OU Experience

Today, Natalie and I went on a fieldtrip to the OU Library, where I looked for articles on my book. After running into Adam and Ali, asking the scary librarian for a password and a few frustrating attempts at logging in, I found some criticism that looked promising. After emailing them to myself (I will NOT pay fifteen dollars to print!) we embarked on our journey home. On the way, I was flipping through the back of my book and discovered at least ten articles of criticism on the novel, in their entirety, as well as several interviews with Ken Kesey. I had my background sources as well as my criticism staring me in the face, and didn’t even realize it! If that isn’t enough, some of the articles in the back of my book actually came up in my search! I plan on trying to find other copies of them, so I don’t have to copy pages out of my book. Needless to say, this discovery brightened my mood for the rest of the day. I also got a decent amount of reading done today. I think the project is going well, all things considered. :]

It’s All About How Society Perceives You…

While reading part 1 of Cuckoo’s Nest (yes, I know I’m behind) I became aware of a recurring theme of perception. Crazy vs. Sane. Reality vs. Hallucinations. To everyone in the mental ward, all of their hallucinations were to them reality, and they perceived it as how the world was. To the rest of society, their hallucinations were perceived as insane, and they were locked away. “Society is what decides who’s sane and who isn’t” (47). If this is true, reality isn’t really about how you perceive the world at all. It’s about how the world perceives you. This raises an interesting question of morality: should society be able to deem a man insane simply because he sees the world differently than they do? What is insane? Someone who is different or someone who won’t conform? Or is it simply someone who cannot adjust to their surroundings enough, so much so that it disturbs people around them?

Another conflict of perception is brought about by Nurse Ratched, an interesting character in this novel. She is the head nurse on the psychiatric ward, and runs her ward mainly by using fear and insinuations to control the men. She appears to love control, and will achieve it by any means possible. She belittles the men, reminding them of their places (which are obviously – to her, at least – beneath her and the rest of the sane population), and pits them against each other by rewarding them for tattling on their peers, perhaps to keep them from rallying against her. She emasculates them, and makes them doubt their sanity even more with insinuation techniques. McMurphy says that Nurse Ratched is one of those “People who try to make you weak so they can get you to toe the line, to follow the rules, to live like they want you to” (58). The rest of the ward sees Nurse Ratched as a “ball cutter” and a vicious woman who serves only to try and make the outside world as orderly and controlled as the psychiatric ward. However, a man who comes onto the ward every so often, known only as Public Relation, sees her as “mother like”, with an “angelic face”. Which perception is reality? One is by a man who, to the rest of society, is seen as “sane”. One is by a floor full of men whom society has deemed the exact opposite. Upon reading only Part 1 up to this point, Nurse Ratched IS evil and controlling, and uses harsh punishment including Electroshock Therapy and unnecessary lobotomies to keep order. So are the men on the ward really insane? Or is their perception of the world just different? And which perception is “correct?” IS there a correct perception?

No longer up a creek!

Well, I am officially no longer up a creek without a paddle – I started to read my book. Before I did so, however, two things had to happen. First, I had to remember the password to my blog so that I could write about starting my novel. No such luck. After 5 failed attempts and 3 requests for new passwords, none of which came to my email, I finally had to email the edublogs and request a temporary password, which they sent me this morning. Open sesame - I was in.

The second thing that I did, before beginning to read my book, was research the author a little bit. Ken Kesey, it seems, was an interesting character to say the least. It seems that he was involved in a government experiment which studied the effect of psychoactive drugs, including LSD, cocaine, and others. He also worked in a mental hospital at one point, and used his compiled research from these two experiences to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the introduction in my book, it also references a letter that Kesey wrote describing how for the first section of the book, he would take drugs in order to create the same state of mind of the inhabitants of the mental ward in the book. Of course, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was a complete success. Whoever said “just say no” obviously never took Kesey’s accomplishments made due to drugs into account.

After I did all of this, I discovered that One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has five parts, each with several chapters in it. My plan of action is to blog at the end of each part, as well as in between, as needed. Included below is a link to the movie trailer of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which I plan to watch after I finish the book. I believe there are also one or more plays based on the book, and I’ll try to find suitable links to those as soon as possible. If you’ve seen the movie or watch it after being inspired by this lovely, if somewhat dated trailer, let me know your opinions! Ta ta for now – and happy reading

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WSyJgydTsA

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

“…one flew east, one flew west, One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.”

…impressive, hmm? While I’d love to say that I randomly knew this folk rhyme that happens to be the epigraph to my “novel of literary merit”, and that’s what led me to choose this book, I’d be lying. I must admit that when we first discussed this assignment, I had no idea what book to do, or even if I knew of any novels that would be appropriate. I got my choice on a suggestion from Kristin, who got it from Zach (yes, Hartley – sorry Kristin, if I’m giving away a secret source here ). Since I had no idea whatsoever what the book was about, I used wikipedia – yes, I know – to read the summary, and decided that it would intrigue me well enough for the months to come. I have not yet begun to read, but I did buy the book – complete with criticism from 5 different people, an excerpt from the play, and more, all of which cost me an extra $9.00 than the other cheap copies. And now that I’ve finally created this blog, I’m off to bed. More later!