In the book The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden in many ways represents the average teenager. This can be seen several times throughout the book especially when he is trying to figure out who he really is and also dealing with issues because of his age.
During one scene in the beginning of the book Holden is walking around with a snowball in his hand and goes to board a bus and is forced to throw it out by an adult. ”The bus driver opened the doors and made me throw it out. I told him I wasn’t going to chuck it at anybody, but he wouldn’t believe me. People never believe you. (Salinger 37) This may sound like a small scene, but it shows how Holden feels about being required to do things because of his age. It also shows that he feels that no one ever thinks he is telling the truth, which is something that many teenagers have to deal with because of their age.
Also like many teenagers, Holden feels that most adults don’t take him seriously. During one scene he is in a taxi and he begins to ask the cab driver if he knows where the ducks go during the winter. Instead of actually thinking about it the driver says, “How the hell should I know a stupid thing like that?” (82) Then the driver begins to insist that the ducks are the same as the fish and simply stay there and that all of Holden’s thoughts about it are wrong. This is the same way a lot of adults assume that just because teenagers are younger that they are less intelligent, or don’t understand things even though that is untrue.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Why Kesey Didn't Like The Film
I believe that the reason why Ken Kesey didn’t like the film based off of his novel, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is because of some choices that the film director made for the film.
One reason why I believe that Ken Kesey wouldn’t have liked the film is because the entire movie concentrated on the character of MacMurphy. Because of this Chief is not the films main focus, even though he was a very important part of the book. In the film MacMurphy did continue to show the men that they could rebel against the strict confines that Mrs. Ratched had them under; always saying things to provoke them like, “Which one of you nuts has got any guts?” (Foreman) but the film missed out on the perspective of the main character, Chief.
In Kesey’s book, everything is seen through the eyes of Chief. But in the film it is seen from third person point of view. Because of this the film misses out on some of the most important parts of the book, including the extended metaphor of fog and machines that Kesey uses throughout the book. For example, in one scene Chief doesn’t take his medicine and wakes up in the middle of the night hallucinating. “...But there’s no blood or innards falling out like I was looking to see- just a shower of rust and ashes, and now and again a piece or wire or glass.” (Kesey 81). Personally I believe that the entire purpose of the book was to show you inside of Chief’s mind, including the way he thinks and how he sees things that happen around him.
When the film was made the directors “offered Kesey $10,000 to do the screenplay. Kesey wrote it—as he had the book—from the viewpoint of the schizophrenic Indian chief Bromden. The moviemakers wanted to tell the story, however, through another inmate, Randle McMurphy. Kesey returned to the typewriter but says he was not paid for subsequent rewrites.” (Riley)
Outside Source: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20066279,00.html
One reason why I believe that Ken Kesey wouldn’t have liked the film is because the entire movie concentrated on the character of MacMurphy. Because of this Chief is not the films main focus, even though he was a very important part of the book. In the film MacMurphy did continue to show the men that they could rebel against the strict confines that Mrs. Ratched had them under; always saying things to provoke them like, “Which one of you nuts has got any guts?” (Foreman) but the film missed out on the perspective of the main character, Chief.
In Kesey’s book, everything is seen through the eyes of Chief. But in the film it is seen from third person point of view. Because of this the film misses out on some of the most important parts of the book, including the extended metaphor of fog and machines that Kesey uses throughout the book. For example, in one scene Chief doesn’t take his medicine and wakes up in the middle of the night hallucinating. “...But there’s no blood or innards falling out like I was looking to see- just a shower of rust and ashes, and now and again a piece or wire or glass.” (Kesey 81). Personally I believe that the entire purpose of the book was to show you inside of Chief’s mind, including the way he thinks and how he sees things that happen around him.
When the film was made the directors “offered Kesey $10,000 to do the screenplay. Kesey wrote it—as he had the book—from the viewpoint of the schizophrenic Indian chief Bromden. The moviemakers wanted to tell the story, however, through another inmate, Randle McMurphy. Kesey returned to the typewriter but says he was not paid for subsequent rewrites.” (Riley)
Outside Source: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20066279,00.html
Monday, October 10, 2011
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Battles
In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, there are several conflicts, but the main one is between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy.
Nurse Ratched is in charge of the mental hospital and makes it her business to know everything that is going on around the ward so that she can stay in control of it all. She has the upper hand in this battle because she has power over the patents of the ward. She gains this power through things such as the therapy meeting where she purposefully draws out the faults in the patents around her to show her domination over them. During one scene she manipulates the other patents into harassing Harding. The narrator, Chief Bromden, describes it as, “For forty-five minutes they had been chopping a man to pieces, almost as if they enjoyed it, shooting questions at him…questions and insinuations till now they feel bad about it and they don’t want to be made more uncomfortable by being near him.”(Kesey 54).
Nurse Ratched also has the ability to send the patents to the disturbed ward. This is a disadvantage to McMurphy because he has to try to bring her down without displaying any behavior that she could use against him; such as cursing, fighting with the other patents or making a big deal out of anything. Because of this he has to be very careful with the way he acts around her and has to try to unnerve and pester her without showing any questionable behavior. During one scene he and the other patents manage to completely aggravate and upset her. To protest being un-allowed to watch the Super-bowl, they purposely leave their work and sit in front of the blank TV screen. “And we’re all sitting there lined up in front of the blanked-out TV set, watching the gray screen just like we could see the baseball game clear as day, and she’s ranting and screaming behind us.” (Kesey 128). This drives Nurse Ratched crazy because she hates not being in control, but as Chief Bromden comments, “She’s lost this battle here today, but it’s a minor battle in a big war that she’s been winning and that she’ll go on winning.” (Kesey 101).
Nurse Ratched is in charge of the mental hospital and makes it her business to know everything that is going on around the ward so that she can stay in control of it all. She has the upper hand in this battle because she has power over the patents of the ward. She gains this power through things such as the therapy meeting where she purposefully draws out the faults in the patents around her to show her domination over them. During one scene she manipulates the other patents into harassing Harding. The narrator, Chief Bromden, describes it as, “For forty-five minutes they had been chopping a man to pieces, almost as if they enjoyed it, shooting questions at him…questions and insinuations till now they feel bad about it and they don’t want to be made more uncomfortable by being near him.”(Kesey 54).
Nurse Ratched also has the ability to send the patents to the disturbed ward. This is a disadvantage to McMurphy because he has to try to bring her down without displaying any behavior that she could use against him; such as cursing, fighting with the other patents or making a big deal out of anything. Because of this he has to be very careful with the way he acts around her and has to try to unnerve and pester her without showing any questionable behavior. During one scene he and the other patents manage to completely aggravate and upset her. To protest being un-allowed to watch the Super-bowl, they purposely leave their work and sit in front of the blank TV screen. “And we’re all sitting there lined up in front of the blanked-out TV set, watching the gray screen just like we could see the baseball game clear as day, and she’s ranting and screaming behind us.” (Kesey 128). This drives Nurse Ratched crazy because she hates not being in control, but as Chief Bromden comments, “She’s lost this battle here today, but it’s a minor battle in a big war that she’s been winning and that she’ll go on winning.” (Kesey 101).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)