The quote that Katie discussed on page 113 is very relevant when discussing how McMurphy comforts himself and those who he cares for. It says "He is safe as long as he can laugh, he thinks, and it works pretty fair." This quote draws me back to earlier in the book where Mac is sort of mocking the rules in the ward by stating how ridiculous the lock on the toothpaste sounds: "Locked in the cabinet, is it? Well well well, now why do you reckon they keep the toothpaste locked up? I mean, it ain't like it's dangerous, is it? You can't poison a man with it, can you? You couldn't brain some guy with the tube, could you? What reason you suppose they have for puttin' something as harmless as a little tube of toothpaste under lock and key?" (Kesey 90)
It seems as though as long as Mac can find a reason to laugh at something, he is in control of it. He has the power to find something like locking toothpaste up ridiculous, and no one can argue with him. Being the sanest patient on the ward and being able to laugh at the rules sends a message to the Big Nurse, telling her that Mac has flown under the radar; he has not conformed, his personality and sense of reality are still intact. Unlike the other patients, he can recall how things were in the outside world, and he is aware of how childish the grown men are being treated. The fact that the black boy must defend a rule as trivial as keeping toothpaste locked up until 6:45 is undoubtedly something a normal human would laugh at. I think it goes along with the power and control of the ward that him and Big Nurse are battling for.
In the end, I think McMurphy's laughter is important in his safety, because Big Nurse cannot make him stop laughing. This laughter separates Mac from the machines; he is human and since Ms. Ratched is a machine, she cannot laugh and feel the emotions Mac can. Because his laughter is engaging for the patients and makes him a more humane person, he can hold this against Big Nurse. He can ally with the patients, giving him some power over her.
1 comment:
I agree with this as well. I think also that McMurphy tries to extend this mentality to the other patients. On page 98, "All through breakfast McMurphy's talking and laughing a mile a minute. After this morning he thinks the Big Nurse is going to be a snap. He don't know he just caught her off guard and, if anything, made her stronger. He's being the clown, working at getting some of the guys to laugh. It bothers him that the best they can do is grin weakly and snigger sometimes. He prods at Billy Bibbit, sitting across the table from him.." McMurphy is fully aware of his strategy with the laughter and using it to convey the nurse powerless over his disposition. He knows that if he spreads this sort of mentality, it will prove this point even more. It is quite the task though, to make the other patients as light-hearted as he is, but he does not give up trying, as it is possibly his only hope.
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