"Restraint!"

“Was it superstition, disgust, patience, fear –or some kind of primitive honour? No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, and disgust simply does not exist where hunger is…” (Pg 76) Marlow recalls that they (the cannibals) have been starving, but he doesn’t understand why the didn´t eat the non-cannibals on board. “Restraint,” is one of the possibilities, but why restrain to their way of life? Further more, it is very difficult to act rationally when hunger is present. 

By hungry, I don´t mean being hungry between meals. No. It is to go by days with out eating, because there is no way to get a hold of food. Unfortunately, this is a problem in Colombia and a factor seen world wide, especially in third-world countries, where the poor people are miserable. They can´t carry a decent life, because in this competing world, they have lost. Many don´t even have the opportunities to succeed, and end up working underpaid jobs, or not working at all. And then we see the consequences of not having a decent pay. Most people that are considered “poor” don´t even have enough money to buy food, water, a living space, which are they necessities of life.

Most of the time, this leads people to the wrong places. Driven by hunger and desperation, people go to extremes to be able to cease the pain. Some could steal, but others could even kill to make the pain go away. When hunger strikes, people loose all of their essence, and focus only on their existence. It is during this state that we see the human nature of surviving: the “survival of the fittest.” 

So why didn´t the cannibals eat the people on board? If we compare them to poor people, we can say that the poor know better. They live within a society that educates them on how to act. Cannibals are isolated from society because they are different form everybody else. People would think that it is more probable that cannibals strike before the poor, but in the book it does not happen. Maybe there is something about cannibals that we are not aware, some sort of humanity obscured by the fact that they eat their own races. We may be blinded and not see that cannibals are still humans. 

Darkness Gone Loose

The place where Marlow voyaged to was the place of his dreams. He says so himself. When he was little, from the first moment he saw that place on the map, he was fascinated. But as an adult, he travelled there and expected the disappointed. Even though the place charmed him, he knew “it had become a place of darkness.” (Pg 10.)

The light illusion is key when deciphering exactly why this place is a place of darkness. No one associates darkness with happiness. It is the complete opposite. Often, depressed people say, “I am in a dark place,” so this darkness has to be bad, very bad. The transformation that occurred to that place was negative. Something occurred to this, light full place that marveled Marlow that all the light was sucked out. The British came and destroyed a culture, exploited the natives, and took all the richness and happiness.

During his travels, he can´t believe that these people that their ribs were visible and “the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope” (25) could be considered criminals and even enemies. The start of his voyage is like the entrance of Dante´s Inferno, and Marlow just “stepped into the gloomy circle of some Inferno.” This place of darkness is hell. In Inferno, the only source of light is fire, which is very gloomy and negative. The same happens with this place. Also, in each circle, there are specific people, but they live half dead, scattered around. When Marlow goes up the mountain, the population is close to nil, except the occasional slaves, that look exactly like hell´s prisoners: you can see the unhappiness in the bodies and eyes.

This place of darkness is a real place. A territory used inhabited by it´s natives, until the British took over. From then on, hell broke loose. The same happened all over the world. When Europe colonized Africa and America, they saw the natives as an inferior race. Thy thought they had the liberty to come and exploit the natives and steal their richness. Some even had religious and other motives and thought they were doing them a favor by making them more civilized them.  The natives and Europeans were very different, but no favor was done. They turned many parts of the world, into places of darkness, very similar to hell. 

Well, this is...

What examples from the song are ironic?  How can you tell?  What examples are not ironic?  How can you tell?

This song has different example of irony but also there are some parts which are straight forward.

A line that is ironic and is present multiple times is "the great nations of europe..." because even though this nations did have a lot of power and wealth, they were not really great. They expect to be great by conquering all the indians and having a sense of superiority but there is nothing great about destroying cultures and killing people, which is what the song is describing. 

When the author sates that "now they´re gone, they´re gone, they´re really gone./You never seen anyone so gone,"  this is not entirely true. He is exaggerating the situation to make the "great nations of europe" look worst, but when the europeans came, the indians did not disappear from thin air. Many resisted and were around many years to continue the suffering. 

Also there is a continuity to the line "the great nations of europe," which goes: "[they] were quite holy in their way." Again, mismatch information. Mentioned above that line are the "holy" ways of the Europeans when they torn indians apart with dogs. The word does not fit  the situations, even though they backed their means with religious ends.  

