Final Cuckoo's Nest Blog

1. Why was it necessary for Kesey to end the book with such a large show from McMurphy's side?

The party at the end was not just a show of power from McMurphy to Big Nurse, but it was also a way to show how far McMurphy had brought all of the characters. Billy was able to actually have a relationship of sorts with a woman, with the kind of woman who his mother would not have liked him to have. Harding was able to show off his reasonable side in trying to get everyone to clean up, and most of all, the Chief was actually able to take part at all. The fact that he was one of the ones present really shows that he has come a long way; not only does he dare to do something that Big Nurse would not like, but he also ends up interacting with the rest of the patients in a reasonable manner.

2. Was it ever possible for McMurphy to "win" the battle between him and Big Nurse? And I don't mean metaphorically, but physically.

While McMurphy did technically win the battle, he won at the cost of his life. Everyone else benefited save him. He was allowed to win in that the patients all began to leave, but McMurphy himself did not. The thing about this is that the Big Nurse had ultimate power over him. If he had run away then maybe he would have in effect won, but all in all, as long as he stayed in the ward, Big Nurse would have cut him off, had him lobotomized as she did.

3. In what ways did the other acutes add to the story?

The acutes showed how McMurphy was actually helping the ward, rather than just causing havoc for fun. Though he seemed to be doing things just for his own good, thanks to his development with the other acutes he was allowed to blur the line between selfish and self-sacrificing. Because of the acutes you can sit and debate McMurphy's reasons all you wish, but in the end the fact remains that for whatever reason he did it, he ended up helping these patients out.

4. How was Harding used to develop McMurphy?

Harding seemed to me to almost be a foil to McMurphy, an example in which the foil characters can actually get along. Harding seemed to be nervous, nitpicky and unsure of himself, quiet and allowing others to do as they wished; meanwhile, McMurphy was loud and boisterous, quite sure of himself and willing to point out to other people what he thought. However they are both friends, and they do both share the fact that they are smart, though they appear to me to be smart in different ways. Harding seems more book-smart, while McMurphy is more cunning. Allowing these two characters to work together, with McMurphy's personality bouncing off of Harding's, it characterized McMurphy much more strongly than he would have been otherwise.

Cuckoo's Nest Blog 2

By the end of part 1, I would have to say that McMurphy is managing to get the better of the nurse more so than the other way around. The fact that this part ends on McMurphy getting all of the ward to quit working and stare at a blank tv screen just to show her up probably shows that at the very least he has more power over the patients at this point. While the Nurse still has technical power, at this point McMurphy has managed to make his point more or less so.

The Chief goes out of his way to be near McMurphy so that he can hear what is going on. That shows a change in that at the beginning of the story he was less excited about things and more or less just along for the ride. Now, while still mostly just along for the ride, he also seems to be more active at attempting to be around people and things. The fact that McMurphy managed to get him to break out of his shell and raise his hand shows just how much he actually has managed to effect the Chief, with this being the most obvious one of the ways that he has been affected. At this point I like the Chief relatively well, because I kinda think that he is smarter than what the others think he is, and he does a good job of hiding it, but at the same time I think that he has very little bearing on the story physically. The part in which he comes in is more so in his description and how he gets you to lean to one side or the other just by how he describes it.

I find myself cheering for McMurphy, even though I don't particularly like him, mostly because I like the patients and what he is doing is also making them happy. In the same way, I also think that I lean towards his side thanks to the Chief's storytelling and the fact that there is an obvious slant towards McMurphy's side.

First Cuckoo's Nest Blog

The first character that I feel confident placing would be McMurphy, who I personally think is an anti hero. He has traits that would make him qualify as a hero, but at the same time he shows traits that make him not so savory. The facts that he is lazy (he is in the mental hospital because he would rather be there than a work camp), aggressive (what originally got him in prison) and manipulative all point towards him being more of an anti-hero than anything else. He is rude at times and is obviously attempting to manipulate those within the ward. Nurse Ratched says, "He is what we call a ‘manipulator,’ Miss Flinn, a man who will use everyone and everything to his own ends." While not the most trustworthy, I do believe that she was telling the truth in this statement; this is proved even further once he takes the bet at the end in order to try to get under the Nurse's skin and try to turn the already established order a little onto its head.

