Mackenzie

Setting Questions And Answers

Q: By the way the character speak and the slang they use, where could the setting of the book be?

A:Southern USA in the 1930's because the slang they use makes it seems like they're in the country but the actual language and words they use are obviously fairly far in the past.

Q: What are some of the main treatments used in the book that imply that this book is in the past?

A: Electroshock Therapy was still used, and used frequently. Seclusion was used as more of a punishment than a treatment. Trepanation, where two holes are drilled into the sides of a persons head to "release the demons or madness" from the person, was used (Ruckly's head installation). They have a patient nailed to the wall. The "black boys" tease the patients, and in the modern day more individual programs are used to help patients.

Q: From the contents of the book, where is the book taking place.

A: In Oregon, most likely near Pendleton because when McMurphy says that he came to the hospital from the Pendleton Work Farm.

Q: From the novel, what time era id the book taking place in?

A: Some time in the 50's, Bromden said he's been on the ward since the Second World War and he's been there for ten years. It doesn't say if he had been there at the start, in the middle, or the end of the war so the time can't be narrowed  down much more.

Q: What could the machinery in the walls be?

A: I don't think there is any machines in the wall. I think that even thought Bromden isn't deaf or dumb he could still have a psychiatric disorder like paranoia and/or delusional. I think this because in the beginning of the book  he describes the Big Nurse to of turned into a some kind of monster and later on he described to other patients to turn into rabbits. 

Q: Why would the author, Ken Kesey, make the book in the same setting as his own life?

A: It could be because it's easier to write in a setting you're already familiar with or maybe in a way Bromden is actually the author. Bromden doesn't actually talk in the book or do much of anything but describe what he sees just like the author would do but he writing himself into the book sort of makes it more interesting and unique. 

Q: Why do you thing "Inside" and "Outside" are capitalized in the book?

A: They're capitalized because to Bromden and the patients inside and outside are the only two patients there are. 

Q: Why has most of the book so far happened in the day room?

A: It happens in the day room because that's where the patients interact and any action would happen in there.

Q: Why would the author decide to write a book set in a mental hospital?

A: I think that the book has a greater meaning behind it,but since I'm not done the book yet I don't quite know what it is, and the fact that it is set in a mental hospital really helps the meaning to be clearer.

Q: What could the feel and look of the hospital could the author be trying to establish?

A: Full of anxiety from being too perfect ad trying to maintain that, and also sort of depressing.

Journal Entry #1

I thought that the first quarter of the book was a bit slow, but the start of most books are. I excited to see how McMurphy disrupts the ward, and gets under the Big Nurses skin. So far my favourite part is when Bromden explains the time when Pete makes a scene during one of the group meetings. When all of the patients are telling their biggest secrets and Pete keeps yelling about being tired and then he starts yelling more things and explains how hard it's been for him. I mostly like it for the part when Pete says " I was born dead." That's when I really understood what he meant when he'd say he's tired. He wasn't tired as if he wanted to go to bed, but he was tired of trying and living a life that's not worth it. There was never anything for him to strive for, or anything that could allow him to live normally. It made me feel bad for Pete since especially in modern times stuff like that wouldn't happen. That leads me into how absolutely ridiculous the mental practises were back then, like how shooting electricity into a person is going to make them stop being schizophrenia, or how drilling wholes into a persons head will clear the "demon" from someone. Another thing is how nailing someone to a wall could ever be thought of as okay in any facility. This actually makes me think about what i predict the climax of the book could be about. On the back cover, in the synopsis, it says "When Big Nurse uses her ultimate weapon against McMurphy is what provides the story's shocking climax." and the repeated references to electric shock makes it, to me, pretty obvious what's going to happen. It seems like a lot of foreshadowing, but maybe there could also be foreshadowing towards another options that I'm not realising since it doesn't match my prediction. I don't think this book is going to have an ending that necessarily resolves things in the way the readers would expect. After all it is set in a psychiatric hospital and those don't usually correspond with what most would consider normal. Well no matter what happens I'm pretty sure it will be interesting and I'll like it.










Journal Entry #2

I think this part of the book was more interesting than the first. There's things that I didn't quite get at first but then figured it out after a little thought. The things I weren't sure about was the fog and how Bromden kept explaining how the time would slow down. At first it confused me a little bit, because I wasn't sure what the fog actually was. If there was actually fog (which was most likely not it), or if Bromeden was just seeing it but then he started to float in the fog and I sort of think it's completely in his head and every time he was getting lost and going farther into the fog was him going farther into losing himself, into his mind, like the other Chronics. I think when the time slows down it's basically the same thing. He was saying at first that he was scared of getting "lost", but then kind of let himself go of that but then tried to pull himself back again. It's like he's constantly at war with himself. To me it seems that he wants to stop trying, let go, and lose himself but at the same time he's too scared, I guess he's just not ready. Also when he's on the fog he understands what the Chronics have been thinking and their reasoning because he's in their position and more like them.
My favourite part of this section is when the patients sit around the blank TV. I was happy because they finally stood up to the Big Nurse's unfair and controlling ways. I mean, it is her job to control things and keep everything on schedule and running smoothly, but the way she does so is unfair. I also can't stand what she does at group meetings, how is picking on someones weaknesses and destroying their confidence therapeutic in anyway, it's practically the opposite. For example, Billy Babbit, even thought no ones sure what exactly causes someone to stutter, I think how Billy has such a lak of confidence certainly could make it worse. Then the Big Nurse comes along and makes it even worse, she didn't help at all. Another thing I didn't like is how she counted the votes. Maybe I'm being biased but I think she should have counted Bromdens vote.
Okay lastly, I just wanted to ask a question. So when Bromden is awake during the night and he sees all the walls open up and stuff like that, what is that all about? I'm pretty sure it didn't actually happen but I don't see what the meaning is.

