Part Two- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In the beginning of part two it is mentioned that Nurse Ratched called a staff meeting. Chief is reluctant to clean the staff room because he is afraid that the nurse will know that he can hear. He believes that she will hurt him if she found out that he can hear. Then he realizes that he has to keep up to his usual behavior and rituals, because if he doesn’t it will show that he can hear and it would give his secret away. Back to the meeting, Chief walks in the room to see that things aren’t normal. The nurse didn’t touch her coffee and everyone was quiet.

Nurse Ratched had to be thinking about how she would go about talking about McMurphy in the meeting. She was unusually quiet during the beginning of the meeting. So the doctor started the meeting while the others added their opinion of what to do with McMurphy. I believe that Nurse Ratched just wanted to show everyone that she still was in control. McMurphy had knocked her down a few pegs by constantly disobeying her. So she decides to show her staff who is in charge. The residents suggest that McMurphy be sent to the Disturbed ward. All of the residents believe that they are suggesting exactly what the Nurse is thinking. The residents believe that McMurphy is a psychopath, and that he should be removed from their ward because he is dangerous. The disturbed ward is usually where Nurse Ratched sends any of the patients that she doesn’t want to deal with. One resident starts to smoke his pipe because the nurse is quiet, he thinks its ok. It all stops when Nurse Ratched starts talking and tells the resident that he is completely wrong. She tells him that sending McMurphy to the Disturbed ward would be just taking the easy way out, by giving someone else their problem. She also says that by sending McMurphy away they would be doing exactly what the patients would expect.

I chose to talk about Nurse Ratched because I believe that Nurse Ratched has a special interest in McMurphy, because Chief says she would ship a person off to the Disturbed ward for it being " a chance that they would spit on someone." There has to be something about McMurphy that the nurse likes. It may be the fact that he is the only one on the ward that has directly defied her and that she can make an example of him.

Part I- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In part one Patrick McMurphy is admitted into the facility. He is obnoxious and very outspoken. This is a very different personality that everyone has to get used to. The rest of the patients are reserved and tend to keep quiet. McMurphy is a different story because he likes to make noise and fuss, and just stand out. One thing that stood out to me in this section was when Chief had his flashback to when Old Pete said more than " I’m tired..." This flashback was brought on by McMurphy’s odd silence during group meeting one afternoon. Chief’s memory was that Old Pete did his usual fussing about being tired. But this time he decided to elaborate on why he was tired. He claimed he was born dead. The story is that the doctor that helped in his delivery, pulled him out using dulled ice tongs. They left dents in his head and affected his mental capacity. So he can’t remember much, and has to concentrate really hard to do task that a 6th grader can perform. Old Pete was ranting about how tired he was of trying. This caught my attention because Old Pete was said to have been a Chronic his whole life. The book states that the Chronic’s tend to be the quiet ones that sit and watch. For Old Pete to stand up and say that he was tired, and explain his complaint, I believe that was a cry for help. A cry for help that he wasn’t receiving. He wanted to warn the other patients that they have chances that he didn’t have. He was born a miscarriage and got tired of the insults. I believe that moment was Petes break through. But because he’s so old he tired himself out, physically and mentally. One thing I found interesting was that Pete was able to punch one of the attendants into the wall. That shows you that you can’t underestimate the strength of those who may not have the same mental ability as you.
Pete’s outburst was to quiet the other patients down. Nurse Ratchet had asked if anyone had done anything that they haven’t admitted to anyone. She wanted to get a discussion going so there wasn't alot of silence on the ward. Her question got all the patients to talking at the same time. They were shouting out all of their wrongs, and Pete just wanted them to know that they had a choice to do what they had done. But he didn't, he was born that way. I felt bad for Pete while reading this section. For him to say that he was born dead, was a very strong statement. He said that he has been dead for fifty-five years. Pete wasn't able to do half of the things that mentally stable people are able to do and that is sad. It makes you grateful for the things that you are able to do without much effort and tiring yourself out. I believe this is the reason that Pete decided to share his experience with the rest of the patients. After he said what he had to say he was tired and could no longer try. Pete was tired of trying, tired of fighting his mind, so he stopped fighting.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Part III

