Blog #1
Nurse
Ratched is portrayed as the authority of the ward, she keeps her patients and
her staff in order using fear. The staff
members are in fear of losing their job if they stand up to her, and the
patients are in fear of being sent to the shock shop if they act out against her. The theme of societal control applies to this
book, because Nurse Ratched controls everything on her ward and her opposite,
McMurphy, is trying to fight against her control and manipulate the other
patients to do so as well.
The movie
the Matrix could be compared to the theme of societal control, because what
people think the real world is, is just a computer program. In reality the world is controlled by
machines and people are tricked by their senses, when really everything they
see is not real, but images of a fake world fed into their brain through the
machines. The men in the suits also try
to stop anyone who threatens to expose the fake world to society. Neo chooses to live in the real world and
helps to fight against the men in the suits.
In comparison the machines that control what the humans think, see,
taste, touch, feel, and hear are like Nurse Ratched who controls
everything on the ward. The men in suits
are like the other staff members, they basically do the work to keep everyone
in line for the bigger authority.
McMurphy would be Neo, because Neo is going against the authority to
have his own freedom in the real world, rather than the manipulated one, and
McMurphy also wants his own freedom, and not to be fit into Nurse Ratched’s
idea of a perfect patient that follows all the rules and does exactly what is
expected of them.
In a
comparison of this novel to the world, it is a lot like the government, where
there are laws to follow and they have much control over the citizens and what
happens to their society. The
government, or president or premier would be Nurse Ratched, who controls
everything and tells the people that work under her what to do. She also does things that the patients may
not like, such as forcing them to take their pills, or if they refuse injecting
them with it. Which is like the
government and collecting taxes, the people may not like it and if they refuse
they get a bigger fine. The other staff
members are like police officers, if someone in the ward does something they
are not supposed to there are consequences, as well as with citizens that are
charged, or arrested for doing something illegal. People that oppose or protest the governments
decisions are similar to McMurphy and his refusal to Nurse Ratched’s authority.
