Ofotcn - Laughter

Chris O’Connell OFOTCN Tues, March 17th, 2009

Simple Titles are the Best

Today’s world is riddled with complications and required devotion to our everyday which brings us to the conclusion that it is driving us insane. If this is the case that means that there is a very fine line between insanity and normality. What is it that makes someone in an asylum different than someone on the outside world? It’s laughter. Regardless of which insane asylum you visit, each and everyone will have a large lack of humor and everyday enjoyment. McMurphy, in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, notices this from the get go. Humor is what can take a life of insanity and instability, and replace it with a life of security, humor, and self assurance. Upon first arriving at the hospital, Chief recognizes the power of humor that is becoming part of the ward. It’s not simply a medication or another pill that is force fed to them by the nurses, but instead an actual cure for their mental instability. The patients need to be able to relate to things happening within the world that they live in. Laughter is one of the easiest ways to do this, as it is universal. “Nobody can tell exactly why he laughs; there's nothing funny going on. But it's not the way that Public Relation laughs, it's free and loud and it comes out of his wide grinning mouth and spreads in rings bigger and bigger till it's lapping against the walls all over the ward. Not like that fat Public Relation laugh. This sounds real. I realize all of a sudden it's the first laugh I've heard in

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Chris O’Connell OFOTCN Tues, March 17th, 2009 years (16)”. Real laughter shows that those in the ward are able to relate to

someone that is sane, such as McMurphy. The lack of this laughter in the ward leaves the patients to believe that they are different. Sure, they are. But, the fact that it isolates them from one of the most basic ideas of emotion, power, and freedom. McMurphy gives them all of these things by laughing at nearly everything thrown his way. It empowers him by taking the power that Nurse Ratched tries to gain by enforcing her dictatorial rules, and turning it into a joke at her suspense. The other patients see McMurphy’s courage not as an act of defiance, but as inspiration and awe. With their new found enjoyment and liveliness, the patients begin to follow McMurphy’s example that he sets. They act out and voice their own opinions realizing that, while they are still in the ward, they still have a voice. This upsets Nurse Ratched because it limits the influence she has over their decisions. Her power begins weakening at an exponential speed while McMurphy’s influence thickens. Chief, compared to the other patients within the ward, seems to be the most effected by McMurphy’s example. Chief is not exactly what you would call insane, as much as traumatized by past events in his life. He sees the world has a machine called the Combine. Everything within the world is just a ploy for you to be “gobbled up” by it. After seeing his father change from an indestructible force lead by turning serious matters into jokes to a Page | 2

Chris O’Connell OFOTCN Tues, March 17th, 2009

powerless man no stronger than an ant, Chief essentially gave up on living a normal life. The sense of life that laughter provides gives Chief and the other patients a realization that they are not dead. They are live people that can breath, think, speak, and are able to do what all live people can do: Live. When McMurphy realizes that he has been committed to the ward even though everyone knows he is sane, he simultaneously learns that most of the acutes with whom he has been socializing are actually there out of their own free will. From this point on, rather than spending his time in defiance of Nurse Ratched, McMurphy instead uses his gift of laughter to make the patients realize that they are no more insane than the person working a nineto-five job out walking the streets everyday. The only difference is that everyday people refuse to admit that they are not perfect. Chief is one such case. Throughout the book, he is coherent in his narration. While he appears to have a small case of schizophrenia, it is obvious that it is brought on by himself, rather than a mental handicap. It becomes clearer as the novel progresses and McMurphy’s influence infatuates Chief that he could open his eyes and realize the world for what it is, instead of the fairytale world with the combine he has created. Most crucially, Chief had talked to no one since the incident with his father other than McMurphy, further showing his effect on Chief specifically.

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Chris O’Connell OFOTCN Tues, March 17th, 2009

However, party was the ultimate act of defiance on McMurphy’s behalf. It was a night of humor, fun, and showing the patients what they can experience on the outside world. They ignored every rule set by Ratched just because they could. Just because they wanted to have fun the way in which they wanted to. However, like all good things, there is consequences to too much of a good thing. Everything was just one big joke, and the punch line failed. The highlight of it all, was Billy’s late night date with Candy. Highlight would be a light way of saying it. While it was the climax of the evening, it was also the low of everything McMurphy had accomplished at the ward. His neglect to ensure the outcome of the situation would end dearly. Nurse Ratched walked into the ward to find the remnants of the night and Billy missing. She decides to use her connections with Billy to force out of him what had happened the night prior. Billy, afraid of what is to come commits suicide. McMurphy, left with no way of finding any humor in the situation lunges at Nurse Ratched, ensuring his spot at a lobotomy. Yet, his legacy stayed within the ward. His laughter was left as a gift to the rest of the patients. Rumors of his escape and how he humiliated those taking care of him flowed freely between the patients. The patients were left with their sense of humor forever implanted into their minds. Nurse Ratched had much less power than she had when McMurphy had been sent into the ward. The patients were as close to normal Page | 4

Chris O’Connell OFOTCN Tues, March 17th, 2009

as they could possibly be. Their conditions seemed much less severe than before, and their relationships with each other improved. They truly are no different than anyone working a nine-to-five job. The only difference was that the patients were isolated from the real world. They needed a martyr like McMurphy to show them life outside of the ward’s walls.

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