I would like to talk about McMurphy's effect on the Chief. The chief doesn't talk. He likes to give off a certain mysteriousness to others so they can't get into his head. I believe that he just doesn't have anyone that he feels can relate to him. But then McMurphy comes into the picture and makes him feel as though he should break out of his shell. He is kind of attracted to McMuprhy but he denies the sexual attraction. He talks to McMurphy about things his father did, he talks foolishness, but McMurphy listens. He becomes the Chiefs confidant. With McMurphy around Chief was more influenced to laugh and had more incidents where he almost gave his secret away to the others.
Chief had struggled with the decision of signing himself up for the fishing trip. But by talking to McMurphy he was able to get him to sign him up. He wanted to go, but he knew that if he signed the sheet everyone would know that he can hear. There would have been no other reason or way around him knowing about the trip. McMurphy tells Chief that he is big enough to have everyone who treats him bad to be afraid. The Chief says that he was forced into silence because people wouldn’t listen to him. This says a lot about the way peoples thought process, and their ignorance. People wouldn’t talk to him because they thought that he didn’t speak English. They also wouldn’t listen to him because of his race. I think that it is a very special thing that Chief decided to share with McMurphy. He has been silent his entire time at the ward, and he just happens to talk to McMurphy, there has to be a reason. I want to know what it is about McMurphy that has this effect on Chief.

Is it all a coincidence?

In Act I the ghost of Old Hamlet appears only to tell his son the cause of his death. The whole thing is very mysterious because you can tell that the ghost is angry. His appearance in the scene is weird, and made me think why is there a ghost showing up. I immediately thought the situation wasn't going to be good. The ghost tells Hamlet about how he died, and who killed him. Hamlet believes him, but before acting on what his father tells him he thinks about whether or not it was really the ghost of his father. I think that Hamlet was smart with the way he tested out whether the information was true or not. By having the players act out the scene, they made Cladius react in a way that gave him away. Was there a reason for old Hamlet to show up two months after his death to tell his son of his murder? Was there any significance to the particular time that he showed up? or the place where he showed up? Why didn't he just go straight to Hamlet?
It's really sad because Queen Gertrude may have really been in love with Claudius. I personally believe that she is stupid to have even married her dead husbands brother. I think she should have known that the situation didn't feel right. Her son is acting weird towards everyone because his father died, but also because he knows the situation isn't right. His uncle is now the king, and sleeping with his mom. He knows that was not a coincidence and that the situation was really weird. So he showed his displeasure. How did Claudius get Gertrude to marry him? I can understand if it was a different person, someone that wasn't related to her son and dead husband. Did Gertrude not think that 2 months was a little to fast? Was that just a coincidence? Claudius had the situation planned out. He knew that anyone who married Gertrude would become king, and that Hamlet was the next in line.


To respond to this post, please try to give me some insight into what you believe are the answers I asked? Or your take on the situation.

