One Flew Through the Book’s Beginning

        One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey takes place in a mental hospital in the mid 1900s, and introduces some characters with interesting stories. There’s the Chief, who pretends he’s deaf, the main character McMurphy, who’s high spirited and boisterous, Nurse Ratched, who’s strong and strict, the Acutes, the Chronics, and many more. What I like so far about this book is that it’s in first-person, so the attitude, style, and tone of the voice are all in the Chief’s voice. It makes the story seem like it’s happening through his eyes, which brings character to the story line, and makes the reader see things from the Chief’s perspective. However, getting the story through his narration means that his imagination intertwines with the reality of what actually happened, which can be slightly confusing at first. In addition, seeing things through his perspective means making many inferences about what the Chief’s actually trying to convey. 

        With the characters and basic plot line given so far, it’s highly predictable that the exuberant Randle McMurphy will clash with the strict Nurse Ratched, which will cause a large conflict within the mental hospital. I’m not sure how the other patients at the hospital will react to this, but two opposite personalities in their positions are bound to create problems. I think this conflict might be resolved once one side accepts defeat; either McMurphy will accept loss of full control and has to obey the rules, or Nurse Ratched will lose and will have to accept that her authority can not control everyone, especially those who have a strong will like McMurphy’s.

        The basic structure of the beginning of the book is very similar to many, many other books because they all involve a character that comes into an environment that has a routine, and the person creates a large change in multiple aspects. With McMurphy’s entry to the hospital, I think that the interactions within the patients will change, and some of them will learn to back off and learn their place. I’m interested to see where this book takes me!

2 thoughts on “One Flew Through the Book’s Beginning

  1. I definitely agree with you that the beginning of this book is confusing. Do we know for sure that the Chief is faking the fact that he is deaf or is it pure speculation? I also agree with you that McMurphy will clash with the Nurse, I’m just very interested to see how it will end up. Hopefully the conflict will spawn an even more interesting plot and story line.

  2. I’m also reading this book, and I totally agree with you! I also loved the narrative choice because Chief is the silent observer throughout the course of the book, giving a unique insight to the story overall. I also foresee a lot of conflict between McMurphy and the structure of the institution, and I anticipate that the order of the facility will shift as the storyline progresses. Happy reading, I look forward to talking more with you as we read more!

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