Monday, November 16, 2009
McMurphy: Selfish or Selfless?
Up until he speaks to the lifeguard, McMurphy believes he can act both for his own benefit and for the benefit of the other men in the ward at the same time. His treatment of the Big Nurse both amuses him and helps him to get his way, as with his appeal for a separate room for the Acutes to play cards, and it also empowers the other men and gives them courage to come out of the "fog." Though McMurphy does much of it for himself, there are certain moments when it is neither to his detriment nor in his favor to help the other men and yet he goes slightly out of his way to do so, like when he comforts Mr. Harding after he has been attacked by the rest of the ward during a group session. Therefore before he speaks to the lifeguard, I do not believe he is completely selfish. However, at this point in the novel (after the lifeguard warns him of how long his term could last if he does not behave), McMurphy realizes that he must choose between helping himself and helping the other men -- he can no longer have both. Though as of now it seems he has decided to be selfish, I don't believe that he will be able to sit silently and watch the Big Nurse win for long.
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Evie, I think your interpretation is right on, and really summarizes exactly what I was thinking. McMurphy's behavior is his way of giving the rest of the guys a little confidence by showing them that they don't have to be treated like losers and that they can and should stand up for themselves. I also agree that McMurphy starts to become selfish when he talks to the lifegaurd because he's afraid that he'll never leave the institution. Throughout the last reading McMurphy's been a little self-centered and "cagey." I was wondering, however, whether his confrontation with Miss Ratched at the end of Part II was in line with his unusual selfish behavior or displayed a return to form for McMurphy.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Evie's discussion of McMurphy's attitude and I think her identification of the point at which he turned from "selfless" to "selfish". Before this point, the men in the ward felt the support from McMurphy and knew that "he was around to back them up," (158) and then after the interaction with the lifeguard, McMurphy changes his attitude to caring about himself because he is deeply disturbed by the realization that he will most likely be committed for the rest of his life unless his attitude changes. His new attitude that is more selfish than selfless is reflected through efforts to not upset the Nurse but unfortunately, that new behavior has a direct effect on some other patients that is detrimental because they all of a sudden do not have his support and that troubles and worries them because they wonder who can stand up to the Combine if McMurphy has seemingly given up. As I discussed in my post, this turning point for McMurphy has an extremely negative impact on Cheswick as McMurphy's lack of support leads to an outbreak in group therapy and then a subsequent suicide and his final words before the act were directed towards McMurphy's actions in the group meeting that reflect this new selfish attitude. It will be interesting to see if McMurphy can hold out against rebelling against the Big Nurse and to see if his changing attitudes will have other drastic impacts on other characters.
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