Another easy one to place would be the Head Nurse. While probably not as mean as McMurphy would lead us to believe, the truth of the matter is that she does not really seem to care about the patients. Also, like McMurphy, she is manipulative and used to being in control. She has everything running under a tight ship, under her control, and the doctor can't do a thing about it thanks to his cowardliness. She definitely is looked upon as the villain to most people in the ward. McMurphy's conversation with Harding at the end proves that everyone in the ward thinks of her as meanest, most manipulative woman on the face of the planet. After McMurphy attempts to prove this to Harding, he eventually gives in, admitting that, "No one’s ever dared come out and say it before, but there’s not a man among us that doesn’t think it, that doesn’t feel just as [McMurphy does] about [Nurse Ratched] and the whole business, " She's got them under such a tight rein that they can't even admit to themselves that they dislike her through some sort of cognitive dissonance. She holds the rest of the ward in fear, so much fear that they are helpless to do anything about it.

The hardest one to place  would be hero...there doesn't appear to be any heroes in this story, at least not of the traditional sort. Even with tragic hero, it would be hard to shoehorn a character into the role. I would say Harding might fit a tragic hero, but I can't say that I know enough about him to be able to aptly place him. His faults are not ones that would make a villain or even an anti hero. He could be a hero, but his cowardly attitude, even if it is self-aware, would make it hard for him to a traditional hero. Even more so, I have little idea of how much he will even affect the story. Another character in a similar situation is the Chief, who also cannot fit as a villain or anti-hero, but isn't a traditional hero. The fact that he clearly cannot be trusted also leads you to wonder how much of what he tells you is true, and how much of it is his insane ramblings. Either way, I don't know how much bearing he will have to do with the story, regardless of his place as the narrator.

Final Great Gatsby Reading

What was Fitzgerald trying to accomplish by repeatedly mentioning the glasses of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg?

The sign was a way to symbolize all the attention the elite class got, and how they were always being watched. In the first time it is described, it is said to rise above the fog and is able to be seen by many in the surrounding area.  Later, after the trouble with Myrtle and the car, his sign is again mentioned, only this time it is referred to by Wilson, who seems to hold the idea that it is "God" and is always watching. Specifically, that he is watching Myrtle with her affair, and that he knows and will punish her for it. Wilson takes it too far, but it does go to show that there is a lot to be seen and watched, with the affairs and underhanded business that goes on in the area.

How effective was Fitzgerald's use of character to portray his theme?

Considering it appears that Fitzgerald's theme has to do with looking back at the past, and how the characters he use all seem to be stuck in the past for one reason or another, I would say it was very effective. In effect, Fitzgerald is dwelling on the one girl who turned him down because he was too poor, and this book goes to show that. Gatsby is his stand in, constantly stuck in the past, one that can never be real again. Tom is the typical, or at least at first, stereotype of the jerk jock who is otherwise perfect. However, Fitzgerald throws a twist in that all of the characters are portrayed sympathetically by the end of the book, at least for a moment (for Tom, literally just a moment.) It also goes to show that sticking in the past hurts everyone: Gatsby dead, Tom and Daisy in shambles, with Nick and Jordan no better or worse than they started, if only for the fact that they were both friends with those affected.

What is Fitzgerald's reasoning for making Gatsby what he is (hero, anti-hero, villain)?

Gatsby is, in my opinion, a tragic hero. His downfalls all come back to the fact that he is stuck in the past, and all of the bad things that he does/did can be linked to that fact. He got into somewhat shady business so that he could be more successful and as such gain Daisy's affection again, like they'd been prior to him leaving for the war. This, of course, mirrors Fitzgerald in that Fitzgerald would be sympathetic with him, seeing as how Gatsby is a sort of stand in for himself, in a way. At least, in that he gets turned down by the woman he loves because he doesn't have enough money, and then when he does have money, there's still no way of regaining her affection for real. This makes people feel sorry for him, while all the same it gets across Fitzgerald's point that it's useless to be stuck in the past, and that the only person it hurts is oneself.

How effective was Fitzgerald's use of Gatsby as a stand in for himself?

It was effective in that it showed just how useless it is to be stuck in the past. With Gatsby, the issue was that he couldn't move on, and after he had managed to pull himself up to Daisy's level and she still found herself unable to truly reciprocate in the way that Gatsby remembered it being, he just couldn't imagine that she didn't feel the same way as him. It managed to show the reader just how hopeless Fitzgerald felt that dwelling on the past could be, and Gatsby's death was the cherry on the top of everything, in that it was symbolic. Everything in Gatsby's life had been leading up to his reunion with Daisy, and after she could not be what he wanted, it only shows that Gatsby would die. Even more so, his death was in part caused by his refusal to let go of his attachment to Daisy.

Great Gatsby Reading 2

1. I see Meyer Wolfsheim as being a way to develop Gatsby, in our eyes. His character shows just who Gatsby will put up with and deal with. In this case, Wolfsheim is a little bit sneaky and cheating, and maybe colors our judgement of Gatsby. But at the same time, one can also look at their relationship as interesting in the fact that Gatsby seems to merely put up with him, though showing a few signs of liking him as a person.

