At first, the novel was hard to understand because of the unstable nature of the narrator: Chief Bromden. His narratives were mostly confusing but interesting because he showed the story well as an observant mental patient. I could see how Bromden is an unreliable narrator. Sometimes, I forgot how he was a mental patient but Bromden often talks about unreliable contents such as people shrinking or growing.
Once I got over the shock I got from Bromden, I tried to think about the big picture that the author Ken Kesey wanted to paint. As this novel was wrote in 1962, the height of government oppression, I thought that the hospital in the novel is an allusion to the society at that time. Also, the patients and the nurse seemed like normal citizens and powers which tried to oppress them. It was interesting to see that the nurse and the guards were women and African Americans who were considered comparatively week at that time.
Lastly, I noticed how McMurphy was an interesting character inside this novel. Although I have not finished the novel yet, I got the impression that McMurphy was not insane, at least not like the patients confined in the hospital. Maybe that was why he was frustrated when the nurse tried to keep him oppressed just like other patients. Until now his rebellions(?) have been successful, but I wonder whether it would be so in the back of the novel. Oppression and atmosphere might change McMurphy as time goes on.
Glad to see you read at least some of the book, which is really all I ask. It's actually a challenging read, and hard to get through. The film is also like this to some extent. All very good observations. The shrinking and getting bigger is interesting. It's Bromden's confidence in himself - something he doesn't have at first, despite being 6'9.
답글삭제Good post! Keep it up, and dive into Gump. I think you'll like it after wrestling with Cuckoo's.