Commentary on OFOCN_p.169-172 [Without conclusion]

The book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey, talks about the story of two men who were committed to living in a mental hospital under condition of extreme control and oppression. The passage that is being analyzed talks about the moment at which one of the main characters, McMurphy, finally decides to react against the Big Nurse after a long period of obedience and resignation. With the discovery that it was the Big Nurse who controlled how much time he would spend in the ward together with the fact that most of the patients in the hospital were not committed, McMurphy felt betrayed and saw all of his plans being destroyed. Consequently, the man entered in a state of complete acceptance of the nurse’s actions, which gave impressions that everything was over and that the nurse had finally gained control over him. The fragment shows the exact moment where McMurphy comes back to his old character and reacts against the nurse and all of her plans. After this happening in the story, McMurphy begins to care much more about the situation of the other patients, who start to see him as a martyr. From this point, it becomes really clear that McMurphy has permanently taken control of the ward and of the Big Nurse.

The key themes that are expressed in this passage are Gambling, Power and Manipulation and Be a man. In addition, there is the use of many motifs and symbols such as Big and small, Machinery, the Glass window, and the Black Boys. To demonstrate and explain how the themes and motifs are developed in the passage, we will study the use of imagery created by the narrator, and the language used by the nurse.

Throughout the entire passage, it is possible to observe a clear predominance of the theme ‘Gambling’. This theme refers not only to the basic idea of gambling just for the sake of it, but it also to the way McMurphy behaves and thinks. In the segment, proofs of the existence and importance of the theme are given by the Chief’s descriptions and thoughts about the situations. “His eyes were blue stripped under those white eye-brown, and they shot back and forth just the way he watched cards turning up around a poker table”. This quotation was made by Chief Broomden as he portrayed how McMurphy was acting during the meeting. By simply observing the imagery and comparison that was used to describe McMurphy, it is already possible to perceive a strong relationship between the man’s actions and the idea of Gambling. Furthermore, the fact that McMurphy was calculating and reflecting about what he was going to do shows us how he always conducted himself as if he was in a poker game. McMurphy was thinking about his strengths and weaknesses, and in how the nurse was taking control over him and everyone else. In addition, he was trying to understand what the nurse had in her mind so that he could still use his ace and play his game. “I eased up…beginning to think I’d been wrong [that McMurphy would react]”. As it is expressed by the Chief, everyone was starting to lose confidence on McMurphy. Nevertheless, as it is done in a poker game, after giving hope to the opponents that they can still win the game, a good player comes back with a major strike that ends up with the hopes of their enemies.

Tied to the idea of enemies and games (battles) for power, there is also the theme Power and Manipulation. In the passage, as well as in the rest of the book, there is a constant battle for power and control over the ward. On one side, there is the Big Nurse and her methods of oppression and diminishment of the patients’ strengths, and on the other side, there is McMurphy with his ideals of freedom and individuality. Some examples of the battle for power can be: “It is entirely for your own good that we enforce discipline and order” and “This was supposed to be her final victory over him…here he comes as big as a house”. The first quotation was taken from the announcement that the nurse made to the patients at the end of the meeting. These words clearly expose how she tried to make the people around her feel guilty and sorry for their actions even if they did not do anything. This way of acting appears throughout the entire book and it is the main source of the Big Nurse’s control over ward. The second quotation is another description made by the chief as McMurphy approached the glass window. By analyzing the Chief’s words, we can see the existence of a battle for power between the nurse and McMurphy. With the fact that the nurse was expecting to have ‘her final victory’ and with McMurphy’s reaction, the readers are able to recognize all of the tension that existed between the two characters. Moreover, with the power that McMurphy gained after this moment, we can observe how decisive these battles were to define who would end up ‘taking control’ of the ward. In this quotation, there is also the use of a major reoccurring symbol in the book, which is related to being Big or Little and that figuratively shows the power of the characters over their opponents.

Outline for OFOCN - pg 169 - 172

Intro

· Intro

The book One flew over the cuckoo’s nest, written by Ken Kesey in 1962, talks about the story of mental hospital after the arrival of a rather different and revolutionary patient. In a deeper sense, the book refers to the situation of the US society in the 1960’s, and to how ideas of individualism and freedom were being suppressed by the ones that were in positions of greater power.

· What is the importance of the passage

In the passage, it is possible to see many themes and symbols that are extremely relevant to the rest of the book. The most apparent themes from the passage are Gambling, Power Manipulation, and Be a man. All of those are strongly intertwined with each other and to certain motifs such as “Big and Small”, ”Machinery”, the glass window and the black boys.