2. Their relationship makes Gatsby seem a little tragic. They seem to have been in an obviously good relationship, however he had to leave to go to war. Then Daisy marries Tom (for what reason, we aren't quite informed, only that she thinks it was a mistake) and she is obviously unhappy with him. Gatsby, in the meantime, is well forgotten for all intents and purposes, and yet he still loves her all the same. It just happened that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or more likely not at the right place at the right time. Now he has to see Daisy in an unhappy relationship and he is unable to do anything about it himself.

3. Gatsby, unlike many of the others of this crowd, is partially a self-made man (other than the money left behind to him by Cody) and that sets him apart from the rest of the people in that we can respect him for making his own money rather than merely inheriting it. We also feel sorry for him in that part of his money came from his best friend who died. In general, the rest of his background makes him into a rather sad figure, and it seems as though he has some issues dealing with his money and with what he is doing and in general it just shows you why he is so awkward at his own parties.

4. I get the feeling that I shouldn't like him more, since he is in love with a married woman. However, overall, these chapters have only served to make me like Gatsby more. I feel sorry for him, losing Daisy to Tom, and I also like him for how awkward he is whenever he first gets to see Daisy again. His wonder at the situation (after his embarrassment) made him more likeable and overall human. He seems more real than some of the other characters, and feels like maybe he's still in wonder with his wealth, still capable of real happiness, while all of the other characters seem to look at everything like it's old stuff.

Jelly Roll Morton, "Black Bottom Stomp"

How do you envision this music playing a part of Gatsby's parties?
There are two ways I can imagine this music. The more likely of the two, I think, is as dancing music. Probably not ballroom dancing, but the kind where people would be okay to dance by themselves. The other way would be while people are eating. However, I don't imagine a lively song like this to be used during eating, and more likely was playing while people were dancing.

What is the mood? How/why?
The music is very upbeat and danceable, making me think of a happy and energetic mood in which everyone is talkative and wild.

What activities go along with this music?
Dancing, for the most part. Dancing quickly, with or without a partner.

The Great Gatsby- Reading Blog 1

From what we have already read, I must say that there are three characters that I can categorize as either a hero, antihero or villain, or at least predict that they will become that once we get more characterization. 

Though he only comes in during that last third of the reading, I imagine that Gatsby is a hero of this story, not alone part of the fact that the book is called "The Great Gatsby". Another reason is that, while nobody that Nick talks to seems to know much about him, the indirect characterization you get while talking to him and from the guests show that he actually is a pretty nice guy. In one instance, a girl is talking about how she ripped her dress at the last one of his parties, and that "inside of the week [she] got a package from Croirier's with a new evening gown in it." (43) She goes on to say how expensive it was and how odd of a man he was for doing something of the sort. Then, later, once Nick has actually met him, Gatsby seems quite friendly towards him, if a bit distant any time someone else approaches him or tries to talk to him.

Jordan Baker strikes me as a sort of antihero, in that she is obviously meant to be portrayed in a friendly and nice light, or at least to be identified with as a sort, but at the same time she has a sort of hauty nature and a tendency towards lying that most would more so associate with a villain. When first introduced, her description of holding her chin in the air "as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall" gave me the impression that she had an air about her like she thought she was better than everyone else. The last few pages in the reading then go on to detail how she had a penchant for lying, which Nick quickly forgives because she is a woman and that is something one can easily forgive a woman for. However, while she does have these very obviously bad traits, she is quite friendly and helpful with Nick during the party at Gatsby's, keeping Nick company and trying to help him find Gatsby.

One character who immediately rubbed me the wrong way was Tom Buchanan. His first description of stubborn and hard and all together too strong for himself, carrying himself as though he was so much better than everyone else gives one the idea that he might be the villain, all that he is supposedly a sort of friend to Nick. His insistence during that dinner that the white people should rise up and put other races in their place would be looked upon in a bad light, at least by modern audiences. And the later fact that he has a mistress (a fact that his wife knows and yet can do nothing about) and that he cares not if people know it puts him at odds with most peoples' ideas of morality in general, and his treatment of said mistress is also one to be looked down upon. Though neither he nor Myrtle are the best of people, and their relationship seems plainly based on the fact that neither likes their spouse, many will feel sorry for Myrtle when Tom strikes her and causes her to have a bloody nose, all based on an argument over whether Myrtle may talk about Daisy or not. I personally cannot find any good traits about Tom, and only bad traits or ones that are neutral at best.