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.