48. Name one book you have read in the past year, describe your reason for considering this book significant and what you gained from reading it. (Lewis and Clark College)
I don’t really find myself reading books often. The ones I do are usually recommended by family and friends, and most of the time I have a different opinion on them compared to what they told me. This one book, however, was one that I had to read for my English class. Well, I didn’t have to read it, but I wasn’t going to risk my grade for that ridiculous choice. This book is Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
I thought this classic was going to be horrible just by reading the first two pages as I did not understand the narrator’s mental instability, but all my uncertainties were cleared as I read on and was absorbed into the storyline. Through the novel Kesey depicts modern society and how humans are conforming themselves to fit into society. This harsh truth is depicted by the patients in the asylum and the Combine working on them. I would hate to think that I am being transformed into somebody I am not, but I have to face the fact that everybody else is too and that’s just the way it goes. As times goes on and society progresses with the technological advancements and all the other changes, we have to adapt to it and change from what we were.
By reading this novel I also learnt the meaning of friendship and how big of an impact people can make in our lives. Just because of one person, McMurphy, most of the patients in Nurse Ratched’s ward, grew the courage needed to go against her. The greatest impact McMurphy has is on Bromden, the narrator. Bromden starts off as a patient who is deaf and dumb and does not make use of his physical structure. However, by spending time with McMurphy, Bromden learns to openly speak up and regains the strength he once had.
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