Symbolism in One flew over the cuckoos nest.

Throughout the first chapters we learned that chief broom was treated very unfairly. The big nurse forced him to sweep the floor and I thought it was very cruel. The symbolism I found in this book was when Broom talked about the "combine". When you first hear this word you think of a machine that harvests objects. In this story the combine is a figment of Broom's imagination. The combine is the hospital and it is harvesting the individuality of the mental patience. This is a very important part in this book because of how this is affecting the patience. During the book McMurphy comes to the hospital to get out of labor at the work farm. This symbolizes the change in this machine because McMurphy doesn’t act like everyone else, he acts like an individual. The patience start acting different too when he arrives they break from their own habbits and start into new ones. This book can bring on many diffent predictions. Fell free to post any that you have.

-Mason T Hartley

In the book The Things They Carried there is a lot of irony. One example of Irony is how Ted Lavender was shot while he was coming back from using the restroom on a mission. This is ironic because they were on a mission where they had to choose one person to go and investigate Vietnamese war tunnels, so while one person was in the tunnel and Ted Lavender was in a supposedly ‘safe’ area, he was the one that was killed. All the troops were expecting Lee Strunk (the man who was sent into the tunnel) to be the one to die, but no. The one person out of the entire group that was actually in ‘real danger’ was perfectly fine, while his fellow troop was murdered on his way back from the bathroom. No one expected this to happen. The very moment that Ted Lavender was shot, his fellow troops were laughing, making “ghost[ly] sound[s] and talking about how Lee made it out safely (O’Brien, 12). In this book, there is also some symbolism. One example of symbolism is Martha. Throughout the book, Lieutenant Cross fantasizes about a girl from back home who he is head over heels in love with. Even though Martha is specifically tied to Lieutenant Cross, she represents what every person at war has left behind. Whether it is a family, a pet or even just a favorite reading spot, they are all significant to the people at war.

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. United States of America: Broadway Books, 1990. Print.

The Things They Carried

So far in the book The Things They Carried there have been many forms of symbolism and even irony. I believe that Canada represents his perception of a better life. Right now, Tim does not believe in the war and does not want to be fighting in it. He believes that if he were to run away off to Canada he would be able to escape his fears and be able to live the life he wanted. The ironic part is, when O’Brien is given the chance to swim across the river and go to Canada, all he “could do was cry” (O’Brein 57). He feels like a coward and a failure for trying to skip out on his duties. By trying to decide whether or not to go to Canada, he was faced with the decision whether or not to “swim away from [his] hometown and [his] country and [his] life” (O’Brein 57). He is given the chance to escape his fear of going to war and dying for a cause he doesn’t believe in, but he doesn’t take this opportunity because he is afraid of what others back home will think of him. I also think that Martha is another subject that symbolizes each of the soldier’s lives back home. Even though Martha is specific to the Lieutenant’s heart and mind, she is able to represent the lives of each of the soldiers left back home. Even though she wasn’t much apart of his life before the war, “he still loved her” and she has always been apart of his heart and she is always on his mind (O’Brein 28).

O'Brein, Tim. The Things They Carried. United States of America: Broadway Books, 1990. Print

The Things They Carried

As I have been progressing in my read, The Things They Carried, I have noticed many forms of irony. One form of irony that I have noticed is when Ted Lavender came back from the restroom and was "zapped while zipping" instead of being killed in the tunnel like all of the soldiers expected (O'Brien 17). Another form of irony I encountered was when O'Brien is given the opportunity to skip out on his duties and go to Canada. He is on the little metal boat and he has the choice to swim away from everything that ever meant anything to him but all he "could do is cry" (O'Brien 57). I believe he starts to cry because he feels as if he were a coward not to serve his duty and die for a cause that he didn't believe in, but he was also afraid of what others, in his hometown, would think of him. The last form of irony I saw in this book so far, was in the chapter Friends. In order to see this irony you have to recognize the chapter previous to this one, Enemies. In the chapter Enemies Lee Struck and Dave Jensen get into a fist fight and are labeled enemies. But in the chapter Friends Lee Struck dies and Dave Jensen "went over and kneeled at Struck's side" and put all their differences aside (O'Brien 66). Jensen is relieved that Struck has died but at the same time he still seems to care about him. I'm not sure if Jensen is relieved because he doesn't have to kill Struck or if he is relieved because he doesn't have to deal with their relationship anymore, which I think is a love-hate relationship. Either way the titles explain the irony. One minuet they are enemies and the next they are friends. Apparently, during a huge war, the soldiers still have drama.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Broadway, New York: First Broadway Books, 1998. Print

