Cuckoo's Nest Seminar questions

Why did Chief smother McMurpy, did it benefit McMurphy? Throughout the entire book McMurphy rebels again Big Nurse. This eventually causes her to feel the need to lobotomize him, turning him into a vegetable. As a vegetable McMurphy is unable to do anything, the process basically turns him into a display for Big Nurse’s power. By defeating Mcmurphy Big Nurse is able to prove that she is “all powerful” and nothing can stand in her way. Chief smothering McMurphy allows McMurphy to not have to watch the treacherous control of Mrs. Racthed and be able to do nothing. Also, Chief is destroying Big Nurse’s display of “total control.” With McMurphy dead the patients do not have to see a constant reminder of someone beat down completely by Big Nurse. Therefore, yes, by killing McMurphy, Chief greatly helped Mcmurphy, who would have to watch what he once rebelled against and do nothing. Did Big Nurse really want to help any of the patients? No, she wants total control. She doesn’t care about the patient’s health or well-being. She wants to take control, like a communist. She holds the meetings to point out the patients weaknesses. For example, Harding’s problem with his wife and sexuality are brought up in one of the group sessions. In this sessions some of the other patients raze Harding about his problems. The fighting between patients allows Big Nurse to maintain control because few rebellious relationships can be formed and patient’s self-confidence is lost. Would a different narrator change our viewpoint on McMurphy or Big Nurse? Most definitely. Chief looks up to McMurphy for his rebellion and despises Big Nurse for her torture. If one of the black boys or nurses was the narrator, Big Nurse would have been viewed as a woman struggling to keep control over a villainous patient. McMurphy would have been viewed as the villain, instead of Big Nurse. Chief’s narration allows McMurphy to be viewed as heroic; any other narrator would not have given this feeling.