Charles Cheswick: One tough cookie to crumple...or is he?

      The last song posted was not one of profound symbolism but more of an educational one. The song teaches about Schizophrenia and its signs and treatments, and I thought it would be a lovely tidbit to share with my fellow intellectuals. And now lets stray from the world of facts and principles and float back to the world literary analysis shall we?

Charles Cheswick

      As a psychiatrist, I love to look at the characters both in a literary sense and also a psychological stand point. One character that is as much a psychological wonder as Chief Bromden is Charles Cheswick. McMurphy's first friend and supporter on the ward, he finds many things he wants to change on the ward. Not having the voice to do it himself because he fears getting trouble with Ms. Ratched, McMurphy helps voice his concerns and push policies. Kesey uses the literary devices of foreshadowing (such as when he describes the man with the hydrocephalus and how he didn't get up out of the water; McMurphy comments on how maybe he does not like deep water) to show how and why Cheswick kills himself. He ends up committing suicide at the bottom of the pool with his finger in the drain (the hydrocephalus man foreshadowed how Cheswick killed himself in deep water and he couldn't handle having the freedom he had gotten taken away).

      In group therapy Cheswick is relatively quiet unless someone else brings up a point he would like to see become law for the ward. Group therapy is a place where Nurse Ratched controls the patients by bringing up their flaws and let them be analyzed by the whole group. Cheswick, as was mentioned before, does not talk much unless he sees a way where he can gain something from the discussion. This contradicts the doctors theory of the "therapeutic community" where patients help other patients with problems; this is mostly because the community is abusive and does not help the patients at all. The only obvious influence on Cheswick is McMurphy and when McMurphy loses his confidence Cheswick takes this as a queue to take his life.

*Music of the day*

How does this melody remind you of Cheswick.

Since I was absent for Nurse Miller's group therapy (I bet it would of been a smashing good time), my performance of Cheswick would of included myself agreeing with everything McMurphy said but say quiet whenever I would of had the chance. When I would of became passionate about something McMurphy said, I would get out of my seat and rally the rest of the patients so that we could all be forces against the evil Ms. Ratched (or Nurse Miller in this case).

Through the Eyes of the Mentally Ill

      As was promised I will discuss the connection between the song "Within you, Without you" by the Beatles and the last post I made. The connection that can be made at the most shallow level is that the song is talking about "hippie" ideals and I discussed Kesey's relation to the "hippie" movement. Looking more deeply into the song it discusses how people have gotten cold and almost evil and lose there souls; this is seen in the character Ms. Ratched who is controlling and uncaring. Ms Ratched represents an oppressive government like the one that was ruling during Kesey's lifetime when the Vietnam War was running a muck with the young male and female population.

     The Fog Scene by Bromden

      Now let's get down to business shall we? We all appreciate this ground breaking novel for all of it's literary genius and impressive commentary about the human mind, however do we truly see the point of view for what genius it truly has? A typical novel's protagonist would be the main character or a cleverly placed narrator that has no other part in the novel; however, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest our narrator is a character in the novel that is not the protagonist and also does all his recollection of the events that shaped the book in his mind. He is a character near and dear to our hearts and not new to this blog, Chief Bromdem.

 An Example of the Schizophrenic Mind

      This unique schizophrenic character tells the story of the man who swept through the hospital ward and freed everyone from the shackles of Ms. Ratched's oppression. He tells the story by thinking mostly, this is because he does not want to lose his cover of being deaf and dumb so that he can continue to listen to the conversations of the ward without seeming like he is an ease dropper. Through his thoughts you are subjected to his bouts of extreme mental illness such as when he sees fog and loses himself and thus the story reads mostly from his opinions on what happened in the ward without knowing how much of his story to believe. The importance of him being the narrator is that his voice changes as the novel progresses and we see him go from virtually mute to extremely talkative and able to stand up for himself. This influences the story in a way where you see everything from a schizophrenic's mind who believes in the power of McMurphy instead of someone who doubts his abilities or has another mental illness that affects the content of the reading. All this affects the novel in a way where while reading at some points you lose credibility for the narrator yet are fascinated by his complexity.
*Now for the music to ponder...well this one is more of a learning experience but still ponder how this relates to our dear Mr. Bromden*

Trouble in the Sixties: How a Man's Experience Scultped His Writing

Ken Kesey

      One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was written in 1962 by Ken Kesey. Before writing the novel he had volunteered to be in a program that tested the effects of hallucinogenic drugs (specifically peyote and LSD) and also worked the graveyard shift at a mental institution (lonestar.edu). It has also been speculated that some parts of the novel were written while Kesey was under the influence of LSD. During the 1960's, there was a major event erupting from minds of the baby boomers: challenging conformity (which would create "Hippies" who are political protesters).

 Ken Kesey's Bus the "Further"

      With all of these different influences on Kesey's writing, his finally product would illuminate his regular thoughts about patients not being crazy but not fitting societies mold of normal, his belief that the country was being abused by it's government during the Vietnam War (symbolized by the patients and Ms. Ratched ), and human rights. The novel's significance is that it was Kesey's way of preaching his political beliefs to those who read the book. His use of characters who were to weak to fight against Ms. Ratched represented  the America that didn't want change; the character of McMurphy represented the people of the hippie movement who would do anything to change the abusive ways of the government at any cost. Kesey wrote this novel at this time because the novel is suppose to mirror both his experiences in the mental hospital along with mirroring how the government was abusing it's power and how that was wrong and needed to be changed.

*Starting Today I Will Post Music To Ponder: this music will have a connection to the topic in the post or the novel itself. These songs are meant to provoke further thought on the subject. I will discuss my take on the next entry along with a new song to ponder*

An Interesting Look into the Perplexing Narrator

Novels are the gateway into creative worlds where the possibilities are endless. These worlds enclose the very essence of ones thoughts and ideas and allow mere mortals to become gods of their own concept. In the newest novel of my obsession, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author starts the novel with the most interesting first impression of the narrator Chief Bromden. The author's method of dividing the narrator and the protagonist can make someone awe at his literary genius; however, even though Chief Bromden is not the narrator he is presented as an essential character nonetheless. Kesey begins introducing the Chief as a weak minded but rather sharp mental institution patient who analyzes everything from the sounds in the ward to the chief nurse's appearance. Even though he seems to have a stable mind that watches over the ward dutifully, signs of his mental illness leak from his thoughts about the ward being a machine and his obvious paranoia from such ideas like the "faces...trapped screaming behind the mirrors" (Kesey 12). Kesey portrays the character as either being stable with some insecurities wrought from years of abuse from the staff of the institution, or completely insane; this is seen when he admits that even if the events in the hospital didn't happen that they were still true. Even though Kesey gave a complex look into Chief Bromden, throughout the novel more and more details arise to give this narrator a never ending depth that could feed one's mind for eternity.