Power and Class Struggles Inside The Cuckoo's Nest

For my choice novel, I chose to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. It's the story of residents at a mental hospital and the struggles they go through. The novel had some interesting points about power and the separation of classes, using the hierarchy inside the mental hospital to illustrate what goes on in the real world.

The most prevalent theme of the novel concerns power. In Playing in the Dark, Toni Morrison states, "Power--control of one's own destiny--would replace the powerlessness felt before the gates of class, caste, and cunning persecution." (pg. 35). In Cuckoo's Nest the residents are powerless. Their destiny is controlled by Nurse Ratched, the head nurse of the ward and cunning manipulator. Underneath her are "her black boys," the staff of the ward that clean and help take care of patients. The residents are the lowest class, treated as insane, even though most of them have their mental faculties about them. Here's a quote that illustrates this hierarchy: "The ritual of our existence is based on the strong getting stronger by devouring the weak...The rabbits accept their role in the ritual and recognize the wolf as strong...And he endures, he goes on. He knows his place." (pg. 62).

The higher-ups relish the power they have. Here results a mutual hatred between the classes. Toni Morrison talks about the "literary techniques of 'othering' so common to American literature" (pg. 58). The power hierarchy of the mental hospital is based on defining everyone else as "others." This relates to race, as so often people have separated themselves into groups this way, and "othering" different groups. Like in American history, this separation into us and others can create hatred. There is certainly a tangible hatred in the environment of the mental hospital: "Hum of black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets. They don't bother not talking out loud about their hate secrets when I'm nearby because they think I'm deaf and dumb." (pg. 3). Chief, the narrator, is not deaf and dumb. Everyone assumed he was because they thought he was crazy. He just preferred not to talk, and he acted like he couldn't hear so no one would bother him. A large part of why they think he's deaf is because he is Native American, and the preconceived stereotype held by the higher classes in the hierarchy is that he's stupid. This relates to what Toni Morrison says about being "shaped by the presence of the racial other" (pg. 46). The people in the ward defined Chief this way because of their preconceived notions about him.

But because these preconceived notions are wrong, Chief holds the most power in the entire ward. The hospital personnel don't bother to be quiet about the secrets of the hospital around him because they think he can't hear. So, he knows everything about everything and everyone. At the end of the book, when they find out that he can hear, the whole system of the hospital is turned upside down. One class has just as much power as the others, only in different ways. This says a lot about the way society is.

(Late) Thoughts on American Metanarratives

If I had to think of one metanarrative that defines America, hands down it would be opportunity. From the very discovery and founding of America, it has had the word OPPORTUNITY written all over it. When the New World was discovered, everyone back in the Old World saw it as an opportunity for freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. etc. People immigrated here, and still immigrate here, for the opportunities. These range from job opportunities to living opportunities to financial opportunities to educational opportunities and on and on. Many people come here for the opportunity to get a good education or to make money to take back to their home countries, where many times the dollar can go a lot farther. If you live in America, it's not hard to find a way to do anything you aspire to, and that has been true from the beginning. Most importantly, as Americans we keep fighting for the opportunities we don't have yet. From all of these examples, it is easy to see that opportunity is the very definition of America.

Blog of the Week: The Effects of Ticky-Tacky

When I was little my mom always used to sing me a song that may or may not be familiar to you. It starts like this: "Little houses on the hillside, little houses made of ticky tacky, little houses, little houses, little houses all the same, and there's green ones and there's pink ones, and blue ones and yellow ones, and their all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same."

Recently my mom asked me to look up the full lyrics to this song so she could sing it to my niece and nephew. I typed every combination of "little houses on the hillside/ticky tacky" into Google and the song about houses was nowhere to be found, but a song written by Malvina Reynolds called "Little Boxes" with the same lyrics came up. This was the exact song I remembered from preschool days, with some other verses. Here's the song to listen to, as well as a wiki page about the origins of the song. Some of you may recognize it as the Weeds theme song:

Wikipedia

Little Boxes Video

Since I learned the song as a nursery rhyme, with only the first 2 or 3 verses, I never noticed message of the song: an attack on suburbia and conformity. I believe that this song is still relevant today, despite being written almost 50 years ago. So my question to you guys is this: Do you agree or disagree with the message of the song? Also, can you think of any other children's songs (even though this technically wasn't, I guess) that have powerful messages and themes?