A part of the song that is not ironic is when the author mentions Columbus´ arrival to Salvador and mentions that "they got t.b. and typhoid and athletes foot and diphtheria and the flu..." This were some of the main causes of death among the people in the new world, because their bodies had never been exposed to such diseases. 

The Correct Guidance

To change is something very difficult to do.  Dictionary.com gives the following definition:

“to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone”

In other words, it´s to make the nature of something different to what it was. Change could be good or bad, but it is commonly searched for, when things are bad and people want to turn them into good. One of the most difficult things to change is one personality. No body is perfect. A person may have a lot of qualities, but there is always room for improvement; change.

This happens in our daily life, and with the Chief, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo´s nest. Putting aside the mental health of the Chief, he was a good person. He rarely had any bad intentions, and he was a really easy-going man. Never the less there were a lot of things that could be different. For starters, he never spoke. People even believed that he was deaf and mute, and even stupid. Also he never stood up for himself. We read the story from his perspective, and he shared his thoughts with the audience. Multiple times, he planned things in his mid but never did them, simply because he was afraid of change. He did not feel the necessity, and thought that things were better as they were. There fore he used to hide in the “fog” all of time. Living in the shadows of the people that depreciated him. But change did come. It arrived in the form of a living man. Ladies and gentlemen, McMurphy. His intentions were questioned, but he did many good things for many patients, especially the Chief. In the book, he is the first that talks with the Chief. He, more or less, makes him go on the fishing trip, were he had a blast. McMurphy never told the chief that he had to change, but how he acted, inspired the Chief to do so. When they are up in the disturbed ward, “It´s fogging a little, but I [the Chief] won´t slip off and hide in it. No…never…again.” (Pp. 248) Also, in the beginning of the book, it is clear that the Chief is scared of the Nurse, and the power of the combine but towards the end he concludes that “Maybe the Combine wasn´t all-powerful.” (Pp. 263) 

The Chief went from being this dumb, deaf, and mute Chronic, to a guy that had the guts to escape from the ward.  But he could not have done it with out the arrival of McMurphy. He saw in him, as well as many others, the guidance they needed; the man who was able to fight the Combine and almost beat the system. He believed in him so much that even after McMurphy was operated he refused to believe that that was he.

Change is not something that is easy to do. Many times I have changed, but not alone. I have needed the help form some one to tell me what´s wrong. It is very hard to see the defects that one has, so that’s why it is so important to have some one to guide you. Fortunately, the Chief had McMurphy. It did not end well for McMurphy, because the Combine finally beat him, but it did end well for the Chief.

The Big [small] Nurse

The importance of a character does not lie in his or her appearance through out the text. Sometimes it does, but other it doesn´t. Take, for example, the women in One Flew Over the Cuckoo´s Nest. How many women have appeared until know? The answer is simple: very few. Really few compared to the male characters. If you count all the patients, plus the boys, plus the doctor, you get a high number. Women, I can recall three: the Big Nurse, one of the other nurses and Harding´s wife, Vera. 

So, if there are only three women, why can they be important? By character (in the first sentence) I was referring to women, not only just a female character specifically. The Big Nurse appears constantly through the book, imposing her power and strength over the men, not only the sick but also the healthy. But she is the only woman that is really part of the story. The other two appear briefly, and only of one there is a description.

Between the Big Nurse´s description (made through out the whole book) and Vera´s concise one, there is a significant similarity. In both, there is a portrayal of  the women’s´ physique, especially their breast. Are women only important because of that? There is also a part where McMurphy mentions that the Big Nurse´s breasts are in a way, a form of weakness. Why would he say something like that, when he knows it is not true?

By such portrayal of the women, one might think that women are not important, but it is the complete opposite. McMurphy may feel superior to the Big Nurse, but she is one step ahead of him.  It is shown in the way he reacts to his know-it-all attitude. If it weren´t for the Big Nurse, the hospital would not function correctly.

 So, what is the author trying to show us through the Big Nurse?

In the literal level of the book, she may be just a nurse, but going beyond that, she could represent the importance of the women in a society full of impulsive men, like McMurphy. The fact that a single woman carries that whole representation made me think about The Stranger, and Mersault´s mother. She rarely appears, but is vital to the understanding of the story and character. The same happens with the Big Nurse. She may only be a simple Nurse, but behind her character, actions and personality, lies much more.