One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Blog #2

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, McMurphy and the Big Nurse have established a rivalry. By the end of part 1 it seems that McMurphy is by far getting the best of it. McMurphy always remains unfazed by the Big Nurse and what she has to say and he even causes her to lose her temper during the scene with the game going on. Also, McMurphy seems to even be enjoying himself. He riles up Acutes and manipulates people to seem like they're against Big Nurse. Then, when the Big Nurse gets really aggravated and frustrated, McMurphy remains completely unbothered by her attempts to slash back at him. For example, when the Big Nurse turns off the tv, McMurphy just continues to pretend as if he's still watching it. He ignores Nurse Ratched's attempts to make him mad where as Nurse Ratched is very easily provoked.

Even though our narrator is a patient in a mental institution, I think he's reliable. The reason I say this is because everyone else thinks he's deaf and overlooks him. This gives us clear insight into how people behave and act in their most vulnerable state, when they let their guard down. For example, through the Chief's narration, we knew that Nurse Ratched was capable of loosing her temper and blowing up even before any of the other patients because nobody bothers hiding anything around the Chief. Also, our narrator is capable of interpreting and picking up on minute details of other characters. He describes the conditions of the other patients and even interprets the actions of McMurphy. This shows us that the Chief is pretty intelligent and capable of being a reliable narrator.