Sunday, April 19, 2009
Kesey and McMurphy
I can see a lot of similarities between Kesey and McMurphy. McMurphy seems to be giving the patients a sense of pride and acts a voice for them. Perhaps Kesey made this character to represent himself in a way? Kesey says that while working at the hospital he did not feel that the patients were insane, they simply didn't conform to normal standards of society. Can McMurphy's voice be interpreted to be the voice of Kesey? If so, why did he choose to describe McMurphy as such a strong and masculine character?
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6 comments:
I think Kesey did use the character McMurphy to represent his feelings about what was going on in the institutions. Just as McMurphy acts as a voice for the people in the ward, Kesey acts as a voice for the non-conformists of the era in which he wrote the book.
Kesey does seem to portray his ideals just like McMurphy and they both have the same theories, however isn't that what authors do? Authors have a lot of power in our culture because they can express their own thoughts through literature, such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. With this ability to express your ideas and opinions about your own personal views on a topic, the author can create a character that represents the authors feelings towards a topic. Furthermore Kesey is acting as the voice for the people trying to reform these people, but authors tend to express their ideals in any novel that they write. This question is irrelevant in that I feel that every author tries to convey his or her points, in doing this, some characters may reflect how the author behaves.
I think the reason he chose McMurphy to be a strong character, was to instill a sense of pride in the patients that was lacking in the past. If McMurphy was a little whimp who would follow him? No one would stand behind him. I don't think McMurphy represents Kesey, but they do have similar beliefs. His voice parallels Kesey's because they both believe that patients are insane just not capable of conforming to our society. A very masculine character was necessary to stand up to Nurse Ratched and without him there would be no humor in the book.
I think the reason Kesey chose to put McMurphy in the novel is to show a sense of humanity within each of the patients. McMurphy acts as the voice of all the patients in the institution. McMurphy represents keseys feelings about what was going on in the institution. McMurphy provides a leader for the patients to follow and look up to.
I think that Kesey used the main person in the novel to help point out the similarities. He represents freedom and power, like the author.
I believe that Kesey does use McMurphy to represent himself. McMurphy sheds some light on the wards problems. He shows all the flaws and things done wrong in the Institution. I think Kesey made McMurphy a strong and masculine man to make the character more realistic, a skinny small man wouldnt necesarily speak back to a woman who is meant to be "manly" in a sense. But a strong man who is very "manly" would speak back to someone, especially a woman. ABS
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