Who’s Crazy?

Ah, refreshing. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest feels like a cold glass of water on a hot summer day. What a great change of pace! Ken Kesey tells the story of Chief Bromden, a half Native American interned in a mental institute. The chief pretends to be deaf and therefore is able to tell a story from what feels like a third person omniscient narrator. The novel has only begun and I sense there is a great story filled with questions to come.

So far in the story not much has happened, and frankly no one should be interested in the actual story this book tells. Kesey didn’t write for us to learn why the chief is in the loony bin, no it’s written to argue a strong opinion on craziness. The story is set up in a ward to remind us to question lunacy itself. I feel this will be the main enduring theme, who really is crazy? Asides from the setting, the author uses strong symbolism like the mysterious fog to address this subject at matter. Although very short, the symbolisms are very effective. Let’s take the fog for example, what really is it? If taken literally we might say it was shaving cream or just regular bathing soap. It’s meaning is much harder to define, is it insanity itself? Would it take over a person like that? Perhaps stress? There is no answer, in classics there never are. The fact that you can give any meaning to a book means it’s really something. What makes One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest unique isn’t the ambiguity most novels, it’s the well-developed hyperbolic metaphors present in almost every page. “She is going tear black bastards limb from limb, she’s so furious. She’s swelling up, swells till her back splitting out the white uniform and she’s let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times.” (5)

What a great novel, the enduring theme, fun hyperboles, and strange first person narrative has me very intrigued into reading the rest.

“You seem to forget, Miss Flinn, that this is an institution for the insane.”

Shoes

The opening scene of Waiting for Godot is a close up on Estragon’s boots. Meaning these boots are very important and perhaps have a strong symbolism. For Beckett shoes mean the basis of things. They hold whatever person wears them. He’s right, shoes are our what holds us strong. There isn’t anything more comfortable than a pair of good running shoes. They make me feel like I could jump to the moon. Their meaning in the book is realistic. We are used to having shoes and without we can’t wall, jump or even stand properly.

“There’s a man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.” (4.)

The film illustrates what Beckett meant much better than the written play, it shows emotion. The faces of struggle made by Estragon shows us how much work he’s putting into getting his boots off. Personally I can relate to how Godot feels. Having you feet hot or hurting because a little rock is caught up in your shoe can be annoying. But your willing to put all your effort into fixing whatever is bothering your feet. You may try to ignore it but after a while it will drive anyone crazy. In Waiting for Godot the serve as an introduction to the whole performance. The characters will do whatever they can to fix what’s bothering them, much like a shoe. I’ve also felt the same way when I wan to find something I’ve lost or getting something I really want. The feeling that you’re missing something you really need will haunt anyone. When barefoot no one likes running on rocks, we will do anything to avoid this strange feeling like taking long steps or remaining still. These desperate actions is what Waiting for Godot is. Instead of taking long steps to avoid the rocks Vladimir and Estragon discuss hanging themselves. And by Waiting for Godot they choose to remain still and wait for the answers to come but they never do.

This play is famous for it’s ambiguity and although I’ve come to understand it, the ending continues to elude me. I feel that Beckett leaves too many unanswered questions leaving readers with nothing. There is now reason other than reason itself towards why he would write this. Therefore the question will always be: why?

Godot Isn’t Coming

 Waiting For Godot is play in which nothing seams to happen. The entire show is two characters waiting for a man called Godot. He never shows and the story ends how it began. The lack of plot, the strange dialogues, character memory loss, and the mirroring between acts creates the book’s allegory. The true meaning of life. This eccentric novel reminds me of Christopher Nolan’s Memento. In the film, Leonard Shelby, a man suffering from short-term memory lost, goes on to find who killed his wife and avenge her.

As most characters in the play, Leonard has great trouble remembering anything. And as the play’s characters he only remembers his goal, find who killed his wife and avenge her. The problem with these goals is they are unobtainable and the characters don’t realize this. Refusing to accept this they will never meet it. Most readers, including myself, don’t understand there is an ever-existent goal until halfway through. The beginning of both the film and performance pose real goals. We only realize that the characters are insane because of the repetition in their actions. Albert Einstein defined madness as “the repetition of one task while expecting a different result”. Consequently we only realize the characters are nuts because they constantly repeat the same task. This madness is simply a fake reality that they create to have a purpose. Beckett emphasizes this through Lucky, Pozzo’s slave. He is truly lucky for his purpose in life is already set, follow his master’s orders. He does not need to create one.

These two masterpieces have big differences in plot development but somehow lead to the same idea. Vladimir and Estragon wait for a man they don’t know exists while Leonard chases two murderers he’s already killed. This endless pursuit for a true meaning is what Beckett and Nolan are trying to get across. Everyone has a goal to chase be it a house on the beach, a promotion or simple date with a girl.  Humans live for their goals.