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.

The Secret Lives of Bees FILM

Film

In comparison to the book, I noticed one major change. Kidd did not write about Zach and Lily going to the movies, they were in town and Zach and his buddies threw bottles at white men. This was the reason why in the movie Zach went to jail; because he threw bottles. Lily turned out to be just as I expected her to be with the long dirty blonde hair, delicate dirty face and her innocence. To be honest, the actor of T.ray was not the man I expected he'd be. I pictured him scarier and have a more nonchalant appearance of anything on his face. The begining was the best because it started of with Deborah and T.ray fighting and Deborah pulled out a gun. I was so interested; especially after young Lily grabbed the gun after T.ray knocked it out of his hands. I knew what was about to happen but i was waiting for it and i was still interested. It moved from the perspective of Lily all the way to Deborah's. The begining scene made me eager for more and honestly its what kept me watching the movie with interest because after that the next half of the movie was tiring and boring. When T.ray came for Lily in Tiburon at the end of the movie, it was exactly the same scene that popped in my head at the end of the book. Overall the film was about three stars; it was good but not good enough to say i was entertained the whole way through.

The Secret Lives of Bees 214-302

Ever since May died, August stopped making honey and she mainly kept to herself for a while. Lily would see her only in the mornings and she'd wave; Lily knew everyone was in mourning. After being so afraid to agree to marry Neil, June told her man that she was going to marry him and she was happy about it letting the death of her sister move on into the past slowly. Zach promised Lily something, "We can't be together now, Lily, but one day, after I've gone away and become somebody, I'm gonna find you, and we'll be together then" (Kidd 231).He told her he cared about her and she repeated the same to him. August tells Lily that she used to take care of her mother when she was little. They had an intimate conversation about how T.ray tells her that her mother did not care about her and she left Lily without feeling bad or nothing. Lily tells August she is an unlovable child; she killed her mother. However August tells her that everyone here loves her: May, June, Rosaleen, Zach and herself. Lily's mom was a depressed woman because she was unhappy with T.ray and August tried explaining to Lily that when people are depressed they do the most unnordinary things, such as leave Lily. But she was planning on going back to take Lily with her. T.ray came to the house unexpectedly and acted crazy telling Lily shes going home with him calling her Deborah (his ex wife). All the sisters stepped in and told T.ray that Lily is staying with them because they love her and want to take care of her because she deserves it. He admitted he treated her badly because Deborah came back for Lily and not for him when she wasn't depressed.

QUOTE
"'Good riddance,' he said, and moved towards the door. We had to open up our little wall of women to let him through" (Kidd 298).

REACTION
In this quote, T.ray is speaking to Lily and then all the sisters as well as Rosaleen. He is telling his final good bye to his daughter because she will stay with the sisters for the rest of her life. You can tell that he does not care at all for Lily hes leaving her forever without so much as an "I love you". The way Sue Monk Kidd says "women" (Kidd 298), she makes it seem like all the woman are over powering T.ray and he feels little and useless; so he leaves.

The Secret Lives of Bees 164-214

SUMMARY
Lily had a dream about her mom. It was more a nightmare actually. She pictured a beautiful smile on her face but when she looked downwards, she had roach body part. After this she acted skiddish and timid and pretty much paranoid. August told Lily shed be a great bee keeper because it all depends on if you love doing something and she loves doing it; Lily felt really special. When Lily goes to town with Zack, he and his buddies got arrested because of of the four threw a bottle at a cop. None would say who threw it and therefore they were all arrested. Lily was waiting in the car for Zack but he had the truck's keys and she didnt kno how to drive anyways and there was no phones available. Zack would be alreight though because he was going to b let free in a few days. This section was a devastating one because May died! She drowned in the river. Everyone was shocked, confused, sad... When the cops came it was kind of ironic because they questioned Lily about why she was staying in a colored people house rather than ask about May's death. Shiws us how horrible racism was during her time period and how heartless a person can be.


QUOTE

"A roach is a creature no one can love, but you cannot kill it. It will go on and on and on. Just try to get rid of it" (Kidd 175).

REACTION
In this quote you can see that Lily is still haunted by her mother. Its a metaphor comparing her mom to a roach. Its saying that the pain her mom's memory brings is likee a roach because it never dies out no matter how hard you try to forget it. She hates that shes haunted by the past but she can't stop it you just have to learn to make it go away somehow.

