The Mad Fog

The mental hospital where the Chief and the other patients are seems to be in a way peculiar and in others, very similar to what I have seen of mental hospitals. Thankfully, I have no personal connection to such hospitals, but what I know is what I have seen in movies. For example, the movie Shutter Island, even though it´s more like a prison, I feel it has some sort of connection. The Combine, just like Shutter Island, seems creepy and scary for many patients, because they get beaten up. The treaty they sometimes receive, especially from the three black boys is very harsh.

 The peculiar thing that I see in it is the patients. All have their own special madness. For example, Ellis has a weird condition that they “nailed him against the wall.” (Pg. 15) Also, Rucky does nothing but stare at a picture that he holds in front of him. Then there is the Chief. At first I thought that he had no madness, but it was impossible. In a way, the fog is his madness.

He describes the fog when he is getting his hair cut, but it is something that follows him around. At the moment of the description, the fog is literal. It can be the excess of cream, or water vapor, but when that is gone, the fog is still there. It follows him around as if the fog were his madness. All day, he stares at every body else and comments on what he sees, but never does he talk. Al the accumulated silence could be the reason for the fog. He is not deaf, for he listens to every thing, but could de be mute? I don´t think so. Instead he could be speechless. He could be so caught up in his world, that he distorts every thing he sees and can never comment on any thing. He looks to be normal, but maybe the people that seem the most normal, are the most crazy.

The same can happen with McMurphy. When he is admitted, first impression is he is completely normal, but he is there for a reason. Not only is he crazy but I believe he is going to break hell loose in the institution. For know he seems okay, but the author uses foreshadow to give us hints of what he could be in the future. “…you can never tell when just that certain one might come in who´s free enough to foul things right and left, really make a hell of a mess and constitute a threat to the whole smoothness of the outfit.” (Pg 37)

Maybe being top gun and creating disorder is McMurphy´s fog. 

What We See

The opening scene of Waiting For Godot pops many thoughts in my mind. Since the beginning, the audience can determine that Vladimir and Estragon are poor. Their clothes have holes and they show no possessions, but the clothes they wear. Also, ‘Gogo, ’ as Vladimir calls him, talks about being beaten up by some guys. Surely he has to walk through scary and insecure places. If they are poor, we don´t know for sure, but many aspects support that decision, even the place were they are. Waiting for Godot, in the middle of nowhere, and not even a horse in site. For sure they had to walk there. Estragon does not even have proper walking shoes. His feet hurt, for his boots are too small.

Never the less, being poor does no make them inferior. It can even make them more. They don´t have commodities in life, and they have had to suffer. This leads to experience, which many could consider knowledge. When I think of these two men, I think about the home less people in Bogota. Every day, I see them trying to make a living out of selling candies or asking for money. Many even have a scary, crazy look. But I can`t help but think if that craziness can be consider intelligence. They have seen the world in it´s purest form. They have suffered. Does this make them know more?

Of their intelligence, I am not sure, since Estragon makes a comment about the bible that confuses me. When Vladimir asks him if he has read it, he has but looks at it very superficially. He describes the places of the stories, but not the meaning of them. Many could consider this ignorance, but I just see it as some one who does not believe in God. Why think of the bible as a sacred book, if one does no believe in God. Yet again, they are waiting for Godot. Maybe Vladimir is, but Estragon is there because he has no place to be. 

The Virtue of Patience

In the woods, day after, Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot. Never are we tolled, but Vladimir seems to know why they are waiting for Godot. The one that never seems to remember anything is Estragon: “What do we do know? / Wait for Godot. / Ah!”(Pg. 70) This conversation can be found multiple times, and Estragon is the one that always makes the question. Even though he asks the question a lot, Vladimir always answers patiently. This is how I felt with my great grand father, in his last years. He was a very intelligent man but with the years people change. At the end, his mind was not as brilliant as it was before and he used to repeat things a lot, and to me, a story in particular. Every time I went to visit he would tell the story of how he founded his company. He would always start by saying that now-a-days it was a huge factory with more than 6,000 workers, but it all started in his garage, with just 6 workers and the production of a single bus. I knew he story be heart, but –instead of complaining- I listen attentively and made remarks of surprised. He liked telling that story, and since I loved him I would act as if I had never heard it. The love I felt for him is parallel to the affection and friendship Estragon and Vladimir have. Even though his friend has very bad memory, he is so fond of him that he is very patient. 

No Reason? A Sufficient Reason

When the time comes, there are glimpses of fear in Mersault. It is normal to be scared of death because nobody knows what happens after, but this non-existentialist moment does not last long. A short time after, Mersault simply accepts the fact that he is going to die: “…I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.” (pg 222) There is nothing to do, the world is indifferent to the fact that he is going to die and so is he. He doesn’t care. Death is not important because life is not important, there fore existence does not have a reason to be. But then, why live? For Mersault, the existence of the human being is illogical, because life has no meaning. He just lives in the know, doesn’t expect anything from the future and gives no importance to the paste, but I don’t agree with this. Our existence does have a reason. Some people believe in fate and that everything is written. This could be considered the opposite, but I believe that life alone is a reason to live. Being surrounded by the people you love, making other people life, sharing moments and adventures, give reason to our existence. It does not have to be written, but it is there.