One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest:

Information:

• The story is made up of series of skirmishes between McMurphy and Big Nurse.
• This novel written by Ken Kesey.
• The novel was written in 1959 but wasn't published until 1962.
• The novel was such a success that it was later adapted into a film, which won five Academy Awards.
• The novel later became known as a classic American novel.
• The novel was a direct product of Kesey's time working the graveyard shift as an orderly at a mental health facility in Menlo Park, California.

Ken Kesey:

• Ken Kesey, born in 1935, was raised on farms in Colorado and Oregon.
• In 1959, when he volunteered to be a subject in experiments with hallucinogenic drugs, he also began working the night shift in a mental ward. Parts of the novel were written there.
• Until his death in 2001, Kesey resided in Oregon.

Assignment

Identify and explain what you consider to be the most significant event in this section. Be sure to include why you consider this event to be the most significant in this section.

In chapter 14, Vahan had been so lonely staying in the closet all day that he walked out the streets where all the Turks walked around openly. He explains that he was afraid to be lonely. When he stepped outside, he said that it was the first time being outside a front door since eight days. When he was just walking outside, having no destinations in mind, he found piles of body lying in the ground. He went closer to it to examine it closely, and found that one of the bodies was of Sisak, his brother whom he had lost while running away from the soldiers.
Sisak had his eyes half closed, his skin dry and white as sand. He did not even look like Sisak; he looked like any other dead that were lying in the streets of Armenia. Sisak was half unconscientiously and was obviously dying. Then Vahan took Sisak to a house and gave him water, and hoped and prayed for him to live, but in vain. Sisak finally died, living Vahan alone and frightened in a place where no man of his race was safe.
I think that this is the most significant event in this section. Through the whole book, Vahan grows up from a small child to a mature adult. In this coming of the age story, I think the most important part was this. Vahan actually realized that his own family, his protector, his brother had died right in front of his eyes, which meant that he could die any moment as well. In this part of the story, I think Vahan finally realizes how vulnerable he was, and how unprotected he was. He has seen his own brother die right in front of him, and he could not do anything; he has realized that something is meant to happen and you cannot do anything to change it. I think that this is the most important part of this section because this is the time when Vahan touches maturity.

Assignment

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Identify and explain what you consider to be the most significant event in this section. Be sure to include why you consider this event to be the most significant in this section.

In chapter 14, Vahan had been so lonely staying in the closet all day that he walked out the streets where all the Turks walked around openly. He explains that he was afraid to be lonely. When he stepped outside, he said that it was the first time being outside a front door since eight days. When he was just walking outside, having no destinations in mind, he found piles of body lying in the ground. He went closer to it to examine it closely, and found that one of the bodies was of Sisak, his brother whom he had lost while running away from the soldiers.
Sisak had his eyes half closed, his skin dry and white as sand. He did not even look like Sisak; he looked like any other dead that were lying in the streets of Armenia. Sisak was half unconscientiously and was obviously dying. Then Vahan took Sisak to a house and gave him water, and hoped and prayed for him to live, but in vain. Sisak finally died, living Vahan alone and frightened in a place where no man of his race was safe.
I think that this is the most significant event in this section. Through the whole book, Vahan grows up from a small child to a mature adult. In this coming of the age story, I think the most important part was this. Vahan actually realized that his own family, his protector, his brother had died right in front of his eyes, which meant that he could die any moment as well. In this part of the story, I think Vahan finally realizes how vulnerable he was, and how unprotected he was. He has seen his own brother die right in front of him, and he could not do anything; he has realized that something is meant to happen and you cannot do anything to change it. I think that this is the most important part of this section because this is the time when Vahan touches maturity.

Forgotten Fire

My Perspective:

Vahan and his family were captured and taken to Goryan's Inn. There they stayed in a dark, damp room with no food or water, with about 10 soldiers garding. Adam Bagdasarian, the author of the book, describes that place like a small chamber which is almost always locked and only the soldiers have acess to walk in and out; he describes it almost like a jail chamber. And the people there are very desperate to get out. And then they finally do!

They are led to a walk. There were supposedly around 200 desperate Armenians, with no other desires but to get out of that place, and only around 20 soldiers who were giving them the tough time. All of them get out of the inn and walk away, with an unknown distination!

I remember myself reading that part, with anger and grudge twisted inside my belly. I was angry with those characters! And the thing that fascinated me was that nobady even tried to attack the soldiers! If it was me, and I knew I was going to die anyway, then I would have given my best chance. They were led by some crazy soldiers who did not care about anything. They were hungry for days and nights; they were thirsty. They were being led to an unknown place, and were not allowed to do almost anything but walk. Why wouldn't anyone try to fight the soldiers? Why wouldn't they try to protect their families? They had a 1:10 ratio advantage!

