Diane’s Blog

Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, tells the story of an orphaned girl trying to find her place in the world. Focusing strongly on the humanistic need for love and acceptance, the novel follows Jane through her childhood and into womanhood. While she is merely seeking kindness from the world, it is usually experiences of cruelty and hardship that she encounters most.

The story begins with Jane at age ten, detailing the happenings of her early childhood and how she came to be residing with her wealthy aunt and uncle, the Reeds. It is her uncle’s death that ultimately exposes her to her first lashings of extreme cruelty, being subjected to servant work and torture from her aunt and cousins who fail to respect Jane’s blood relation to Mr. Reed. One evening, it is suggested to Mrs. Reed that Jane be sent away to school, and to Jane’s surprise and delight, Mrs. Reed agrees. From there, Jane hopes to escape the oppression of her home life and make bonds with new people. However, she finds that brutality exists in many places in the world, as her school environment proves to make no large improvements on her life. As Jane gets older, she tries her hand at teaching and being a governess, where she finally finds some love and happiness for a while. It is in her time spent as a governess that she meets a man who changes her life with a love that causes an emotional conflict within Jane. Although this relationship faces incredible turmoil and is gravely interrupted for a time, Jane finally finds resolution and comfort in life as the events play out. Each of these aspects of the novel take both Jane and the reader on fascinating journeys through life as a poor English girl in the 1800s, and through the mind of someone longing to understand human needs and emotion.

Jane’s character, while initially very young, consistently shows a deep insight into the ideals of the human mind and takes great interest in the bonds of human relationships. The depth of this character, along with the use of a strong first-person narration, makes the read as a whole much more interesting. It allows the reader to peer into the most meaningful musings of Jane’s mind to see how her experiences have shaped her views of the world. Among this theme of human love, there also lies emphasis on religion and social class, which come up as further struggles for Jane as she tries to develop herself as an individual and a strong woman.

While this novel is a long one and is at times difficult to read due to its being written in the first half of the nineteenth century, its content is captivating and moving, so long as the reader can remain dedicated to it. I would recommend this novel to anyone interested in philosophy and romance. The surface action of Jane’s abuse and romantic experiences helps to fuel the novel in its comments on society; although hardship and sin is ever-present, every person must love and be loved.

After McMurphy and Chief both get into fights with the aides, they are both sent to the Disturbed Ward and are to receive electroshock therapy (232-234). McMurphy acts unaffected by it, and continues through with the date he arranged for Billy. He sneaks a prostitute into the ward, and while she and Billy have sex, the other patients smoke and drink (249-263).

When they are caught the next morning, everything goes downhill. Nurse Ratched catches Billy with Candy and threatens to tell his mother, and in his hysterics, he commits suicide by slitting his throat (268-271). Because of this, McMurphy attacks Nurse Ratched and tries to strangle her, resulting in his lobotomy and ultimately vegetative state (271-274). Due to these awful events, many of the patients check themselves out or transfer to other wards, causing Nurse Ratched to lose her complete control over the Combine.

In order to free him from his life as a vegetable under Nurse Ratched’s control, Chief suffocates McMurphy (275). Because of the strength Chief regained through their bond, he is finally able to leave the ward by breaking through a window and running free (276-277).

This book was all at once interesting, chilling, and shocking. Also, it is written in a very unique fashion, with a narrator who is a character but does not speak for most of the book. Sometimes it conveys his paranoia and confusion through hallucinations or streams of consciousness that allowed the reader to get more of a feel of what it was like for Chief. Many of the book’s events are rather gruesome, but the message of being true to oneself and having the courage to set oneself free are very powerful. In this book, the patients allowed other people to give them their identities, and they forgot who they really were until they met someone who was sure of his identity who gave them the strength to be themselves.

As part III begins, evidence of McMurphy’s influence can be seen even in the staff. Dr. Spivey stands up for the patients when they organize basketball teams for the ward. Nurse Ratched disapproves but Dr. Spivey says he has seen improvement in the patients since they started playing, so “it has proven its therapeutic value” (171).

Chief also makes immense improvement when he finally remembers things from his childhood, things that are responsible for making him act the way he does now (175-180). He even begins to talk again with the help of McMurphy (182). Because he has unlocked some of the source for his current condition, it should be easier for Chief to feel better now, and his speech is surely a sign of progress. Also, the fact that it was McMurphy who got him to speak must mean that Chief has great respect and trust toward McMurphy, which is also an important development for his reentering society if he is to get along with people.

Harding tells McMurphy all about the electroshock therapies that they are able to use at Combine. He tells him that lobotomies are like “frontal-lobe castration” (159). Harding also tells him that Nurse Ratched is able to use those kinds of treatments. She probably does it just to subdue the desires of the patient to resist the staff’s control, and not particularly for the patient’s benefit.

Some of the patients confess to McMurphy that they choose to be in the ward, that only a few of the men there are actually committed (161-162). McMurphy can’t understand why they would choose to be in a place that they hate so much, and they tell him that they’re too afraid to go out into the world. It is sad that they can’t muster the courage to allow themselves to live. I hope that McMurphy is able to give them the strength to learn to be themselves and become free.

At lunchtime, one of the epileptic patients, Sefelt, has a seizure because he refused to take his medicine, which prevents seizures but also rots the gums of the person taking it. Because of his rotten gums, Sefelt loses some teeth while seizing (148-150). Nurse Ratched uses this as a warning to the other patients to abide by the rules, or something bad could happen to them as well. This absolutely says that the staff at the Combine does not have any concern for the well being of their patients.

