One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1-70

Summary

Nurse Ratched is like the man of the house. Protagonist Chief Bromden calls her Big Nurse because he recognizes that shes the boss in the mental home and all that power she has is huge so it isn't her weight. Something I find extremely strange is the fact that Bromden was so scared to shave. The nurse ordered the people who work there (also known as the orderlies), to shave Mr. Bromden but he was hiding and tried running away from them. The thought of an early shave in a white room freightened him to death and this is part of the reason why he is considered a "chronic". A chronic is someone who will remain "insane" for the rest of their lives regardless of the help they recieve. There are also the acutes who can be treated and turn into "normal" people. In the mental hospital, the Nurse has a therapy session where all the patients tell the group about themselves as a way to deal with a group of people. Ironically, the nurse lures the mentally impaired patients by asking everyone to learn about each other and tell it to one another in the circle which causes drama. Whoever does this recieves stars as if they were preschoolers.

Quote

"Here's the chief. The soo-pah Chief, fellas. Ol' Chief Broom. Here you go, Chief Broom" ( Kesey 9).

Response

This quote completely reminded me of Jim and Huck in The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn. All I kept remembering was when Jim and Huck were discussing King Sollermun when Huck, a white southern child was trying to make it seem like he was more educated than Jim, a slave. However the readers had to conclude that Jim was actually more knowledgable on the topic because Huck didn't get the situation clearly. In the scene within the quote, a man named Chief Bromden was being made fun of by a group of black men. The blacks thought he was deaf and stupid so they would say things to feel superior however Chief really is not deaf and dumb so really the joke is on themselves.