...THE FOG...
When you think about the fog in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, you think of chief Bromden, as he is our acting narrator. He describes the fog as a thick and suffocating. Disorientating to himself and his fellow 'inmates'! Perhaps this is no more than a hallucination or he's merely just falling asleep? in one part of the book (pg.117) when the fog finally clears, the boys are all moving around un-concerned, as if nothing had happened..he thinks the fog must have affected thier memory...but not his! I personally think he's having flashbacks from the war. Vietnam i think.. Air raide...Air Raide... The Fog has got to be some idication of his own mental un-clairity."you loose yourself in the fog" any one who can stand beside a picture of a person fly fishing and say that he cant hear what they were saying because the of " the crash of the cold, frothy stream coming down out of the rocks." has got to be in some way or another lets say..off his rocker... how can he be the only one affected by the fog? why does no one else see the fog coming in from the vents? and from under the beds? His excuse seems to be that its the poison pills they keep feeding them keep them unaware and controlled. And why is McMurphy not affected by anything? Why have they not gotten to him yet? Although he seems to be on to something here, they do in fact medicate institutions to keep them controllable, and keep their outbursts to a minimum. In order not to scare or aggravate other patients. I get where they are going with that one, perhaps its not necessary everyday maybe they can reduce it to when outbursts occur. Or if the patients very unruly.
In one part, i believe they were all sitting in a therapy session, when Chief says the heads were floating around his, he was floating himself and he could hear them speak faintly. One of the "black boys" as he calls them, is saying to him as he comes to that he fell asleep again. Again? Does he do this regularily? Maybe he suffers from Night Terrors? Shell Shock? Is it just crazy flashbacks? I can see how someone trying to repress a memory it might overwelm them, stressing them out beyong recognition, and they may in fact act out in other ways such as acquiring a new ocd! I know I dont seem to remember things..expecially the ones i dont want to!
I agree with you on all your questions! When I read this novel I have a hard time understanding something’s like why he is the only one who see’s the fog, and why does he see the fog. Although it makes total sense if he sees it because of the terror of the war that he was in. Could you imagine going through something like that? Oh, and night terrors... I don’t really think he gets night terrors from it maybe just nightmares because they are two complete different things. Unless he says he gets them and I just don’t remember reading that part! I also agree with you on the part where you said “I can see how someone trying to repress a memory it might overwhelm them, stressing them out beyond recognition, and they may in fact act out in other ways such as acquiring a new OCD! I know I don’t seem to remember things... especially the ones I don’t want to!” When I have something bad happen to me I tend to forget completely and when I talk to someone and they bring it up I get really confused and I’m just like “ that never happened” and they end up telling me what happened, or I will just have a nightmare about it and it reminds me that it happened. So maybe that’s what the fog is to him; just a reminder that he was in the war and he did get air raided. On another point I enjoyed your blog! I’m excited for the next one!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying that may be respon sible for chief’s hallucinations; however I believe it may be a combination of everything that he has experienced in his life up until present day that allows him to suffer from these hallucinations. Imagine undergoing everything that Chief has gone through, would you want a place to feel safe in a place where u feel trapped? In the book, it describes the fog to be some sort of a place where chief feels a little safe from the society he is surrounded by. When the black boys try to give him medication, or when he is about to go through some sort of punishment or torture, the fog begins to form. He then is able to forget that the medication is being given to him. Furthermore, there is only a limit a person can take before their brain tries to cope with all the pressure the individual is feeling physically, emotionally, and mentally. I believe his hallucinations are his way of coping with what has been done to him, all the same time he still has a sense of stability, due to the fact he is wise in pretending to be deaf and mute to prevent any more harsh situations that he may come across. I agree with you, that chief plays a very significant role in the novel, and so does the hallucinations of the fog. It is very symbolic for character revelation of Chief. It allows us as a reader has a more understanding of what he is going through in the institution.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the fact that Chief may have lost his marbles. When he claims that when he's not on the medication he sleep wakes, and then that night have a nightmare about robots cutting patients up, that’s when I realized he may actually need help. He goes deep enough into the fog that he is thinks he is floating around the room and talking to the "vegetables". I don't think the treatment for this he is receiving is correct though, because I've never heard any medical benefits from sweeping all day. I wonder how much farther into the fog he can go before he finally looses it completely
ReplyDeleteI agree with your article because I have such a hard time understanding some of the parts in the novel. I really dont understand how McMurphy is so calm and normal when everyone else is just going crazy. The fog kind of confuses me all together, I mean i understand the concept, but I dont understand how Chief is the only one that sees it. I agree that Chief just might be having crazy flashbacks from the war. Wars back then had the use of gases as weapong, i personally think thats what his flashback are about. He might be going insane because like you said, they are the memories he doesnt want to remember. Making them terrors in his mind.
ReplyDeleteAliesha - good post, but remember that it needs to be from Part 2. We addressed the fog pretty substantially last week.
ReplyDeleteSammie - what is the difference between a nightmare and a night terror?
Safia- Chief is the only one to see the fog because it is in his head. Who knows what the other patients hallucinate about... thats the difficulty with 1st person narration.
oops sorry i didnt realize it had to be a topic within the sections, i thought it was a general topic on the entire book! no problem..next time
ReplyDelete