Hamlet- Act II, scence ii

I can’t believe Hamlet is so sarcastic. But you have to love him. Its like he is insane but holding on to his little bit of sanity as tight as he can. While talking to Polonius he answers quickly and sarcastically. This leave Polonius to thinking that Hamlet really is crazy. But all the while, Hamlet just wants people to give him his space to grieve. He has to deal with the death of his father, the fact that his mother married his uncle, and his fathers ghost coming to talk to him. He’s questioning his own sanity and trying to hold on as tight as he can. He is being tried emotionally and mentally. His mother and uncle-father want to flaunt their marriage, but don’t seem to understand its too soon for Hamlet to see someone else in his fathers place. He may be a grown man, but everyone handles grief in different ways. Hamlet is being tried emotionally by him grieving his father and thinking that no one else seems to care that his father is gone. He see’s his uncle all over his mother and is wondering how his mother could fall for another man so soon. And his uncle of all people, his fathers brother. Hamlet is being tried mentally by his fathers ghost coming to him and telling him that Claudius killed him. King Hamlet wants his son to avenge his death, by killing Claudius. Hamlet doesn’t know if the ghost the devil taking his fathers form, or if it really is him. On top of everything Hamlet feels as though everyone is against him.
Hamlet decides to make Polonius doubt his sanity. By asking Polonius if he is a fishmonger then talking to him about his daughter. Polonius thinks that Hamlet has lost his marbles. Hamlet really just wants Polonius to leave him alone, since he is the reason why Hamlet and Ophielia can not be together. Also because Polonius is annoying him. As Hamlet is walking around the castle, he is being followed by Polonius. So he decides to say any and everything that will make Polonius go away. When your grieving you don't want people around you all the time asking if your ok, or just in you space to be there. Hamlet takes a clever approach to getting his way, while still being himself. I believe Hamlet has alot to get over and there's just more to be added to his trouble later on. He know's this and wants to change the outcome, no matter what it may be.

Poetry and Social Change

This is a response to the question 1) Do you agree with the editors of your textbook that Blake's poetry had the power to enact social change by appealing to the imagination of the reader?
I do agree with the editors when they say that Blake had the power to enact social change by appealing to the imagination of the reader. This is only because while reading I was able to see a starving child in the streets. I was able to feel the child's pain because Blake wrote in first person. So it was like hearing the child tell of their problems. In the "Chimney Sweeper" The Songs of Innocence Blake has children discussing their troubles, and one little boy make the situation a test of God. By telling his friend that they are suffering in life in order to be happy in Heaven when they die. This can enact change by people reading this text and feeling sympathetic for the children, so they take action and go help little children in need. If it was a parent of one of the children that this story relates to, the parent might start to feel bad for putting their child in that situation. Since they feel bad they might have their children stop. Another way this might enact social change is by people who have these children sweeping chimneys probably would try to make the situation easier for the child to deal with.
In “The Chimney Sweeper” The Songs of Experience Blake appeals to the reader by having a child explain how their parents are praying for him, when they put him in that situation. Reading the text you see a little boy in the street with a dusty face, crying that he’s hungry. He starts to tell his story of how he ended up where he is, and it makes you sad. The boy is sad because he misses his parents. He’s starving and has no food. He’s forced to work as a Chimney Sweeper because his parents need money. Reading this version of The Chimney Sweeper you feel a sense of anger, because the boy has been in this situation for a while, and no longer tries to understand why he is suffering. He just knows that he’s there and has to deal with his situation. People reading this will want to take the child and help him to feel better. They will want to try to help the child get out of such a terrible situation. Also want to help him not be bitter towards his parents and life.

Teacher Group Journal

Working in the Teachers group was a unique experience that helped us students to understand how if feels to be a Teacher. We were basically forced to think outside of the box that students tend to stay in. We had to think of others interpretations rather than just our own. Doing that was difficult because we had to ask questions that would lead to a discussion rather than one-word answers. Being a Teacher is hard work; I understand that now because they have to think of how we would interpret a certain text. It was difficult but my group worked together to get a better understanding of the text. So that all of the different questions we all had could be used as a broad example of how others may respond to the text. Working with the teacher group made the experiment easier to handle. It took a lot of the pressure off of the individuals and helped us to all get a broader idea of how the text would be understood.
The bad thing about working in the teacher group was that ideas that you may have been adamant about would probably be shut down if the others didn’t agree. Also if you work better alone then you have to adjust to being a member of a group and having your work criticized. Also in working in groups you tend to get carried away. If you work with your friends then you are more likely to talk about things than what you are supposed to. Then the room tends to get louder than it needs to be, and sometimes work can’t be done.
Overall working in groups can be useful but it could also be used a free time. You get others input that can help enhance your understanding of the topic. You could also be distracted and not get much done, which will leave you behind. The teacher group was a unique way for us as students to understand what our teachers have to go through on a daily basis to make lesson plans, and to help us to enhance our education.