Because McMurphy is subdued for now, Chief can’t help but notice that the Combine is now almost completely back to the way it was before his arrival, and that Nurse Ratched is back in total control (150-151). His support and leadership must be essential to the patients’ overcoming of the staff.

Part II begins where Part I left off, with the patients still watching the blank screen. Even though Nurse Ratched is furious, Chief notes that “there’s no more fog anyplace,” indicating that McMurphy’s rebellion has helped to clear it (125).

In the staff room, Nurse Ratched and the orderlies discuss what should be done about McMurphy. The debate throwing him in the Disturbed Ward, but Nurse Ratched ultimately decides that she wants to make him give up first (133). This proves that they have total disregard for the desires of the patients and simply want them to submit.

As McMurphy continues to talk about himself, the other patients grow even fonder of him. Chief says that sometimes McMurphy seems “strong enough being his own self that he would never back down the way [Nurse Ratched] was hoping he would” (135). The trust and faith that the patients have put in McMurphy is very important to the build of the story. They have finally acknowledged their desires for gaining more freedom and individuality.

Chief talks about the fog he feels pushing down on him as he tries to get into bed. He says that he now understands why no one fusses about its presence: “as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe” (108). He claims that McMurphy must not understand this because he keeps trying to pull them out of the fog, but they want to stay safe. It is very sad that these patients are so afraid of the outside world that they would rather live like prisoners. While McMurphy may not understand how they feel, they also don’t understand what McMurphy is really trying to do.

Chief hallucinates that there is a shipment of frozen body parts being sent to the ward. He then says that a man in the Disturbed Ward committed suicide by castrating himself, but he thinks that the man was just too impatient to wait for death to come to him (108). From the way he speaks so pleasantly about waiting for death, I would guess that he does not enjoy life much, and perhaps he does not know how.

Part I concludes with McMurphy asking to take another vote for changing the television viewing times, but this time Nurse Ratched will not count them. However, McMurphy will not simply accept this; he stands in front of the television in order to block it. Even when the power is turn off and they are told to go back to work, the patients do not move (116-122). Here it is evident that McMurphy has finally bested Nurse Ratched. This definitely marks success in getting the patients to stand up for themselves.

In the day room, some of the patients engage in a game of Monopoly. McMurphy joins the game, and of course he wins (97-99). This is metaphorical for his “monopoly” on remaining an individual; he is the only nonconformist, and the only one making a difference.

McMurphy tries to get Nurse Ratched to change the unregulated television viewing hours so that they can watch the World Series. However, the other patients are too afraid to go against Nurse Ratched’s wishes, so McMurphy cannot get enough support (100-101). He then tells Nurse Ratched that he will break out and go to a bar to watch the game, but when he bets the other patients that he can break the window, he loses (103-107). “But I tried, though,” he tells them (107). “Goddammit, I sure as hell did that much, now, didn’t I?” Again this shows McMurphy struggling to make change and maintain his personality. He shows the other patients that even if you fail, it is better to have tried than to have given up before you even started.

When Chief Bromden goes to sleep without the aid of his usual little red pill, it allows him to dream (74-75). He dreams that one of the workers comes and takes away one of the vegetable patients, Blastic. Blastic is then hung upside down and the worker cuts him open. Chief expects to see blood and gore but instead “just a shower of rust and ashes, and now and again a piece of wire or glass” comes out (75). Even more chilling, Nurse Ratched informs the patients the next morning that Blastic died during the night (81). This represents the idea of all the patients being parts of a machine; if he was rusty and useless, perhaps it was a sign that they were ready to get rid of him.

The next day, Chief wakes up to the sound of McMurphy singing (77), and he realizes that McMurphy is different from the rest of the patients because he has not yet been broken by Combine (78). Staying true to himself will be McMurphy’s key to ever making a difference at Combine.

When McMurphy and one of the doctors come up with ideas of holding a carnival at the ward or even opening up a second day room, and although the patients like the idea, Nurse Ratched simply says it should be discussed among the staff only and seems to get a bit flustered (90-95). When she returns to the normal duties of the meeting, Chief notices that her hands are shaking (95). He wonders if this could be a weakness, but realizes that she still has total control (96). I think the opposition to the norm that McMurphy brings about is definitely beginning to take its toll on Nurse Ratched.

Nurse Ratched and Miss Flinn discuss the character of McMurphy, and Nurse Ratched declares that he is a “manipulator,” one who could have any motive because of his insanity (22). However, Miss Flinn cannot see what anyone could possibly gain from disrupting the ward, but Nurse Ratched continues to give the explanation that the patients are crazy and could seek a motive in anything (23). It seems as though Nurse Ratched hardly even considers these patients to be human; she treats the ward as her machine and the patients as its parts.

Nurse Ratched holds a ward meeting, which McMurphy later refers to as a “pecking party,” meaning that it ends up with the patients all picking on each other (48). He then tells the other patients that it’s Nurse Ratched “who pecks that first peck;” she is the one who instigates the ill feelings among the patients (49). He eventually gets some of the patients to consider her an enemy as he does, and he explains to them the horrors of lobotomy (59). Lastly, McMurphy bets against some of the other patients that he can “bug her till she comes apart at those neat little seams,” so they will finally be able to overcome her (64).