The Secret Life of Bees 82-164

SUMMARY
Lily starts to work with August to make honey while Rosaleen works in the kitchen with May. In this section Lily begins to get used to her new life at the house. She gets exposed to the Boatwright sisters religion which is focussed on the strong belief in Mary. During her first week, she also experiences hostility from June, the middle sister. From August Lily learns that May had a twin sister who died and after her death shes always feels someone elses pain. So she builds a wall where she writes all about her pain. She meets Zack and starts to like him. Lily and Zack go to a delivery office to make a honey delivery to a lawyer. When shes left alone she calls her father to ask if he knows her favorite color and it symbolizes to see if he even cares about her; he did not remember and she was angry and increased her hatred towards him. After her call she realizes that she is in dire need of the perfect life.

QUOTATION
"

The Secret Life Of Bees (pg.1-82)

SUMMARY
The story begins with Lily (a white teen) and her devastating relationship with her father T.Ray during a highly discriminative time period in the south. Her mom is dead, and left alone with her father, because Lily accidentally shot her. Rosaleen is like her mother figure. Upon finding out that African Americans could register to vote, Rosaleen goes off into the city with Lily. As they were traveling there they encountered dramatic situations. Rosaleen gets thrown in jail because she wouldnt "show respect a white man". Lily runs away from home to go help Rosaleen and they ended up running away to South Carolina. In a photo of Lily's mom there was "Tiburon" which is located in South Carolina. She decides to go to Tiburon to learn more about her mother. She and Rosalee gets to a pink house where she meets the Boatwriqht sisters. August, the eldest, agrees to let them stay with the sisters until they get in contact with Lily's "aunt".

QUOTATION
"When I put on my shoes and headed back, the light poured down in shafts, and I wanted it to always be like this- no T.Ray, no Mr. Gaston, nobody wanting to beat Rosaleen senseless. Just the rain-cleaned woods and the rising light" (Kidd 81).

RESPONSE
The morning after she temporarily moves into the Boatwright sister's honey house. Shes taking every thing in and appreciating the fact that she does not have to live a horrible life with T.Ray. From now on she knows that shes going to live a happier life. She does not have to deal with T.ray, Mr. Gaston or anybody who wants to hurt her or Rosaleen. The cleaned woods and rising light symbolizes a new life and hope.

CANDY 280-364

SUMMARY
In this section Candy continues her desire to go to Iggy... in fact Iggy ends up finding Joe's number and calls him asking for his "bleep". He threatened Joe to give him Candy by keeping Gina held captive. Joe heard Gina through the phone and envisioned himself killing Iggy. He had to choose between his sister Gina... or Candy. He told Candy she is not going back to him because he will kill her. Candy argued there was no other choice... Iggy expects Joe and Candy to be at the cottage and he'd be there in two hours. Mike, Gina's fiance called Joe asking for Gina and scared to say, Joe told him where she was and Mike sped his way to the cottage. When Iggy arrived Joe wanted to see Gina before he'd give up Candy. I actually got confused when Candy stood over Mike with a knife and his blood on it... then she ran to Iggy telling him she only left because Joe forced her to. Then she stabbed Iggy in his neck. The police came; they arrested Candy and life sort of went back to normal. He visited Candy for a final time at a mental institution. She apologized to him for everything that has happened because of her and that was the last time Joe ever spoke to Candy again.

QUOTE
"From six o' clock until midnight, Candy's soul screamed in every way possible: temperature raged from hot to cold; her limbs burned; she sweated slime; her muscles ached; her stomach knotted; her skin itched; her eyes watered;her nose streamed; her head throbbed; she smelled bad; she sneezed so violently I thought she was going to burst something. And all the time, on top of this, there was vomiting and diarrhea and raging thirst and waking dreams...
And all because of chemistry.
Her body was holding her ransom. Give me what I want or I'll make you sick. I'll hurt you. I'll kill you. I'll drive you insane. GIVE ME WHAT I WANT!" (Brooks 295).


REACTION
This was the scene where Candy decided she would go to Iggy and get more drugs. Joe would not let her leave; he stood in front of the door and told her she was not going any where. Joe describes what Candy is going through vividly. I can pretty much picture her to be a sad and pathetic girl sitting on the floor going crazy and looking disturbed all because of drugs. I chose this quote because its very detailed and even uses personification at the end. Where her body was personified to "holding her ransom" threatening her to go get the drugs she "needs" or it would do horrible things to her. I also like this quote because you can tell through Joe's tone that he feels really bad for Candy. For example when he says "on top of this" he is basically saying "oh my god... and what is worse is...".