Sarah Fleming
asked:
How would the novel be different if McMurphy was the narrator? Why is it so important that everything is seen through the eyes of the Chief?
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
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Matt Perry
McMurphy acts but doesn't think. The Chief thinks but doesn't act--that is, until he is increasingly inspired by McMurphy to do so. Characters are more interesting when they develop over the course of a story, and the Chief develops, whereas McMurphy doesn't. McMurphy is the initial hero in that he is an outsider who disrupts the system, but the Chief is our hero in the end because he disrupts himself and the traumas that have held him down. He is therefore the more interesting narrator. Also, there's the matter of the last scene.
Lisa
I love this question! It's so important that the Chief is the narrator because he's an underdog and you can't help but want him to prosper. McMurphy is really just a swaggering ass, but because he's an advocate for the underdog we can forgive him and still root for him. If it wasn't for the Chief and our bond with him, I don't thing the reader would like McMurphy and the book wouldn't be as good.
Kam
One thing that I think we get with Chief being the narrator is the emphasis on mental health disorders. Pat doesn’t have a mental health disorder, he is only there because he conned his way in to going there to avoid a work farm.
In the 60s, and in many way still to this day there is a stigma with mental health disorders and a concern that patients go unheard and unacknowledged. I think in a way Chief being the narrator, and pretending to be “deaf and dumb” is the perfect metaphor for the underlying societal stigma surrounding mental health disorders.
In the 60s, and in many way still to this day there is a stigma with mental health disorders and a concern that patients go unheard and unacknowledged. I think in a way Chief being the narrator, and pretending to be “deaf and dumb” is the perfect metaphor for the underlying societal stigma surrounding mental health disorders.
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