Wednesday, October 29, 2008
McMurphy's Laughter
Here's a great example of McMurphy's laughter, and the impact it has on the patients in the ward: "Nobody can tell exactly why he laughs; there's nothing funny going on. But it's not the way that Public Relation laughs, it's free and loud and it comes out of his wide grinning mouth and spreads in rings bigger and bigger till it's lapping against the wall all over the ward. Not like that fat Public Relation laugh. This sounds real. I realize all of sudden it's the first laugh I've heard in years" (11).
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2 comments:
That is a great quote. It really shows the impact of McMurphy's presence on the ward and how he affects those around him. I think his laugh is genuine and the patients on the ward are starting to notice it more and more as the book goes on. It's almost as if his laugh is a source of fun, new, energy for the patients, it is very refreshing for them to hear such a real laugh. another quote I found on role of laughter in the ward is on the top of page 68. "Maybe not you, buddy, but the rest of us are scared to open up and laugh, You know, that's the first thing that got me about this place, that there wasnt anybody laughing. I havent heard a real laugh since I came through that door...Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing. A man go around lettin' a woman whup him down till he can't laugh anymore, and he loses one of the biggest edges he's got on his side.."
Another laughter quote is on page 17, "the Acutes look spooked and uneasy when he laughs, the way one ornery kid is raising too much hell with the teacher out of the room and they're all scared the teacher might pop back in and take it into her head to make them all stay after." This shows that laughter is not something that happens very often, and when it did happen, the patients thought they were going to get into trouble because of it. He is so human and lives on his humanistic instincts, which separates him from every other patient in the hospital- which also goes back and enforces Katie's point about how it's genuine. I think that it eventually becomes new energy, but initially it's a new awareness and an almost fear of what's going to happen because of this. Also, in my quote I think the teacher is similar to the nurse because she will be the one getting them into trouble or giving them golden stars at the end of the day.
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