Tuesday, November 11, 2008
On page 123, Chief says, "Nobody complains about all the fog. I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe. That's what McMurphy can't understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we'd be easy to get at." I think this shows that while Chief, as well as the other patients, like McMurphy, they're are scared of him. Chief in particular becomes worried that McMurphy will "drag" him out of the fog. There are two aspect of this idea: He is worried that McMurphy will psychologically not allow him to hide behind the fog anymore. Chief likes the fog because it makes him not have to acknowledge what his life is actually like. I think the second reason why Chief in particular is somewhat afriad of McMurphy is that McMurphy is the only one who know's Chief isn't deaf. He could be worried that McMurphy would reveal this fact and the exposure would, one again, drag him out of the fog. Chief is able to resort back to the fog because people think he's deaf and dumb when in reality he's anything but. Exposing his secret would make him entirely vulnerable to not only McMurphy but the staff and other patients.
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3 comments:
I agree with your two aspects, but don't believe that McMurphy's attempts have such negative intentions. I think that McMurphy is truly frustrated that the patients are such push-overs with Nurse Ratched, and he wants them to stand up for themselves. By pressuring them to raise their hands he's helping them grow and improve their own surroundings.
Realistically speaking, though, his motives may be negative. We just don't know enough about his character yet to tell for sure.
I think that he is afraid of Mac just because of why he said was. He says that no matter the outcome of the whole "game" of McMurphy messing with the nurse, the other patients have to live with the consequences, and therefore do not want to go along with his games. They know that Mac might not be there for a long time, so there is no reason for him to care. But for the other patients on the ward, they do not want to be punished so Chief always retreats into his fog to stay out of the trouble that Mac may start to cause.
I agree with Katie, and I think McMurphy is going to use the power he has over all of the patients i.e. knowing their secrets, to team up against Nurse Ratched. I think McMurphy understands he cannot do it all alone, so he's gathering dirt on all the patients to eventually use to help everyone's cause.
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