Cuckoo's Nest Blog #2

At the end of Part 1, I believe that McMurphy is definitely getting the best of the rivalry in the ward at this point. Since McMurphy arrived at the facility, he has been trying to get the best of the Big Nurse and I think that he is finally beginning to be successful in this quest. At the end of Part 1, McMurphy wants to watch the World Series, even though it does not match up with the patients' TV schedule. Before this, McMurphy had not had much help from the other patients in his attempt to overthrow the nurse, but this is the very first time that he had strong support in his actions. All of the acutes and Chief voted in support of watching the World Series, but the Nurse would still not let them watch the program. Since the other patients are beginning to agree with McMurphy and show how they feel, this is definitely a leg up for him. He has a much better chance of succeeding in his actions if he has the majority of the ward on his side. Even when the Big Nurse rejects their request, the men still sit in front of a blank TV when they were supposed to be working to rebel against the Nurse. Kesey writes, "And we're all sitting there lined up in front of that blanked-out TV set, watching the gray screen just like we could see the baseball game clear as day, and she's ranting and screaming behind us." They are clearly defying what she wants them to do, which shows that McMurphy is getting the best of the rivalry.
At this point in the story, I think that the Chief wants to go along with the other acutes in the ward, but he cannot. He doesn't want to give himself up and for everyone to find out that he isn't deaf, probably in fear of what the Big Nurse would do to punish him. He shows that he is leaning towards the side of McMurphy when he raises his hand in the vote for watching the World Series. Even if this was an unconscious action, something was driving him to raise that hand and rebel against the Big Nurse like the other acutes.
At this point in the story, I am definitely rooting for McMurphy. He is finally gaining support in his quest to get the best of the Big Nurse and he seems to be gaining momentum. He still seems like an underdog because of how the reader views the Big Nurse: cruel and powerful. The Nurse's actions have forced me to root against her and I believe she is the obvious villain.

Cuckoo's Nest Blog #1

In the first section of  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, many characters were introduced to the reader. Many of the characters can be easily placed into the character categories, while others cannot yet be classified.
First, the reader can come to the conclusion that Nurse Ratched is the villain in the story. Kesey writes, "You saw what she can do to us... But the way she asks them... If you don't answer she just smiles and makes a note in her little book and then she-- oh, hell!" (p. 68). At this part of the story, the patients at the mental facility are discussing the head nurse, Nurse Ratched, and what she does to the patients. They can see that she has a sneaky way of doing what she wants with the patients and they obviously don't like what she does. If the main group of people who the audience is attached to are opposed to one person who seems like their motives are against them, then that person is most likely the villain.
Also, I would classify the character of McMurphy as an antihero. McMurphy enters the mental facility in a very odd way, being very intrusive, defiant, and rude. His actions show that he is not necessarily a character that has the best morals or a personality that the readers should agree with, but this is not the case. McMurphy is planning to "break" the head nurse, who is the assumed villain in the story. Since he is going against the villain for the benefit of the people of the facility who she is abusing, we tend to agree with his character. This makes McMurphy an antihero.
Finally, the character of Chief, or Broom, can not clearly be categorized as hero, antihero, or villain. There is a good possibility that he could end up being a hero, since he is the narrator of the story. The readers tend to naturally agree with the narrator, no matter how much we know about them. Even though this is true, we know very little information about his character, his motives, and his personality to draw any conclusions. His character very well may be only an observer of the other more important characters and not play a big role in the story.

Great Gatsby Final Reading Blog

Four Questions about The Great Gatsby

1.       Q: Why does Fitzgerald begin the book by having Nick tell the advice that his father gave him about criticizing others? (“‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’”(p. 1))

A: Because Nick is the narrator of the story, the readers get a first person account of his interactions with the other characters in the story. Through his conversations and descriptions of the actions of the other characters, specifically Gatsby, we can learn a great deal about their personalities and motives. As Nick gets to know Gatsby a little better, we find out that he and Daisy had a previous relationship that was ended abruptly by something out of their control. Gatsby tells Nick that he had been waiting five years for Daisy, hoping that they could rekindle their relationship and that that was the only reason he lived where he did. Nick could have easily questioned Gatsby’s motives, criticized him for trying to take a married woman away from her husband, and deserted Gatsby on his quest to win her back, but he did not. I believe that he realized that Gatsby was not raised with the same values (advantages) as he was and took his father’s advice of not criticizing him. By not turning away from Gatsby, he was able to realize that Gatsby was trying very hard to hold onto something of the past that he genuinely believed could be remade into something just as good. I believe the quote from Nick’s father at the beginning was used to foreshadow this happening in the story, which leads to one of the main themes in the story, which is that people will persevere towards any goal if they truly believe they can reach it.