Adam Kirsch: Criticize for Understanding

Adam Kirsch says that criticism is different than what it was thought of as during Kazin's time. He says that if a critic's only purpose were to make an argument, he or she does not make a "great critic, or a lasting one." Kirsch's definition of a good criticism is one that uses whatever they are criticizing to say something true about the world. Argument is just one form. As for types of criticism, one can try to write for a general audience, but Kirsch says that is becoming more and more difficult today. Keeping in mind the specific audience is important though. He believes that critics have become less trusted in these times, but overall to be a good critic, write truth for understanding.

I do agree with his idea that criticism should be used to find understanding. Without criticism, there would be no discussion, which is the base for our society. I like his point that besides just the blatant argument, criticism should be used to say something deeper. Criticism is necessary in modern literature to keep the discussion on issues, surface and deep, going.

Senses and Color: Motifs in The Great Gatsby

A major motif that I noticed in The Great Gatsby was attention to the senses. There is a lot of focus on that in the writing. Eyes themselves are a motif, shown in various passages, including the repeated mention of the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. But as I continued reading the book, I noted frequent mentions of the other senses as well. Everything from sights to sounds to smells are used as descriptors. Differences in characters' voices seem to be particularly important. Here is one example of sensory motif from the book:

"With enchanting murmurs, Daisy admired this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odors of jonquils and the frothy odor of hawthorn and plum blossoms and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate. It was strange to reach the marble steps and find no stir of bright dresses in and out the door and hear no sound but bird voices in the trees."

To add to the sensory experience, a motif in itself is color. Fitzgerald never fails to mention some sort of color in his descriptions as well. I noticed that gold and silver are mentioned a lot, such as gold items in Gatsby's house or the scenery of "pink and golden billow of foamy cloads above the sea." These particular colors may be emphasized to show riches, as a central theme of the book is rich people and their life as seen by a semi-outsider. And of course we know the significance of the green light for Gatsby. The color and sensory motif of the book definitely lends itself to the main story. As we get to know the characters, these motifs help to enrich our experience and interpretation of it.

Week 1: The Things They Carried and Thoughts on War

The Things They Carried reaffirmed my thoughts on war in general. I had a pretty limited knowledge base on the Vietnam War before this unit. However, from what I did know, I couldn't really understand why we were there in the first place. Yes, to stop the spread of communism, but it seems to me that there was a lot of unnecessary stuff going on. My personal belief is this: If we are going to fight a war, we need a strong purpose. For example, the Revolutionary War was to gain independence, and the Civil War resulted in reuniting the country. From reading this book, and from what I have learned about Vietnam in the past, I don't think the strong purpose was really there. Especially if you take into account the killing of innocent civilians, which happens in any war.

This is not to take away from the soldiers. It is very honorable that they serve our country. But for their lives to be endangered because of wars with vague purposes is not a good thing. From other war texts I have encountered, many have been from the soldiers' point of view, showing the hardships they have to go through when they are fighting a war, such as Fallen Angels, which The Things They Carried did as well. It helps to gain an understanding of what they are actually going through. However, many times the actual events of the war are glossed over in real life, and texts like The Things They Carried let us know what really goes on. I think that is the most important thing. We should be more engaged with the wars that are happening. Hopefully by doing so we can realize its true purpose, or lack there of, in order to take action to stop any unneccessary fighting.

Op-Ed: Fostering a New Activism

This piece I found on the LA Times site is about the changing views of homosexuality. A large part of it is based on an interview with Alan Weeks, a 78 year old gay man from Los Angeles. He talked about his experiences being gay before there was such a gigantic taboo. This is an effective persuasive piece because it shows how, years ago, even though people weren't open about it, being gay wasn't considered this huge deal. I think this article shows that there can be a life without these unnecessary prejudices. I don't think anyone should have to hide who they are, such as Weeks did. But, the article does show that as a society we can all treat each other as equals, and no harm can come from that, as we should all know.
Fostering A New Activism