracted, mysterious "chronic" in a psych ward. Often he falls into flashback in which parts of his past are unveiled, but are never totally concluded, leaving gaps in the chronology of Cheif Bromden. We already know that his heritage includes American Indian, hence the title "Cheif", he was born on a reservation, and we have a physical description of him. We also know that he is the oldest member of the ward, and has been there the longest. In the ward, he is labled as a "walker" and a "chronic" which means that he is mobile and, by the ward's opinion, does not have a chance for recovery. He plays the role of a deaf and mute person, but as we understand, it is only an act. However, we still do not have much information on why he is in the psych ward.

The stream of consciousness style employed by Kesey is a very effective addative to the novel because of the setting and narrator. This feature lends more credibility and adds to the authenticity of the novel. It helps capture the full character of Cheif Bromden rather than having a third person, omniscient narrator.

Hamlet Act II

Love is a theme that is present in a number of Shakespeare's plays; including Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Hamlet. In each of these plays, boundaries are set on love between characters because of status; in the case of Romeo and Juliet, their families are enemies, in Othello, Roderigo could never get attention from Desdemona because she doesn't even know he exists due to the fact that she is the wife of the Venitian general, and in Hamlet, Ophelia and Hamlet, are separated by Lord Polonius' commands to Ophelia. All of these examples of love end in the same way; death.

Due to Shakespeare's common ending to love, Shakespeare may be implying something about who people should love and whether we should act on that love. Romeo's love for Juliet, whom he thinks is dead because of the potion she was under, drives him to suicide. As Juliet awakens to a dead Romeo, she also commits suicide. Their love ended prematurely with death. In Roderigo's pursuit for Desdemona's love, he meets with death. Othello can even be related to this theme of love prematurely ending in death because perhaps being of a totally different race from Desdemona was considered a flaw in their love by Shakespeare.

In modern times, love seems to be much more free than it was during Shakespeare's time. In the examples above, there is a major problem in who each character chooses to love, which ends in death; whether it be family relations, social class, or race. Love that crosses those lines never seems to live, but is always cut short in Shakespeare's plays.

Hamlet Act I scenes i-ii

The first two scenes of Hamlet do not give much background information of the main characters and the relationship between characters, but rather leaves the reader to figure out the backgrounds and relationships of the characters. The reader learns in scene two that Hamlet is the prince, and that King Claudius is both his uncle and now father. In that encounter, Shakespeare exposes a sliver of the type of relationship the two have. Hamlet's relationship with his father, which we cannot judge through dialogue, seems to be apparent through his heavy mourning over his father's death. Hamlet's encounter with his mother, Queen Gertrude in scenes i and ii is breif, therefore much speculation is required.
In the middle of the second scene (line 64), Hamlet is introduced as King Claudius' son and cousin, but is actually really the king's nephew. By Hamlet's response in line 65, it can be concluded that Hamlet is not very fond of his uncle. Nevertheless, King Claudius tries to comfort the mourning Hamlet and tells him that everyone loses their father at one point in time, but also gives him some sharp words that questions his character; specifically line 94 as King Claudius calls Hamlet's mourning "unmanly grief."
In the same scene, Hamlet speaks with his mother as she asks him to stay with her and King Claudius and not to go back to Wittenberg to continue studying. He does not place any words of affection or endearment towards her, and responds with "I shall in all my best obey you, madam" (line 120). This may be a cultural custom, but I see this as potentially a somewhat weak relationship between Hamlet and Queen Gertrude. In the following sequence, Hamlet's soliloquy, he appears to be upset with his mother for, in his eyes, betraying his father's love for her by remarrying King Claudius (lines 145-156).
At this point of the point in the play, it is premature to form any definitive opinion on Hamelt's relationships with King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, but the foundation has been set. It appears that there is hostility between Hamlet and King Claudius, and maybe even contempt. As for Hamlet and Queen Gertrude, Hamlet appears bit disappointed in his mother and perhaps upset in her perceived quick recovery from her former husband's death.