2.       Q: Why does Fitzgerald give Tom and Daisy such a negative ending in the novel?

A: Fitzgerald introduces Tom and Daisy at the very beginning of the story as two of Nick’s only friends, so the reader is automatically somewhat connected to them. Even though we may not agree with some of the motives and the lifestyle that they have, there is no reason for us to want much bad to happen to them. This holds true for a short part of the story for Tom, until we realize that his character represents the stereotypical “pig” of a man, who cheats on his wife while they are raising a small child and brags about it to his friends. Although we now form a more negative opinion of Tom, we still don’t have anything against Daisy. When Nick learns of Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy, the readers automatically form a higher opinion of Daisy because we like Gatsby and we want the relationship to be successful. Why, then, does Daisy earn such a negative ending? This is because of the social class ordering and differences that are portrayed in the novel. One of Fitzgerald’s themes that is conveyed in the story is that social class greatly affects the overall character of a person. Gatsby, a man who came from a poor family and had to fend for himself to survive, truly loved Daisy and wanted a genuine relationship with her. On the other hand, I believe that Daisy, who had a wealthy background, did not sincerely want that kind of relationship with Gatsby. She only showed a strong want for a relationship when she saw all of the fancy things that Gatsby had and what she had missed out on. In the end, Gatsby passed away and Daisy went on with her life with Tom in another city, obviously not greatly affected by his death. Nick describes them as “careless” people because they are so used to wealth and they let that consume them when they should be worrying about the more important things in life.

3.       Q: What kind of character (round/flat, static/dynamic, etc.) is Nick Carraway?

A: In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway narrates the story as a young adult man who moved from the Midwest to the Eastern state of New York. Though the narrators of novels are usually the hero and do many things to develop the plot of the story, this is not the case for Nick Carraway. If the narrator was someone else, say Jay Gatsby, Nick would not have much effect on the story at all. Nick simply tells us the story of the other characters and serves as a passage into their lives. Even though this is true, I believe that Nick ends up being a somewhat dynamic character in the novel. He does not undergo any significant change as a person from cover to cover, but he does learn something that changes his viewpoint on life and other people. By going off on his own and being introduced to the real, harsh world, I believe he grows in his perception of others and can better understand the motives of others. Even though he is dynamic, I believe that Nick is a mostly flat character. He is a polite and kind man throughout the story and does not show very many other very distinguishable traits. I believe this can be attributed to the fact that he is only a narrator and does not play a huge role in the development of the story.

4.       Q: Who does Daisy really love: Tom or Gatsby?

A: After reading The Great Gatsby, I have come to the conclusion that Daisy does not truly love either one of these men. If I had to pick which one she had a stronger bond and more genuine feelings for, it would be Jay Gatsby, but I would not say she loved him. I believe that Daisy was in love with wealth, material things, and the feeling of being wanted. I think she was truly in love with Gatsby at one time, which was when they first knew each other. When they broke up, she married Tom, who she also did not love. She was having second thoughts the night before her wedding and I never really felt anything true between the two of them throughout the whole story. Daisy was just attracted to the wealth that he could bring to her and having a husband figure in her life. When Gatsby came back into her life, she was not very interested until she saw the wealth and material possessions that he also had. Although she seemed to be sincerely pursuing Mr. Gatsby, she was still involved with Tom. When the men confronted her about the situation, she said she loved both of them, which I do not believe is true. She obviously didn’t truly love Gatsby because, in the end, she was not fazed by his death and went on living her life with another man who could provide her with the thing she truly wanted: wealth.