Maya Huggins

1.
So far in this novel, many characters have already proved to be key symbols and foreshadow conflict. Specifically, McMurphy and the Big Nurse seem to be butting heads in this first portion of the book. McMurphy's boisterous, hardheaded personality clashes with the nurse's short patience. McMurphy has seemed to place a bet on being able to crack the nurse by the end of his first week in the ward and is willing to put up a fight. Why is getting the nurse to break such a significant problem to him? Chief Bromden often refers to her as a "machine," and I wonder if McMurphy disrupts this machine, if havoc will break loose in the ward.

The system of this ward leaves each of these patients quite sensitive to a routine. With a troublemaker like McMurphy on the premise, this routine of injustice may be disrupted. Seeing as the Big Nurse serves as a symbol of power and control, her dictator like tendencies will definitely not apporove of the trouble that might arise. She's been so used to her control, I'm not sure how she would possibly handle circumstances not following her procedures.

2.
With McMurphy already stirring up trouble on his first day, I am starting to see him as a symbol of rebellion in the novel He seems to be trying to raise ideas of uprising among the patients, especially when he refers to them as "not any crazier than the average asshole on the street" (Kesey 65). By placing this idea in the patients' heads, they might start following in his reckless footsteps. McMurphy has the advantage of having a more healthy mentality, even though he has committed crimes, and I wonder if he'll use it towards justice for these men in the remainder of the novel instead of petty bets.

The way McMurphy doesn't treat the Chronics and Acutes any different upon his arrival at the ward, I think he will serve as the perfect hero for them. This is quite ironic, seeing as he's a criminal, but could he have finally found a setting where he can stand up for injustice using his bad habits for good use? Sometimes normal people prove to be the real monsters, and I believe McMurphy sees this in the ward workers.