Coleridge and Shelley

"Kubla Khan" cautions against the indulgence of imagination by setting up the reader with vivid imagery, but then turning out what would seem to be paradise into the opposite. The first stanza describes a place with a sacred river, measureless caverns, and ten miles of fertile land (lines 3-6) and blossoming gardens, winding streams, and sunny areas (lines 6-11). However, the rest of the poem speaks negatively of this place; the speaker calls it "savage" and "enchanted" (line 14), and that a woman waits for her demon lover (lines 15-16). Witholding everything but the first stanza, the reader would most likely imagine a beautiful, peaceful place, but as the reader reads on, he/she would probably reconsider. The concept here is not to get carried away by overindulging in our imaginations. This may have been written for the American romantic poets who wrote much about nature and relied heavily on appealing to the reader's imagination.


In Shelley's poem Ozymandias, I can identify three speakers; the main speaker in the beginning, the traveller, and Ozymandias. The main speaker almost plays the role of a prophet in the sense that he/she is relating a story that has some type of social or political significance based in history. The traveller shares an observation of what seems to have been the remains of a statue or some type of monument. The traveller is the one who brings forth the information. The monument that the traveller speaks of is one of Ozymandias. Ozymandias speaks be saying, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!". This could mean that Ozymandias was some type of political or social authoritarian who was defeated, signified by the rubble of the statue. In other words, this may be speaking against proud leaders who become too domineering, leading to their own downfall.

Blake Post

I agree with the editors of the textbook that Blake's poetry has the power to enact social change, but not by appealing to the imagination of the reader, but rather the emotions of the reader. In his poem from Songs of Innocence, "The Chimney Sweeper", Blake paints a picture of a very young boy who has lost his mother and seems somewhat neglected by his father as indicated in line 2. Within the first two lines of the poem, the reader already develops a sympathy for the young boy. Once the reader reads about Tom's dream, the reader gains a sense of hope. Whether they can directly relate to the plight of the young boys, or abstractly, that sense of hope can motivate them to perservere or rely on religion in the case of the poem to get through the challenge they are facing. However, the version of the poem in Songs of Experience does not convey that message. The tone and emotion of that rendition is pity.

The editors of the textbook might have included this document to help give a background to the main character of the poem. Its inclusion only reinforces the pity and sympathy that I feel for the young boy; learning about the working conditions and effects of child labor.

Small Teacher Group post

4 Questions:
How does the treatment Gulliver receive from the Lilliputians change as the story progresses?

On various accounts, Gulliver says that he is from Europe; a place in our world. Without any indication of how Gulliver travels to Lilliput, where do you think Lilliput is and why?

Why do you think Gulliver gets his liberty early?

Do you think Gulliver was treated more like a prisoner of war or as a diplomat from another nation?

Selected Excerpts:
"I confess I was often tempted, while they were passing backward and forward on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that came in my reach, and dash them against the ground. But the remembrance of what I had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the promise of honor I made them, for so I interpreted my submissive behavior, soon drove out those imaginations. Besides, I now considered myself as bound by the laws of hospitality to a people who had treated me with so much expense and magnificence."
I chose to point out this excerpt because it is a good example of an internal struggle that Gulliver deals with early on in the story. It is also a good example of the satire that Swift aims for; Gulliver claims that he is "bound by the laws of hospitality." It is quite odd that Gulliver finds that being physically bound by these people and shot in the hand with little arrows hospitable behavior worthy enough to curb his inclination to easily destroy them. This can show that the larger, stronger force can be manipulated by a much lesser force because of a lack of intelligence or a vital flaw.

Reflection:
The small teacher group I worked with included Jon, Mike, and Matteo. Getting ideas to start flowing was simple because we shared opinions about Gulliver's Travels and came up with similar questions. We discussed a few different viewpoints on the motivations of both Gulliver and the Lilliputians, and the possible interpretations students may come up with. Unfortunately, not everyone was prepared, and we were a bit confused on how to present our ideas on the flip chart paper. However, with outside consultation, we agreed on a way to present our ideas in a way that we feel will be effective.

Expectations:
Our small teacher group plans on followling through with lesson plans that we prepared. He have a vision of teaching this text in a straightfoward manner, but also allowing students to come up with their own interpretations backed by textual references. Manipulation is the theme that our group noticed and would like to emphasize while teaching this excerpt.