Journal Entry #3

 So in this quarter of the book a lot of big things happened to Bromden. Not only did he talk but he also left the seclusion of the ward. I'd like to share my thoughts on both of these events, especially when Bromden talks because I fell like he had a lot of important things to say.
 I think that when Bromden is very significant to the story because it shows that Bromden is coming out of his shell a little a bit and maybe progressing mentally. Also when he talks I realised he has some very interesting things to say. The thing that really stood out for me was the metaphor he used when he was comparing sizes of him and McMurphy and his father and his mother. When McMurphy said that Bromden was a big guy, he completely disagreed and said that McMurphy was much bigger. I think that when he says bigger he's referring to the power of the person not how large they actually are. I think that Bromden has a deeper meaning behind his words and is very intelligent even though to most at the hospital he's dumb.
Another thing, I don't understand why Bromden would pretend to be deaf and dumb. Well now he does it so that the Big Nurse wouldn't realise all of the secrets he knows, but that couldn't have been the reason from the start. I get that people would just ignore him anyway but if he was just suffering from something else he could of probably been cured and get out of that place. Tell me what you think below!
And also Bromden finally left the ward after 10 years! I thought at first that as soon as he got out something extraordinary would happen since it's a first in the book but that didn't seem to be the case. It's obvious that Bromden is becoming more confident and that McMruphy is impacting the confidence of a lot of the men on the ward. In someways I think this is a good thing since the men used to be so timid but now that they're getting more confident the Big Nurse is obviously not happy about it and might take measures to do something about it....











Journal Entry #4
(Last One!?)


So this was the last quarter of the book and in my opinion the best, it was more interesting and so has a lot of moments that really stood out for me. I'd like to take my last journal entry to talk about a few specific things that I found either important or really interesting, first I'd like write about the events that happen to McMurphy, the overall character of Billy Babbit, and the speech Harding gives on page 257 about reasons and society.
McMurphy was hard headed, strong, and would never go down without a fight, this is clearly shown in the last few chapters. The electric shock doesn't seem to effect him no matter how much they do it, in reality I feel like that's close to impossible no matter how hard headed and strong you are, I feel like the author did this on purpose to build up McMruphy's "indistructable" chacacter so that when they use the big procedure on him and he comes back mearly a shell of himself t seems to be more shocking and sort of more of a defeat. This part actually made me sad to know that even thought this book is fiction, those same procedures would still have been done and the same results could of easily of happened, I just wish everyone could of had a Bromden to put them out of their misery. I know it's muder but I'd rather be dead than live a life without any control over my body or life, I'd hate to be trapped inside my head.
Billy Babbit was probably my favourite character because of how most of his problems came from the pressure of society, like he was always scared of people judging him and he'd try so hard to fit in but there was always ometing off about him that made it hard for him. It was actually made pretty obvious that Billy was suffering from many issues, a lot mental disorders you're born with and some are caused by dramatic events in ones life and other reasons too but I feel like Billy had a mixture of these and also adding onto that was society and how there is always this pressure to be perfect and to fit in. I feel that Billy was trying so hard to fit in and once he did what he thought he needed to by sleeping with Candy and then realising what he'd done made him realise that all this time he's been striving for something that's impossible to get. At first when he started blaming the other guys for what he'd done I didn't quite get he was right because even in a mental institution there was still all the same pressures to be perfect and to fit in. Billy is probably my favourite character because of how realtable he is because even in a book that takes place in a phychiatric hospital in the 1960's the same problems are in todays society, everywhere you go.
I'd just like to mention Hardng's speech because he basically says that same thing about pressure from society and that's why he's there. Harding always seemed so educated and collected but he had the same problem as the stuttering mess Billy Babbit which also shows that no matter who you are there's going to be pressures and problems. McMurphy doesn't conform to what society wants and doesn't care about the Big Nurses rules but still ends up dead, and I think the author did this to show that even though McMurphy was his own person her did what he did to gain respect and prove himself to people which isn't why you should be yourself, people should be themselves because simply because they weren't made to be like everybody else.

 

Thoughts of the Review

I thought reading this review was pretty eye opening actually, because from what I had heard about this book it was supposedly a much celebrated book, the review even says it, so I figured that's all this review would talk about. The books great success and all the magnificent stuff about it but I was surprised to find out that the book actually had some flaws to point out. I was even more surprised to find out I actually agreed with one of the flaws that was mentioned. That Bromden seems to know things that, even though he was always listening in on conversations, he wouldn't be able to know. The example of how he says the small black boy saw his mother get raped when he was young, even though he could of over heard that, it's highly unlikely the boy would of remembered such details that Bromden mentions.
Even though I agree with that part I don't agree with how it says "Thus, in a crazy world, only the insane can discern what's really going on." I could discern what was going on in that "crazy world" because it is weird but it's still understandable and up for debate in which all of it means and I think when things can have more than one possible explanation is what makes it more interesting to read. I think Ken Kesey did a really good job with that and that Bromden was not at all how he was described in the Review.  I also don't think this story has an excess of story telling enthusiasm, I think Ken Kesey was a great writer and this book was really original and has a lot of great meanings in it.