In this book, the time period influences the story greatly. It is set in the 1950's, where people never had a great perspective on topics they didn't know about. All they knew is what they saw from the media. The media made these institutions out to be the worst possible casanario for people. People in institutions were thought of as loony, loopy, crazy, and mental. They were thought of as people who were restrained 24/7 and were vicious. This gives us the perspective that we are reading a book about insane people hallucinating all the time.
One quote that shows us the time period affects the story directs is, "There’s something strange about a place where the men won’t let themselves loose and laugh, something strange about the way they all knuckle under to that smiling flour-faced old mother there with the too-red lipstick and the too-big boobs. And he thinks he’ll just wait a while to see what the story is in this new place before he makes any kind of play. That’s a good rule for a smart gambler: look the game over awhile before you draw yourself a hand." This quote was said by Bromden to prove that the mental institutions had a stereotype. They were treated differently. They automatically got thought of and looked at differently. It's the fact that they wouldn't treat them like normal people that actually drove them more insane.
Maya Huggins
ReplyDeleteI like the point you make about the patients being driven crazy because they aren't treated like normal people. It's understandable, however, that they aren't treated as normal human beings because they do suffer from mental illness. Some of the patients can't even function properly without assistance. The faculty crosses the line into abusive treatment when it comes to certain patient's personality flaws. Electric shock therapy, unidentified prescriptions, and no contact with the outside world are just a few of the unjust treatment methods in this ward. I believe the best way to handle those suffering mental illness would be to try to treat them with encouragement and offer them mind enhancing opportunities. This ward is only further damaging the patients' minds and destroying any hope of a healthy future.
I agree Maya. I feel the these patients do need special care. The care they need though is not what's going on in this ward. I feel though in this time during the 1950s they truly did not know what they were doing. In some sense we needed what was going on then to get to where we are now. It's awful that it had to happen but this of course is a part of history. I agree that they are damaging the patients instead of helping. It's sad to see they might of been able to be helped if they were living in this day and age.
ReplyDelete^ Rachael Stevick
ReplyDeleteMegan Stanford
ReplyDeleteI see what Rachel is saying about the history aspect of it and I think this can be applied to many things that have happened in the past. We just have to make sure that we learn from the mistakes made so that more people do not suffer from making the same mistake more than once.
I completely agree with Zach and Maya. During this time people who were considered "different" weren't as socially acceptable during these times so they were considered "freaks" and society tended to stray away from them.
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