What do geese symbolize in one flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
The geese also represent freedom because they are free to do what they want and go about their own business, without noticing the dog, or the patients in the mental institution. The “good fisherman” who “catches hens” represents the nurse and how she “catches” the men in the mental institute.
What does fog symbolize in one flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
In this novel, fogs symbolize a lack of insight and an escape from reality. When Bromden starts to slip away from reality, because of his medication or out of fear, he hallucinates fog drifting into the ward. He imagines that there are hidden fog machines in the vents and that they are controlled by the staff.
What animal does Harding say that Cheswick is?
RabbitsThe Rabbits Harding, another man on the ward, describes Cheswick to McMurphy when McMurphy first arrives at the institution. 'Cheswick there is a rabbit,' he says.
What is the main message of one flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
One of the messages conveyed towards the reader is the importance of freedom against oppression. McMurphy is a prime example of how self sacrifice plays a key role in rebellion. This later inspires Bromden to escape the ward and finally gains his freedom to the real world.
What does McMurphy's laugh symbolize?
The longer McMurphy is on the ward, the more the men begin to laugh. Laughter becomes a symbol and an active representation of the men's freedom, even though they are basically imprisoned by the ward and by society.
What mental illness does McMurphy have?
Each film takes up specific gendered mental illnesses – Susanna is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, seven times more likely in women than men, and McMurphy with Anti-Social Personality Disorder, three times more likely in men than women.
What is Nurse Ratched's one weakness?
When McMurphy attacks her and tears her shirt open in front of the men, he reveals her weakness—she's a woman after all. Big breasts don't lie.
What is the importance of the dog and the geese to Chief?
Why is that important? The Dog is McMurphy and the Geese are the combine. He sees them outside the ward. This shows some foreshadowing when the Dog is walking into the pathway of an oncoming car.
What does Cheswick's death symbolize?
Charles Cheswick Cheswick's death is significant in that it awakens McMurphy to the extent of his influence and the mistake of his decision to conform.
What does Nurse Ratched symbolize?
A former army nurse, Nurse Ratched represents the oppressive mechanization, dehumanization, and emasculation of modern society—in Bromden's words, the Combine. Her nickname is “Big Nurse,” which sounds like Big Brother, the name used in George Orwell's novel 1984 to refer to an oppressive and all-knowing authority.
Is Nurse Ratched evil?
Ratched was named the fifth-greatest villain in film history (and second-greatest villainess, behind the Wicked Witch of the West of The Wizard of Oz) by the American Film Institute in their series 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains.
Is Nurse Ratched deviant?
In “One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest”, Nurse Ratched found herself as the chief monitor of deviant behavior in the mental institution. Ratched and Randle find themselves in the opposite sides of the spectrum. She represents authority and conformity in the hospital.
What do symbols represent in the book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
What does the whale mean in the book "Moby Dick"?
One common interpretation of Moby-Dick is that the whale is a phallic symbol, which obviously suggests McMurphy’s blatant sexuality —the little white whales cover McMurphy’s underwear, which he gleefully reveals to Nurse Ratched.
In conclusion, birds have all sorts of crazy and important meanings. Next time you pick up a book and it has a a bird in it, do some research to see if it has any symbolic meaning to the text
In conclusion, birds have all sorts of crazy and important meanings. Next time you pick up a book and it has a a bird in it, do some research to see if it has any symbolic meaning to the text.
Hope
"You birds seem to think you got quite the champ in there, don't you?" (Kesey 73).
fear
"The flock gets sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go to peckin' at it, see, till they rip the chicken to shreds, blood and bones and feathers" (Kesey 57).
Page 234
As McMurphy recieves electroshock therapy, birds drop, representing the loss of the potential to be free that the therapy induces.
Page 21
In allusion to the "Bull Moose Party", McMurphy is the Bull Goose Loony, the leader among the patients.
Page 7
In calling the patients birds, McMurphy recognizes that they still have the potential to be free of their cages and cured.
Keys
Over and over again, the camera focuses upon keys, and their metallic jingle echoes as the overriding symbol of authority. Nurse Ratched wears her keys on a loop over her arm like a decorative bracelet of power. She leads the men in stretches before group therapy, and her keys provide the only sound as she lifts and drops her arms.
Cigarettes
In contrast to keys, cigarettes represent freedom. The men use cigarettes as chips in blackjack, each cigarette representing a dime—their only money to spend as they wish. Cigarettes provide the men with a makeshift currency, giving them power to place bets, take risks, and feel like men instead of children.
Pornographic Playing Cards
McMurphy’s deck of dirty playing cards appears at critical moments of the film to signify his rebellion against authority. He makes Martini his first disciple when he flashes the pictures of naked women in his face, leading him away from the sedate game of pinochle.
What does smoking cigarettes symbolize?
Cigarettes symbolize property and freedom to the patients. Because the men have to wear specific clothes and stay within the grounds of the hospital and follow specific orders, the few possessions that they are allowed become especially important. Cigarettes are perhaps the most important possession afforded to the patients. Indeed, cigarettes become the central point of contention in Cheswick and Ratched's argument in the chaotic group therapy scene. Cheswick feels undermined because Nurse Ratched has taken away his cigarettes, and even when the other men offer him a cigarette, he protests on the basis that they are not his cigarettes. The act of smoking is not the important component for Cheswick, but instead the ability to have something that is his own. Cheswick, and all the men, want property, want things that belong to them, and cigarettes symbolize this desire for property and ownership. They use their anger at the fact that the institution deprives them of cigarettes to rebel against Nurse Ratched.
What does the key symbolize in the movie?
Keys symbolize freedom and access throughout the movie. McMurphy continually gets access to keys that he is not authorized to use, and he uses these keys to try and break out of the hospital and find freedom. He steals the bus to get the men away for the fishing trip. The nurse's office is an exclusive space to which the men do not have access, but break into on the night of the party. In one of McMurphy's most pointed acts of rebellion, he breaks the glass of the nurse's office, eschewing keys in favor of brute force. Then again at the end, he tries to break out of the window using keys, but is thwarted. Limitations of access, as represented by keys, are not limitations that McMurphy observes or respects.
the Cuckoo's Nest
"The honking came closer and closer till it seemed like they must be flying right through the dorm, right over my head. Then they crossed the moon -- a black, weaving necklace, drawn into a V by the lead goose.
THE END
The climax of the motif of animals as symbolism within the novel is when Harding is talking about how the men in the ward are like rabbits. This is the one point in the novel where animals are used the most, and are used as metaphors for how most of the main characters are living their lives.
Invisibility
Many important elements in the novel are either hidden from view or invisible. For example, Bromden tries to be as invisible as possible. He has achieved this invisibility by pretending not to understand what is going on around him, so people notice him less and less. Moreover, he imagines a fog surrounding him that hides him and keeps him safe.
The Power of Laughter
The power of laughter resonates throughout the novel. McMurphy’s laughter is the first genuine laughter heard on the ward in years. McMurphy’s first inkling that things are strange among the patients is that none of them are able to laugh; they can only smile and snicker behind their hands.
Real Versus Imagined Size
Bromden describes people by their true size, not merely their physical size. Kesey implies that when people allow others, such as governments and institutions, to define their worth, they can end up far from their natural state. Nurse Ratched’s true size, for example, is “big as a tractor,” because she is powerful and unstoppable.