May 29, 2013
I have one more day left in my sub assignment, and I was at least able to make use of one book off of the regular teacher's shelf. I've had a hell of a time locating this book (as previously noted, our city's main library is still under construction...unless anything goes awry, it should be running within the next month!), so I'm glad that I had time to read this one (it's not very long, only 272 in the version I read).
So I have seen the movie, and I would consider Jack Nicholson's depiction of R.P. McMurphy, the main character in the text (though not the narrator) to be one of his best roles. I didn't see him exactly as the character in the book as I read it...I kind of more imagined Nicholson with red hair, since McMurphy is constantly being described by his red hair. Anyway, the movie is pretty different from the book, but then again, how can a film capture the mind of a crazy man?
The story is told from the perspective of Chief Bromden, a mute (at least for about 3/4 of the novel) Native American of the Columbia tribe. He's not real prominent in the movie, if I'm recalling correctly, but he's the one telling the story. He's not always a reliable narrator, as he's drugged out much of the time and often describes his hallucinations, at least during the first half of the text. How he ended up in the psychiatric hospital isn't clear, though Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after WWII would be my guess. His story itself is pretty interesting. He's had other traumas in his life, not the least of which being how his people's land was sold after the government put heavy pressure on their tribe (especially on the Chief's father, whose white wife put the screws in him as well, which led to not only the sale of the land around the falls, but also his heavy drinking problem).
Speaking of the narrator's white mother, women are not depicted in a very flattering manner in this book. There are perhaps a handful of female characters. The main female character, of course, is Miss Ratched, the controlling, emasculating head nurse. She rules her roost through manipulation and fear, and she is cool and calm...until McMurphy comes along and ruffles her feathers. Now, here's a personal reflection on this character. Having only the movie version to go off on (Louise Fletcher depicts her perfectly, though I imagined her looking a bit older than she was in the film), I used to be afraid of being a "Miss Ratched"-type teacher, a bitch, and stifling my students' creativity in my attempts to keep order in the classroom. I'll admit that at times, the structure (and a lot of the policies) of schools don't always fit with my personal philosophies. That, and the fact that I'm still without a job for next fall (I'm still in grad school, no big deal at this point) are making me question where it is that I want my career to go. Anyway...
The book gave me more insight into this character, but at the same time, presented some more questions. WHY does she have this need to control the men on her ward? It's only briefly explored amongst the characters, and some hints are dropped (I mean, she's not married...), but that's not really enough for me. What, since she's like sex-deprived, she's going to ruin people's lives? Not so sure about that one...I think there's a lot more to Miss Ratched than we know, but for the most part, this wasn't really her story. Because she's only a symbol, you see. She represents THE MAN, the oppressor, society at large that also wants to control people, mold and shape them, make them act a certain way and do certain things. And crazy people are not fitting with the mold.
The Chief bitterly refers to society as the combine. As a mixed-race individual especially, and someone who has gone through some of his experiences, he certainly doesn't have a place where he belongs. He claims that he stopped talking because nobody was listening to him. His silence made people think that he was deaf, too, and he became privy to hospital secrets...but at the same time, trapped inside his own drug-addled mind, accepting that the combine is very real, and that there's nothing he can do to fight it.
Until McMurphy, a man whose sanity or lack thereof is questionable, comes along and throws the whole neat little system out of whack. McMurphy is a schemer, a con man, and a criminal...a rapscallion, to be sure, but not a "bad" guy. The others guys on the ward take to him immediately, are drawn to his outgoing personality and his hearty laugh, when they are so incapable of laughing themselves. The other main characters, such as Harding and Billy, have interesting stories themselves. some of them involving mothers or wives (like Harding's wife, who is described as being young, big-chested, and sexy, while her husband's sexuality is more or less questionable; or Billy's mother, a "very dear friend" of Miss Ratched's, who is domineering and smothering). McMurphy, a very masculine, macho guy, is shocked that these men have allowed themselves to be run-down by a woman...especially when most of the "Acute" patients are there on a voluntary basis.
McMurphy, who reveals that he purposefully got himself committed so that he would be off of the prison work farm, challenges the reign of Miss Ratched and the "black boys" (the ward aides; the novel gets pretty racist when it comes to these guys, though you have to keep in mind that this was the '60's). In the process, he introduces high-stakes gambling and rebellious fun to the patients on the ward, and draws many of them out of themselves...including the Chief, who first talks to McMurphy in the middle of the night, then begins talking to everybody like he's done it all along.
The power struggle between Miss Ratched and McMurphy were the main focus of the film, and it's the main plot in the novel as well. The Chief takes hope in this struggle; perhaps he sees it as someone fighting against an oppressive system, and gives him the idea that he can take on the world. Though McMurphy is eventually punished for his violation of the rules (with several EST treatments, pretty gruesome, and I will say that I think it's crazy that this kind of practice is still going on), but he still keeps fighting. In his last hurrah, as depicted in the film (though it wasn't originally part of his escape plan in the book), he invites a couple of hookers to the hospital, who bring booze with them, and the "Acute" patients and the night watchman have a wild night. As in the film, when Billy is caught by Miss Ratched with one of the whores, he is so distraught at the idea of his mother finding out that he commits suicide.
The Chief's mercy killing of McMurphy and his escape are pretty much the same in the book as they are in the movie. It's unclear what will happen to the Chief next. Will he be able to live outside of the hospital (I would say yes)? But what about his mental illness? He'd stopped seeing images and hearing things so much after siding with McMurphy, and by not taking his medication any more. Was he even really that damn "crazy" in the first place? McMurphy observes at one point that the men on the ward (the functioning "Acutes" at least) don't seem very "crazy" at all. What does it mean to be "crazy" anyway?
I can't help but agree with the Chief's observations about society, and I think that's it's worse now than ever. I mean, "average" people are drugging themselves into zombies just to make it through their hum-drum lives. This book definitely presents some interesting, existential-type questions, and being at such a critical sort of crossroads in my life, I'm afraid that some of these are questions that I will have to explore further.
 |
| Louise Fletcher as Miss Ratched in the 1975 film. She's a stone-cold bitch...and the craziest one of the entire bunch. |
 |
| Ken Kesey's famous bus "Furthur." You know who was a frequent driver of that bus? Neal Cassady! |
No comments:
Post a Comment