Posted By: CHELSEA STRANG

The Things They carried

In "The Things They Carried" many of the men did not want to go to war and die for their country or for their choices that others had made for them in previous lives.The author wanted to explain what and how the war in Vietnam was going and how it was progressing in the war. I felt that the author Tim O'Brien wanted to share with his readers what he was going through before, during, and after the war. Tim O'Brien felt that it is hard to tell the truth during the war and what happens in it because it is hard to tell the unbelievable truth that lies with war.
Men thought that some of their captains and other officers were undeserving of their respect, "Then they salute the Fucker and walk away," when they know that something should be done and do not say anything(77-78). Men should respect their Superior officers and know how to act with them. I felt that the men would need to be team players in their unit in order to act like civilized men and work together with them. I wish that later on in the book the men would learn to respect their elders an learn how to work together. Many of them are friends but should become closer to each other.
By Ryan Barber

The THings They Carried

The book the The Things They Carried has, so far, been a great read. Tim O’Brien has done a great job with describing the characters and there personalities. You really get attached to them and feel emotional if any die. For instance, Ted Lavender, generally a good guy, maybe a bit loopy but still just a kid trying to cope with being in a war that he may or may not agree with. I felt quite sad when he was “Zapped while zipping”. (17) The book actually make me think about what I would do if I was in a similar situation as these young men, and that, in my opinion, makes this book great. You can relate to it, in a way, you can identify with all the fears and concerns that these boys have. The most emotional passage for me is where Elroy Berdahl takes the author to the border of the United States and Canada. There, on a small metal fishing boat on the Rainy River, the 18 year old author makes a choice that no boy should have to make, to go to war. So far this has been a great book filled with emotion and energy only Tim O’Brien could write with.
By: ALEX BREEN

Karissa's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

“When the fog clears to where I can see, I’m sitting in the day room.” (Kesey 14). Children have high imaginations; they see life in a different perspective. The eyes of a child see things different than an adult. They see the good in things, the innocent facts of life. Now if a mental patient were to be defined or described, they would most likely be described in a derogatory manner. However, they also are like children. So oblivious to the world around them, they are set with rules and people to watch over them. They can't be left on their own; they depend on another to help them survive. Sometimes mental patients can be worked with and taught how to take care of themselves, this is similar to childhood and growing up.

In the mental hospital "Big Nurse" would play the role of their mother because she is their caretaker. The patients are her children, and the staff would be the people who influence their life and upbringing to make them the people they become. Now in a "normal family" these children would eventually leave home and fly away from the nest creating new lives for themselves. However in the mental hospital, these patients aren't leaving anytime soon. The patients in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" aren't really getting the care they need. They are there for rehabilitation, yet they feel like they are prisoners, unaware of what it truly going on.

Their imagination sores and searches for explanation as to why they are there. They act in a child manner, this is apparent in "Group Therapy" when they all yell over each other (Kesey 49). They whine and complain just as little kids do and their attention span is generally hanging by a thread. Their patience is usually very thin and limited this is apparent by their actions, "Pete shook his arm loose, "I'm tired," he warned."(51). They are never told what medication they are taking or what is being done to them. So like children, they make up stories to fill the void of the unknown. Even though, in society they are considered "mental" they are so comparable to children. The people in mental hospitals should be treated like people, not cattle where they're separated into certain groups and herded into a specific area. These people have knowledge if someone would just allow them to use it. I believe that some of these people aren’t crazy. They just aren’t given the chance to prove it yet. An example of this is the Chief, he sees life differently, but doesn’t everyone? And for that matter he really hasn’t shown any signs of craziness. Just because he thought process is different.

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Books, 1962. Print.