One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Journal 3

            In the third part of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy learns what being committed actually entails. He finds out that the Nurse can keep him in the ward for as long as she wants. After talking to the hospital’s lifeguard, who has been there for over eight years, McMurphy decides to clean up his act, so the Nurse will let him leave. McMurphy then learns that most of the other Acutes are not actually committed and could leave whenever they wanted. This surprised me just as much as it did McMurphy. I had assumed that the patients could not escape the ward but wanted to do so, but in fact, exactly the opposite was true. My reading changed at this point in the story. This is a plot twist that I did not expect in the slightest. It really made me look at the characters differently, especially their motivations. I believe that the Acutes do not want to leave the hospital because they have gotten used to life in the ward and are afraid of the outside world. We see this later when McMurphy convinces Bromden, the doctor, and eight of the other patients to go deep-sea fishing. The patients are extremely uncomfortable for a while around other people until they discover that others are actually afraid of them. “Never before did I realize that mental illness could have the aspect of power, power. Think of it: perhaps the more insane a man is, the more powerful he could become.” The characters realize that their illnesses can instill fear into normal people and can be used to control them. I usually think of psychological afflictions as a severe weakness, so it is interesting that it can be seen as a positive as well. I look forward to finishing this book.