· How is it going to be shown (Examples)

To demonstrate how the themes and motifs are exposed, we are going to use a series of quotations from the passage together with some other important ideas that are presented throughout the book.

Context

· Where in story

The fragment that is being analyzed happens right after McMurphy discovers that it is the nurse who controls how much time he will spend in the ward. With this discovery, McMurphy has his first shock, followed by a sudden change in the way he acted and behaved. McMurphy changes the way he thinks of everything in the hospital, and stops going against the nurse and trying to make the others stronger as he previously did. The passage shows the moment at which McMurphy comes back to his normal behavior. With his reaction, the nurse is left with no words, and all of the other patients start to see him as a martyr – the person who gave up on is own self-interests to help the others.

Pragraph 1 – Gambling

· Intro

The entire passage is strongly connected with the theme of Gambling. The theme appears mainly in McMurphy’s actions, which are described and implemented by the narrator, Chief Broomden. The idea of gambling is associated to the characteristics of McMurphy, who is a Risk-taker and that knows how to play with people to get anything he wants

· Examples

“His eyes were blue striped under those white eye-browns, and they shot back and forth just the way he watched cards turning up around a poker table”

“I eased up…beginning to think I’d been wrong”

· Explanation

The first quotation demonstrates how McMurphy was calculating his actions since the beginning, and it gives a clue to the whole idea of gambling playing with people.

The second quotation shows how McMurphy could even make the Chief think that nothing was going to happen. After pretending he had lost to the big nurse, he unexpectedly reacted and gained control of the whole situation again.

Paragraph 2 – Power Manipulation

· Intro

The idea of control is also extremely important to the passage. It appears in the way the nurse tries to control the patients (weaknesses), and in the battle that occurred between McMurphy and her.

· Examples

“It is entirely for your own good that we enforce discipline and order’

“This was supposed to be her final victory over him…here he comes and he is as big as a house”

· Explanation

The nurse gained power by making the people think that they needed help and that they were nothing without her. She tried to expose the patient’s weaknesses and to make them think that all of their problems were their own fault.

Secondly, the ‘battle’ shows the struggle for power that was occurring between the nurse and McMurphy.

Paragraph 3 – Be a man

· Intro

The principal strategy that the nurse uses to make the patients weaker is by attacking their masculinity.

· Examples

“We have decided that there would be a certain justice in taking away the privilege of the tub room that you men have been using for your card games during the day”

· Explanation

Smoking, Playing cards and freedom are all symbols of masculinity that are discussed in the story. By prohibiting the Acutes of using the tub room for their card games, the nurse was once more trying to ‘cut the men’s balls’ as a way to make them weaker.

Similarly to the rest of the story, McMurphy was trying to help the men and to stop the nurse of following her plans.

Commentaries on videos about Global Climate Destabilization

Links to Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqEYLvPt0lA&feature=PlayList&p=92EE5DBE2987982F&index=14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29v4FZvhvcc&feature=PlayList&p=92EE5DBE2987982F&index=15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUrNBr6KdRI&feature=PlayList&p=92EE5DBE2987982F&index=16

Commentary on “Mechanics of the Global Climate Change - Part 1”

The main purpose of the video is to explain how the global warming works and how it results on the global climate change. The narrator of the movie starts by explaining how the greenhouse effect works. The greenhouse effect is a natural process in which some of the radiation from the sun is trapped within the earth due to the presence of some gases in the atmosphere. This phenomenon has always happened and it is the responsible for the relatively mild temperatures that are necessary for life. The main gases that generate the greenhouse effect are CO₂, H₂O and C₂H₄. These gases are not bad for us, however, increases in their proportion in the atmosphere may generate more radiation to be trapped within the Earth. Consequently, as more greenhouse gases are released, the warmer the world gets. This raise in temperature is what is called Global Warming, and this is what is causing the Global Climate Destabilization.

As we could see, the greenhouse gases are pretty common substances that do not make any direct harm for us. All of them make up a tiny part of our atmosphere’s composition, which is 99,9% Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon. The biggest problem involving the greenhouse gases is related to the fact that, over the last years, we have produced colossal amounts of carbon dioxide without thinking about the disequilibrium that it would cause. In the video, the teacher tells us the fact that 15 years ago, textbooks said that the atmosphere was made up of 0.03% of carbon dioxide, and nowadays, the same books affirm that such number has changed to 0.04%. After that, we see how the carbon cycle works in nature and how we are reversing this process in an incredibly fast rate. This explanation is just started in this part, and it continues in the next.

