chief broaden

This essay is build up on the following statement: ”Often a protest is seen through the struggle of one person”. I will start of with the beginning of the studied text “One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest with the analysis of Chief Bromden. Secondly I will analyze the physical and mental behavior of the Chief through out the studied text. The same analytical structure will succeed for the Protagonist Sheila Birling in the studied text “An Inspector calls” by John Boynton Priestley.

At the beginning of the studied text, the Chief hallucinates the fog machine and Air Raids, which represent his mental instability. The mental issues occur when he is less stable and recede when he's more coherent. That is the first noticeable change by Bromden because of the receding hallucinations when McMurphy enters the ward. The next step towards Bromdens self realization is his awareness of the outside and watches the dog through the window. It shows he can conceive of existence outside of the institution, as he could not before. McMurphy is a catalyst for this change. The paranoia and hallucinations the Chief suffers from, which center on hidden machines in the hospital that physically and psychologically control the patients, can be read as metaphors for the dehumanization he has experienced in his life. We can observe a similar structure of behavior throughout a different text with a character similar to the Chief, namely Sheila Birling.

Sheila Birling is “a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited.” Sheila is a playful character in the opening. Later on Sheila is suspicious about Gerald who never came near her “last summer,” suggesting that Sheila isn’t as naive and shallow as she first appeared through out the text. She is angry with her parents for not seeing everything unfold the way she does when they pretend nothing much has happened that evening. Sheila is definitely impressionable and willing to accept new concepts and ideas. She is affected by the Inspector’s revelations about the Birling family and society. She and Eric are the only real cause for optimism in the play with a positive change in attitude and strength. Sheila is not cold blooded in the way that her parents are. She wants to get to the truth and is not as revengeful as Gerald says. Her parents never learn and reject what they discover because they are set in their ways and always remain the same. Like the inspector, she can see her family trying to hide the truth and Sheila is thus willing to accept her portion of responsibility for Eva and seems truly sorry.
Secondly I want to discuss why the Chief sees the combine as a humiliating threat to himself and other inmates. The Chief describes the Combine as a machine in which all parts are related because they depend on each other for the machine to run smoothly they must all be programmed in the same way. The Chief recognizes the potential of the Combine to mow down a man into what it wishes him to be. He even tells McMurphy about its existence and power. He warns McMurphy that the Combine cannot let a man as big and as powerful as McMurphy exists unless he is on society’s repressive side. The Chief knows that if McMurphy is opposed to the Combine, it will try to cut him down to size.

Furthermore, I want to discuss the struggle and changes of the characteristics of Sheila Birling through out the text. Sheila is very caring throughout the play she demonstrates this clearly by the way she speaks and acts to fellow colleagues and people she doesn’t even know “destroying herself so horribly and I’ve been so happy tonight. Oh I wish you hadn’t told me. What was she like? Quite young?” those quotes shows that Sheila is very warm hearted character. She once again shows interest for a girl she doesn’t even know. Sheila in a way is the opposite to her father, she does not care about the business and the money stolen due to Eric’s and Eva’s relationship. She only cares about understanding what Eva felt like and feels it for her. Due to the fact that Sheila shows remorse, the audience feels sympathetic as these sorts of situations are common in every day life. In my opinion, Sheila as well as Chief Bromden both play an enormous role as an optimistic person through out both texts. Sheila and Eric are the representatives of the younger generation. I personally think that young people should learn mainly how to accept that people are not just responsible for themselves, but others too.

Because of McMurphy, Chief finally has the courage to break free from the hospital through a window after breaking it the way McMurphy trained him to. Chief plays the role of eyes and ears in the novel, as well as the one who guides us into and out of this strange, mysterious, crazy world.