We are nearly a third of the way through the book, and have learned a lot about Chief, as well as several other people on the ward. Chief has repeatedly claimed that the goal of the ward is to "fix" people in order for them to work properly with the combine. At one point, he is looking at workers restraining an old Blastic. While we expect to see blood and guts everywhere, we see rust and machineryKesey is obviously setting up a major contrast between Chief and the Ward, in terms of tactics, beliefs, and morals. In this specific example, the Ward is trying to fix Blastic who has "gotten out of line" in order to rehabilitate him for society. I think the rust and ashes are interesting because it shows that there is some wear and tear with Blastic, suggesting that maybe the Ward's tactics are not working. With Chief, his tactics have worked in playing "deaf and dumb" and has formed alliances among several of the other patients.
I expect to see a "human" vs. "machines" conflict brewing inside the ward. While it won't be actually fighting, I think it will be scheming and strategizing against one another.
2 comments:
I completely agree with what you've said. I was thinking the same thing, that this conflict is yet to reach its full potential. I think that ever since McMurphy has been admitted, the patients on the ward have been looking through a different lense and he has made them see new outlooks (ex. how the ward is run, rebelling against the Big Nurse). I am interested to see the overall influence McMurphy has on the orderlies, nurses, and the patients. I beleive he will persuade them to rebell with him and go against the combine's machine-like way.
I agree with this too, I think this shows the power of the ward. He really believes that they are made to be machines and McMurphy is the only one he feels safe with. I think this is one of the best examples showing machinery and it's power in fear on the patients.
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