Monday, April 20, 2009
Female Roles
The author depicts women in a very negative light. You can easily tell just because of how McMurphy talks about Big Nurse. He calls her a "ball cutter" and he says she "pecking" at them. Also, all the women in the book are blamed for the men's conditions. For example, Harding's wife is the reason for why he is there and Billy Bibbit's mom is the reason for why he is there. Is this saying something about the author?
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5 comments:
thats a good point. maybe Kesey has had problems with women in his own life. Kesey may have portrayed the women to be this way because of his relationships with women.
that is interesting. maybe his relationships with his mother or other women in his life were tough. maybe a woman in his life did something to hold him back or keep him down.
I also find this point interesting, and I agree with all of you. However, maybe Kesey likes traditional gender roles and is expressing how if societies "norm" changes from a patriarchy to a matriarchy people might go crazy. Just a thought....
I think that all of these points probably have something to say about the author however, I think it says more about society rather than just the author. I think that Kesey is trying to show society what could happen if women gain equal or power to men, every one will go crazy. In the novel the big nurse is creating insanity by imposing her rules on everyone, thereby revealing to society that if women get equal or more power then society will go crazy. I do not agree with what I feel Kesey is attempting to show society, yet I do think that this is what he was trying to do.
I agree, Kesey definitely has issues with women. Then again, maybe Michaela is right, maybe Kesey is just using traditional gender roles. Of course, maybe its neither, the acutes were sent to the hospital because they didn't fit in with society, so in fitting with that Kesey may be saying that society is really driven by women and the men who couldn't cope with a matriarchal society are left in the hospital, to be remolded to so they can comply with society.
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