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Illusion In Catch-22

308 Words2 Pages
In the world of Catch-22, the theme of illusions over reality and form over substance is illustrated throughout the novel. It is a major ideal in the people within the world of Catch-22. A key example of the value of form over substance is when the nurses focus on cleaning the man in white. “Nurse Ducket and Nurse Cramer kept him spick and-span. They brushed his bandages…. and scrubbed the plaster casts on his arms, legs, shoulders, chest and pelvis… (168) they focus on the appearance and the form of how spick and span the man in white looks rather than to focus on the substance of if the man actually resides inside the bandages. They focus on the illusion that there is a man rather than the reality on if the man is truly inside of the bandages
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361 Words | 2 Pages

The conflict between the two main character's Nurse Ratched and McMurphy serves as a bridge for the overarching theme of sexuality. Or to be more specific the battle of sexuality. In the book the two main characters represent both sides of the spectrum when it comes to sexuality concerning genders. Nurse Ratched represents feminism and McMurphy represents masculinity. With the two conflicting views of how the character’s believe the institution for the mentally ill should be run you can see more of the juxtaposition between the two.

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1028 Words | 5 Pages

This also explores the theme of isolation; MacCaig is isolated from the nurses due to his lack of acceptance. The following verse begins with a short, simple sentence: ”Ward 7”. This is used to show what the writer sees (the sign outside the ward), and the full stop is used to show that this is where the writer stops walking through the hospital, as he has reached his destination. Following this, imagery is used, “She lies/in a white cave of forgetfulness”, suggesting that the woman is isolated from her surroundings and unreachable to the writer, and is perhaps having trouble with her memory. A metaphor is then used to describe the woman’s movements, “A withered hand/trembles on its stalk”.

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1066 Words | 5 Pages

To begin, similar to how Aquinas asserts that spiritual truths in the Scriptures are related through the use of figurative language, Kesey’s work utilizes figurative language to enrich and more effectively express its thematic content. For instance, consider when McMurphy, who provides much wisdom to both his fellow patients and the reader, dramatically imparts to the men the virtues of selflessness and sacrifice. Late in the novel, McMurphy is provided with a difficult ultimatum—he may apologize to Nurse Ratched, but lose the esteem of the men and, consequently, all of the progress he has made in building up their self-esteem, or he may suffer electroconvulsive therapy until he is willing to come to heel. McMurphy, of course, chooses martyrdom for the sake of the men. The importance of selflessness and sacrifice is effectively communicated to the reader by McMurphy’s decision, but this lesson gains more import as a result of McMurphy being developed as a symbol for Christ.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

Kesey has created Nurse Ratched as a representation of how the ward works. Nurse Ratched works the ward like a combine, when something goes in; broken pieces become the end result. When Nurse Ratched loses her first battle with McMurphy, she ends up “hollering and squealing” about the “discipline and order” she has instilled throughout her years working in the ward (128). Here, Kesey presents how this small act of rebellion affects Ratched system she has perfected over the years. Even though she is screaming about discipline and order, the patients continue to ignore her pleas and sit in front of the television watching nothing.

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951 Words | 4 Pages

The author uses symbolism, figurative language and metaphors to convey the theme that one must be willing to sacrifice for the good of the whole.

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447 Words | 2 Pages

Nurse Ratched’s desire for control, in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, allows her to manipulate the entire hospital ward into believing her work is for the betterment of the patients. Significantly, Nurse Ratched appears doll-like: hair in a tight bun, a neatly pressed uniform, and “too-red” lipstick (48). Traditionally, dolls, like other toys, are made to occupy the unruly minds of young children. By comparing Nurse Ratched to a child’s toy, Kesey implies she is a mere distraction to the patients from their mental impairments.

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241 Words | 1 Pages

Orr is caught in a catch 22 because he is crazy and should not be allowed to fly, but according to those in power, one must ask to stop flying, and Orr would not do that because he is crazy. Yossarian, and all the other pilots, are caught in a catch 22 because, although they have completed the number of missions that is standard, their higher-ups give them orders to keep flying more missions even though that is against the general rule, but Yossarian still has to fly more missions because he needs to listen to his officer, but he escapes this because realizes this abuse of power and questions the system. Those in power in the novel choose to use catch 22 to justify whatever behavior they wish, including Colonel Cathcart because he keeps

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516 Words | 3 Pages

The article “When Our Eyes Deceive US” speaks about the wrong decisions that can lead to a wrongful conviction. This particular article decided to focus on cases of wrongful convictions of sexual assault. The first case mentioned was that of the wrongful conviction of Timothy Cole. His victim positively identified him three times (twice in police lineups and one in person at the trial), he was exonerated by DNA testing. To the utmost misfortune, the real rapist had been confessing to the crime for nine years.

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778 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the balance of power is challenged in the psychiatric ward. Out of the several leaders that appear in the novel, Nurse Ratched and McMurphy are the most prominent. During Nurse Ratched and McMurphy struggle for power, they share many of the same qualities. It is argued that: “McMurphy and Ratched are alike in intelligence, military service, distinctive (if opposite) clothing, and conventionally masculine qualities” (Evans). These small similarities; however, do not distract the characters from fighting for their individual beliefs.

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449 Words | 2 Pages

Doctors of the 19th century thought they were above everyone else because of their education and had a tendency to disregard the patient’s suggestions. Jacobus asserts in his work that “The hysteria that is femininity must be repressed in the interests of a masculinist psychoanalytic theory; the uncanny that is narrative must be repressed in order to sustain a realist view of fiction” (qtd. in E. Showalter 30). As the subject of male doctors’ authority, 35 years of feminist criticism had turned the interpretation of the story’s narrator into a victim of patriarchal control. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” John says, “you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know” (Gilman 236).

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1380 Words | 6 Pages

In the struggle between freedom and power, McMurphy’s sacrifice allows freedom to prevail. His leadership in a rising rebellion parallels many of the countercultures that arose during the 1960s. His rebellion fights against Nurse Ratched in the way that the countercultures fought against the government and society in the past to the present. The men in the asylum are unknowingly unhappy before the arrival of McMurphy. Through his antics, the men are saved from society in the form of Nurse Ratched’s regime.

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357 Words | 2 Pages

Showing how even the strong may have to be saved or work together sometimes. Thus simultaneously breaking and succumbing to the traditional gender roles, which further showing the reader how one person can entail a variety of stereotypical roles, supposedly for a single gender, at

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299 Words | 2 Pages

A hero as portrayed in Homer is, in many ways, fundamentally different from what we would call a “hero” today. Thousands of years of political, cultural, and religious developments have carried the notion of a hero into a place recalling, but not exactly resembling Homer’s conception. To understand these discrepancies, we must first understand what makes a hero in the Homeric sense of the word. The most obvious feature of these characters is their aristeia, their excellence.

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938 Words | 4 Pages

Women, in the rural context, are equally engaged in productive work, reproductive work and rest. They perform reproductive activities within the family boundaries and are unpaid and unaccounted for even by themselves. A major chunk of work is performed by them either with or without any support. All the household chores and child care activities are accounted for together. This makes it difficult to get an actual estimate of time spent on care of children only.

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1060 Words | 5 Pages

He employs kinesthetic and organic images in “swollen legs, moving with fear” (5). He is trying to depict the feelings of the Jews in the ghetto before the raid. They were always afraid of being captured. Their life was controlled by other people and this is one of the reasons why they now suffer from complex trauma. Furthermore, he uses an auditory image in “The shouts of the Raiders, enjoying the hunt” (8).

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