Chief Bromden
as we know went to the institution willingly he was not forced. Do you think he
is actually insane or sane? I believe that in the institution the nurses/
doctors give drugs that are not really needed. In the novel and in the past
when you didn’t accept taking the drug you were punished. You were given electro
shock therapy or another sort of punishment. Now who is the one determining
that you need these drugs or that you’re crazy? I believe that the drugs are
really what enhance the patient to really become “insane” some drugs make you hallucinate
and give you terrible after effects. For
example: Chief Bromden “see’s” fog. Is that
fog actually there or is he hallucinating because of the drugs.
To relate to this novel to my
life I will tell you about this time when I was 15! I was rushed to the
hospital because they thought my appendix was about to burst. They had put me
on morphine and that wasn’t helping the pain, so they gave me oxy’s to help. Because
of the drugs I was on I was hallucinating, I could not walk straight because it
looked like the floor was waves. I told
my stepmom that my bed was a boat and I sang nursery rhymes to her with the
wrong words, but the same beat. My point
to this story is that if I was not in the hospital and on these drugs and I had
told random people that the floor in the hospital was moving like waves and my
bed was a boat, people wouldn’t take me serious or would say I was crazy. Giving people drugs can help with pain yes,
but it’s going to enhance certain patient’s problems. That’s my opinion of that
situation.
On another topic I think that
helping the patients should not be the same schedule every day, they should
have something different like normal people. Yeah you may have certain routines
but you never have a day the exact same as a day in your past. Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the
same thing over and over again expecting something different? Well doing that isn’t
going to help the patients.
Connecting to the world: I can
connect the novel to the movie shutter island. In the movie the main character
believes he isn’t insane and he is there for a reason on a mission, and in the
novel Chief Bromden goes to the institution for no reason, and by the time the
main character from Shutter Island leaves he is crazy. I predict that Chief
Bromden will be in the same situation when he or if he leaves this hospital.
Hey Sammie
ReplyDeleteI definetly agree with you about the book connecting with shutter Island ( main reason I LOVE LEONARDO DICAPRIO) and second because that exactly what the book reminded me of. i always think of the movie when reading it because the are very similar. The main character does not want to accept what others are telling him, because he thinks he knows best. The way they give them medication by switching thier cigarettes, putting it in the water, and everyone being so hush hush about the plan. I was creeped out by shutter island and i feel the exact same way about this book.
I personally cant relate to the taking drugs part because well i have never taken severe drugs, except when i got an ear infection and was put on major pain killers. and was tripping everywhere
i could not agree more with you, you have really good points. i also believe that when they give the pattience drugs that are not needed they are juts making the situation worst, and i think it makes no sence for the nurse to send them to the schock shop if they do not wish to take the drug, alot of the characters are there because they want to be there so i think that they should also decide if they should take the drugs or not. i also think that the nurses and goverment are taking advantage of the patience because they can easyly trick them and tell them to do something for their own experiments. i think its kinda funnny how you ere thinking you were in a boat and with that story you made a good point, drugs are supposed to help the pain and other medical conditions, they were not made to just give out to mental patience so that they would be calm or distracted with something else. for you last point i also think it is not good for them to have the same scheduel, and i think that actually makes them more crazy, i believe that people need to do different things each day to keep them from being bored and that they should include more normal things in there scheduel so that helps them adjust to the reall world and they can be mentally healed amd released to the world when ready.
ReplyDeleteSammie - interesting post. I liked your personal connections and your connection to the movie Shutter Island. However, did you mean to use McMurphy instead of Chief? Chief, is institutionalized against his will. It is McMurphy who chose to go there voluntarily.
ReplyDeleteSafia - what else besides agreeing on Shutter Island? What other movies or books does this compare to??
To all three of you - yes, medicating individuals against their will is wrong. However, you have to remember that this book was written in the 1960s and the human rights of patients were not the same. In addition, knowledge of drug effects was not known either (hence the reason for Kesey being in the drug trial). This is where historical criticism comes in - we have to move beyond being outraged because we are living 50 years after this was written. How do you feel about the use of drugs if you put yourself back in time??
I think that chief is not insane but suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. That’s part of why he has flashbacks. The fog could be a mix of medicines and a flashback from when there was fog when he was in the war. And because they did not understand what that was back then he cannot be properly treated, so instead of helping him they just keep him in the institution. I do agree that the way the doctors and nurses are trying to help the patients is going about it the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteI see what you’re saying about the schedule but sometimes having a consistent routine helps mental patients. I do agree they should be able to vote and agree on the activities that they do. Maybe having something once a week that’s different like going outside would be helpful. But the education even the doctors had were nowhere near what they are today. When my mother was a child people with special needs attended completely different schools then those without and some were put in institution because they did not have the same resources as we do today.
I love that u related this book to the movie shutter island. I completely see the connection. Being around insane or crazy people all the time and not being treated for your mental disorder properly can probably increase or worsen the condition. I think that whatever happens to Chief in this novel may be partly caused by McMurphy pulling him into his schemes.