Was he crazy??
McMurphy checks into the mental hospital mainly to escape his sentence to work an a farm for six months. At first he seems just to act a little crazy so that when he is first evaluated they will say that he has a mental disorder and needs to stay and get treatment. However, as the novel progresses it seems to me that McMurphy may actually be crazy. He acts a little stange most of the time but that seems to be normal for him. Then he sneaks women and beer into the hospital, which is normal for a person held in captivity, but he falls asleep and loses his chance to escape. If he really wanted to leave he wouldn’t have fallen asleep, maybe he was realizing that he needed to stay and continue treatment. He also smashes his hand through the nurses station glass not once but twice. once i can understand because he wants to rebel against nurse Ratched but twice is just taking it too far and he seems to be a little mental disturbed when he does this. Then the final blow out is when he attacks nurse Ratched and tries to kill her. Mentally sane people do not try to kill unless they are defending them selves. I think that just by being in the mental institution McMurphy actually becomes insane. He cannot handle being defeated all the time by the nurse and the fact that she has complete control over him and the others. He is also around crazy people all day every day which could make any person go insane. Also he receives shock therapy and a labotomy which is not good for a person mentally or physically. He would not have encountered these things in the outside world and maybe if he was never in the mental hospital he wouldn’t have become crazy or maybe he would have. I do believe that he was almost normal when he was first admitted but the hospital and what happened in the ward made him turn into a crazy person.
I also agree with you that McMurphy seemed to get more crazy as he was in the ward and that it could have been from being surrounded with insane people. I feel as if the whole punching the window out in the Nurse’s station and also chocking Nurse Ratched shows he is going crazy and can no longer control his anger. But it is a good question of whether or not McMurphy would of still went crazy if he was never brought to the ward.
↓ Quote | Posted December 10, 2006, 9:13 pmI like the idea that McMurphy actually becomes insane. The fact that if he would have not came to the ward he would not have gone crazy, is one I agree/believe in.
↓ Quote | Posted December 11, 2006, 10:05 am