In the video, the narrator uses a series of rhetorical devices to pass his ideas. The most evident ‘strategy’ that appears throughout the entire video is related to the tentative of looking cool. The teacher uses specific diction and symbols to try to give a feeling of informality to his audience. Some examples of these may be the excessive use of words such as ‘cool’ or ‘trick’ when talking about serious scientific theories, or the hat that he was wearing. In all of those cases, the narrator is trying to impede the people from thinking that the video is the same as a science class. He tries to entertain the viewers and avoid that thought of boredom that would have happened if he only used technical language and was wearing a suit. Another relevant purpose for which rhetoric is used is associated to the persuasion of the audience. There is a constant employment of facts, personal stories, repetition and symbols as ways to emphasize or increase the importance of what is said in the video. The information related to the change in the carbon percentage in the atmosphere or the shirt with the phrase “Trust me…I am a Physics teacher” are all illustrations of such employment. They act as means to make the people believe more in what is said. After we see some background information, or simply the fact that he is a teacher, we start to pay much more attention to the information and ideas that are given by the teacher.

Commentary on “Mechanics of the Global Climate Change - Part 2”

In this section, the narrator talks about the cycle of carbon and how we have destroyed the equilibrium in regards to the production and extraction of carbon from the Earth. The teacher begins by explaining the cycle of carbon: in the process of photosynthesis, the plants and planktons absorb the carbon from the atmosphere and store it within their bodies. When these plants die, the carbon ends up going to the soil and becomes petroleum or coal. After all, we extract those and use them as fuel for our machines, which release the CO₂ back to the atmosphere. This whole cycle may seem incredibly balanced, but the problem is that the rates at which every process happens are extremely different. It took 300000 years for the Carbon to be buried into the earth, and we have released almost all of it in 200 years. This is pretty much the same as saying that we have released the equivalent of 300000 years of carbon in only 200, which clearly exposes the disequilibrium that happens.

Another approach that is used by the presenter to demonstrate this problem is by showing the actual rates of absorption and emissions of carbon in a year. Every year, we produce 7 Giga-tons of Carbon that goes to the atmosphere. 3 Giga tons end up absorbed by the sea or by the plants and 2 go to an unknown ‘sink’. Consequently, every year we are releasing 3 extra Giga-tons of carbon to the atmosphere. Even though this value may sound relatively small to the size of our planet, we must remember that we have done it for two hundred years, and that this is actually getting worse as the time passes. In addition, we do not know when the sea and the ‘mysterious sink’ will stop working, which puts us in an even more tragic situation.

In this part of the video, the narrator continues to use the same rhetoric devices as in the first part. There still is the use of facts and personal stories, and we can unmistakably notice the tentative to look cool. The only apparent difference that comes about in this video is related to the use of NASA’s image. The author uses the name of NASA many times and makes sure that the audience understands that the information he is showing came from this organization. The point of such action is to try to create an allusion to the importance and credibility of NASA. With that, the presenter hopes to make the audience associate the image of organization to the video, which results in much more trustfulness and attention to what is being said.

Commentary on “Mechanics of the Global Climate Change - Part 3”

In the last part of the series, the teacher demonstrates our influence over the climate destabilization and finishes by reviewing his points and answering some questions that are usually made by the skeptics. The presenter starts by showing two graphs of the parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere. The first graph shows the last 160000 years, the second shows the last 50 years. By observing the graphs, it becomes very clear how influential the humans have been to the environment. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the levels of carbon have been as they never were before, and as the time passes, this gets worse and worse. After that, there is a review about everything that was said in the previous parts, and the narrator talks about some of the reactions that the skeptics might have. At the end, we see that there is concrete evidence that the Global Climate Destabilization is not something natural, and that we really need some solutions to this problem before it is too late.

Once more, the rhetorical devices that are used are pretty similar to the ones that appear in the other videos. This time, there is the appeal to the audience’s emotions and the teacher tries to create some fear and apprehension amongst the viewers. He says that our situation is worsening and that huge problems may take place in the future, which makes everyone a bit nervous. In addition, similarly to what is done with NASA, there are many comparisons and allusions to AlGore and to the ignorance and simplicity of the skeptics’ ideas. Another form of rhetoric that appears in all of the parts and that was not mentioned yet is related to the use of repetition. In all of the videos, it is possible to perceive that the presenter mentions the points that he is trying to prove even when he is talking about the other sides of the arguments. The presenter is always coming back to his point and he keeps repeating them until the topics are over. This technique is extremely effective for persuasion and it work pretty well as a way to influence the viewers to follow the narrator’s ideas.