Assignment:

Think about the ways society asks that you 'behave.' In what ways do you feel torn between the expectations of others and your own? When faced with peer pressure to confirm, how do you react?

Society as Dictionary.com describes it, 'is a highly structured system of human organization for large-scale community living that normally furnishes protection, continuity, security, and a national identity for its members.'
Rather simply, society is where we live. This is why we consider our own selfish greed for the progress of the society as a whole. And as life is a game there are some rules to follow in order to win. And 'behaving' ourselves could possibly count as rule number 1.
There are many situation where I find myself getting pulled in two directions, my own desire and and the expectations of the society. It could be when I try to take minor decisions of my life, or when I try to take some very important decisions of my life. But there is always the expectation of the society that comes between the decision I make for myself. It could be some minor things like wanting to wear a certain type of dress, but that particular type of dress could be considered as a 'inappropriate' dress. Or it could be some very important decision that could change the rest of my life, like the carrier I want to choose for myself, but my parents not being happy with my decision. And besides, keeping up the expectation of the society is something that we deal with, in our everyday-life. It could the way we behave in our class. I could be the way we talk to our friends, it could be anything we do in the society!
Peer pressure could be considered as one the major problems in a teenager's life. He has to face the expectations of his society, his friends. He has to take the most difficult decisions of his life as that could change his entire life. Smoking, drinking, taking drugs are some major problems that a teenager faces these days. And as bad as it sounds, most of them are done due to peer pressure. I personally don't usually drift away in peer pressure. I think I have the ability to control myself, and my thoughts, before I take any decisions that could harm my life. This helps me make good decisions even while facing peer pressure.

My American Dream

America is the land of dreams. Immigrants traveled a long distance from their mother-country in a completely new land, just to accomplish their dream. Like in the book, 'Of Mice and Men', by John Steinbeck, George, Lennie, Candy, Curley's wife and many other lived their life with one hope and one desire; to live upto their American dreams. And its not only the people in 1900's that had American dreams. The American dreams have certainly changed over the years. What the first immigrants envisioned no longer holds true for modern day Americans. But the basic goals remains - love, happiness, success, freedom. People of all the ages living in America have dreams and will always have them. And happiness is the ultimate dream. America is the land of opportunity, where people expect their dreams to come true, but as bad as it sounds, only a few are successful to accomplish their dreams.
I too have an American dream. A dream that has pulled me far away from my mother country to America, the land of opportunity. A dream which sometimes gives me hope, and at the same time makes me depressed. I force myself to work hard in order to make my dream come true, and at the same time when I think how much more I have to do, makes me depressed. Among the million other dreams that people have, the one that I am going to talk about is a small little dream. My American Dream...
I have this little dream of living a peaceful, happy and successful life. As any other typical American dreams, it holds up a goal of, love, happiness, success, and freedom. I want to have a professional job and earn money just enough to make me happy. as they say, too much money destroys happiness. I would have a nice house for my family in nice and peaceful neighborhood. We would have a car, or probably two. I would try to save my money to buy a nice sports car, like a Lamborghini Gallardo. We would have a nice huge back-yard, with a couple of pets. What kinds of pets? Well that depends on the choice of our children. I would live an independent and peaceful life!
Although I would be enjoying my life in the U.S., I would never forget my mother-country. I would always respect my country and my family. In my retirement, I would probably visit Nepal (my mother country) and open some kind of a non-profit organization. It could be an organization established in the villages to improve the living standard of the people there. Or it could be a organization for charity. But whatever it would be, it would show my respect and gratitude to the country that has made me what I am right now, and what I would be in the future!!!

Interpreting Meanings

Crooks said, "I was born right here in California. My old man had a chicken ranch, 'bout ten acres. The whites kids come to play at our place, an' sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol' man didn't like that. But I know now." He now knows that he is different then others. He was born different, he is black. He now knows that he was not supposed to play with white kids. He was supposed to be home, helping his old man with works. He now knows that he was and is a born-slave.
Crooks says that everybody wants land but nobody gets it, they keep thinking about it, but never fulfil their dreams. This could be an execption for Lennie, George and Candy because, they have almost everything planned. They just have some little things to accomplish before they actually fulfill their American dream.
Curley's wife said that she didn't like Curley, but she still married her. It could be because she got interested in Curley's money and his wealth. She could have realized that after the boss of the Ranch died Curley could own the Ranch. Or it could also be her personal reason. She might have thought that she would be free if she married. She might have thought that if she left her house and got away, then she could be free from all the mandatory compulsions of her lady.
Crooks said, "Remember what I said about hoein' and doin' odd jobs? Well, jus' forget it, I didn't mean it." I don't think what he said is true. I think that he really ment it when he said it, but later as Culey's wife threated him about the something, he seemed to change his mind. It could be something that would crash down hes reputation even after he goes somewhere, so he might have decided to stay there and hold the secret as a secret as long as he can.