Orwell Final Writing Response

The doctrine that O’Brien proclaims to Winston is of crucial importance to maintaining the system of oligarchical collectivism; “Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes; only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. What-ever the Party holds to be the truth is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.” The basis of INGSOC is built on the fundamentals ideas of totalitarianism; isolation, the use of telescreens to invade citizens’ privacy, complete governmental ownership of all resources, and unchallenged authority. Although Winston initially rejected this doctrine and tried to fit his pre-INGSOC lifestyle into the era of INGSOC, after this encounter with O’Brien in which he is physically threatened, Winston embraces this doctrine as his new way of living.
In order for Big Brother and the Party to stay in power, they must isolate the society from outside influence and erase the former mindset. By rewriting history and changing the language into Newspeak, the Party successfully cut off all contact to other societies and previous times except through one’s personal memory, in which Winston wrestled with as he suppressed and questioned some of his own memories. Late in the novel he recalls a happy time of him and his mother, but doubts whether it could have been true.
Another tactic that the Party used successfully was the manipulation of the language in which former and multiple meanings and associations with words were lost and mandated by the Party. This changed the way people thought of political and social ideas. For instance, the word “free” no longer could be associated with the idea of freedom from control. This prevented people from thinking about rebelling against the Party and developed an absence of thinking beyond the Party’s boundaries. The idea that the Party instituted of crimethink also further prevented people from thinking and expressing negative thoughts and notions against the party.
The telescreens further enhance the Party’s security of control by monitoring the details of everyone’s daily lives. In the beginning of the novel, Winston worries about being spied on by the telescreens as he writes in his diary thoughts against the Party and his suspicions about Julia and O’Brien. This idea of constant monitoring of people’s everyday lives and activities instills fear in the citizens and causes them to be apprehensive to resist the Party’s laws.
Through the use of these tactics, the society formed a reliance on the Party and no longer saw themselves as individuals who can be self-reliant. They willfully accepted the Parties lies through the rewriting of history and adopted the complete distortion of the language, which the Party called an improved and more efficient language. They looked to the Party as the final authority that was concerned with their welfare and saw a need for the Party; which is why the majority of the society did not resist the changes that an INGSOC society brought on a grand scale.
Winston was contrary to most of society; it bothered him how the Party was rewriting history, constantly invading everyone’s privacy, the lack of freedom to think and express thoughts publicly, and was not willing to conform to be bound to the Party like the rest of society. O’Brien calls Winston “a minority of one” in their last encounter because he failed to submit to the Party as everyone else. Winston struggled with letting go of the former lifestyle and ended up alone in his recollection of what he renders truth. He was the last connection society had to the past. As Winston realized he was the only one left, he finally relented and embraced this new doctrine in which he finds a love and admiration for Big Brother; forsaking his previous efforts to preserve the truth. Winston shifted his paradigm to that of the Party’s, as the doctrine called for. By the close of the novel, Winston almost makes a complete turn-around; from thinking as an individual outside of the Party’s lines and resisting the doctrine for preservation of “the truth” to accepted everything he once denounced as lies in order to preserve his own life.

Response to George Orwell Post

Dear Warrior, dear Loyalist, dear Purist and Son,
I'm writing to encourage you that you are not the only one. I too recall times before this facist regime, when public was public and private was unseen; before spies and telescreens. Indeed we were free to make our own decisions without every aspect of our life under the Party's supervision. Crimethink and doublethink didn't exist because there was no such thing. Any thought on our mind or song on our heart had the freedom to ring. Now however, the circumstances have shifted. No longer is any that privelaged or gifted. By a lack of resistance and an attitude of submission, all of our liberties have fallen into a state of remission.
We let our guards down and allowed the Party to overtake society right out of our hands. Let's take it back for goodness sake! Lamely we've toiled and bought into the lies, the rewriting of history, and permitted the omnipresent spies.
Treasoners! It is time for our repentance! No longer will Big Brother meet with our acceptance! We must unify ourselves without fear of becoming unpersons because we already are by living behind Big Brother's curtains. Isolated from the entire world we only know what the media tells us. But what isn't media media saying? Aren't you a bit curious? We are told of a war, but without a cause nor a goal. Where is the battlefront? Or how about the war within your soul? I'm calling on you to stand up to the Party to preserve our former society. Despite our lack of confidence, we must unite in national piety. Let us take back what's our's and restore things back to the way they once were! Now is the time! This change must occur!
Boldly,
Winston