The biggest symbol in this book would have to be the "fog machines". While reading this book you get to see the different routines and treatments that Ratched makes all the patients do. The fog could very easily represent the feelings and mindsets that Ratched causes the patients to have. The fog could also stand for the lack of having any kind of insight as well as an escape from reality and everything around oneself. Bromden, a patient in the mental institution would constantly start to slip away from the world around him, due to his medication or just out of fear, causing him to envision a think layer of fog enter the ward. He is convinced that the staff have hidden fog machines in all of the vents and the fog is controlled by the staff themselves. Bromden finds the fog to be a comforting and safe place where he can ignore reality.
Page 7
"They start the fog machine again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so think I might even be able to hide in it if they didn't have a hold on me."
"I can't see six inches in front of me through the fog and the only thing I can hear over the wail I'm making is the Big Nurse whoop and charge up the hall while she crashes patients outta her way with that wicker bag."
Page 8
"It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it [the fog]. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen."
The above quotes are talking about a time at the beginning of the book where Chief Bromden has a hallucination about the fog coming into the ward. It gives you a good feeling on how think and real the fog may seem to Bromden by him letting you know that he can't see very far in front of him or that he could hide within the fog. The last quote lets you know that he knows that some of his hallucinations aren't completely real.
No comments:
Post a Comment