Chief In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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What are you willing to risk? As a boy, Philippe Petit dreamt of performing daring feats for dazzled crowds. On Aug 7, 1974 Petit attempts the seemingly impossible stunt. By walking on a wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center. This of course at the time became national news. Philippe Petit did not have any permission to do what he did. This made his stunt even more dangerous for not only himself, but for others around him. This event is an extreme example of what people are willing to do to get what they want. However, is it really that extreme compared to what others have done? How far are people willing to go to get what they want? What are they willing to risk for it? These are questions that are often put before people in real life, and in literature. In the book “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest” Ken Kesey wrote the book from the character chiefs perspective. Chief is a metal unstable patient, who in the beginning of the story is on a lot of medication. Chief on the other hand is not being himself. By not talking or responding to any nores around him, he made everyone believe he was deaf and mute. “….I know now there is no real help against her or her Combine. McMurphy can’t help any more …show more content…

He ends up dieing in the wilderness of Alaska, with the lack of proper food and equipment, due to his extreme chose of traveling from to place to place. His story is so shocking or interesting, (depending on what one’s opinion is on the story), that someone wrote a book about his story, and it became a national bestseller. “Then, in a gesture that would have done both Thoreau and Tolstoy proud, he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand--a pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties--and put a match to it. One hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender was promptly reduced to ash and smoke.” ( Jon Krakauer,