What is a combine?

In the book One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest the psych ward is referred to as a combine several times.  A combine is a machine that is used to harvest grain in the field.  As the combine chops and collects the grain, all the mentally ill are collected and admitted to this hospital.  I do think that McMurphy is just as vulnerable as the other patients because he is admitted to the ward, and that means that he is subjected to all of Nurse Ratched's all her strict rules, policies and abuses that happen on the ward.  The combine has not gotten to McMurphy totally yet, because  he still thinks out side the box.  It hasn't broken his free spirit, and he still dares to defy Nurse Ratched's policies, and wants to break her down.

No, I do not think that a school is similar to a combine.  This is because a school is not meant to break kids down, but to build them up and teach them to improve their knowledge.  Yes a school gathers children together and has certain rules, but they're not meant to harm.  A mental hospital, especially the one in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is similar to a combine because of the Nurse Ratched, and her goals as a leader.  She was trying to emasculate the men and make herself over power them, so that is why it could be considered a combine, but a school is not run with the same intentions, so I don't see any similarity.

School or Mental Hospital?

It's funny and slightly scary to think about, but there are a few similarties in the way that school and psych wards are run.  One similarity is they are both run on a strict schedule.  In the book One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest we learn that there are certain times a day that things happen and if the wards don't follow that then they could get in trouble.  This is also true with school.  We have a everyday schedule and if we don't show up to the right class at the right time then we too will suffer the consequences.
Another similarity is the fact that they both are run by a head leader, such as a principle or Big Nurse.  These leaders don't work alone though.  I mean it would be pretty difficult to try to run an entire school or psych ward all by yourself, so they have helpers, also know as vice- principles, teachers, and the black boys.  Big Nurse uses certain tactics to keep all the wards in line, and obidient.  Principles and administrators in the school do similarly.  We are told that if we do not obey or if we do something wrong we will be given a detention or we will have to attend saturday school both which are not enjoyable punishments so they are used as an ultimatum- basically saying that if you don't abide by the rules you will have to endure the consequences.  In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Big Nurse does similar things, but on top of that she emaculates the men so she will be the ultimate power, so they will obey.
A third way the two are similar is rebellion is in the air.  In schools there are always those disrespectful kids who feel like they don't have to listen to anybody, and who don't want to do what they are told.  And they don't even care about the consequences.  They also may do it for different reasons.  Some may find it funny to talk back and get a laugh out of the class, some may do it for the thrill of not getting caught, and some may just be raised disrespectful and not know any other way.  Comparably the psych wards face similar problems.  For example in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, McMurphy is very rebellious, but he does it because he finds it funny and he wants to stir things up a little bit.  Then there's Taber who questioned his medicine, which wasn't trying to upset anyone by doing he was just curious, but it was disobedient.  The Chief is also a little rebellious because he acts like he is deaf and blind which is dishonest and he also didn't tell anyone that he didn't take his pills.  There are a lot of similarities to the way a school and a psych ward are run.

The Difference Between Physical Illness and Mental Illness.

Mental and physical illness are not the same thing.  A mental illness is a disease of the mind.  It's psychological. A physical illness is something wrong with your physical body, such as an injury, disease, sickness.  A mental illness can be caused by many things.  One thing it can be caused by is heredity.  A lot of times mental illnesses are passed down from generation to generation throughout the family.  Examples of this are stress, hyper active disorders, and abusive behavior.  Mental illness can also be caused by brain injuries or defects, infections, and substance abuse.  Physical illnesses are usually caused by bacteria or a disease.  But an interesting factor is that they can effect each other.  For example if some one is depressed, which is considered a mental illness, they may cause physical harm to themselves and become physically ill.  Or vise versa, say if someone is physically ill or sick they may become stressed or depressed.  So mental and physical illnesses are not the same thing at all by definition, but they do have an effect on each other.

top 10 movies.

My top 10 movies are:
Elf
What About Bob
The Hangover
PS I Love You
The Odd Couple
Grumpy Old Men
Grumpier Old Men
The Dark Knight
Groundhog Day
A Walk To Remember

The two genres of movies I like are comedies and chick flicks.  I am not able to sit through an entire movie unless it makes me laugh.  I really enjoy and appreciate movies that are clean and funny, but funny because of the way the role is played or because the writer knows how to be funny without having to tell a dirty joke.  And that's why my favorite movie is Elf.  I love this movie because it is hilarious! I laugh at the same things every time I watch it and it is still funny every time.  Will Ferrell is so good at making faces and the way he says his lines is hilarious. He just plays the part well.  Another one of my favorite actors is Bill Murray, I love him! Two of the best movies he is in are What About Bob and Groundhog Day.  I laugh so much and so hard when I watch What About Bob, Murray is just a great actor and plays his part so well.  My only exception to this is, The Hangover.  I do think that movie is a little inappropriate, but I do still really like it and find it very funny.  A lot of the movies that I watch, I watch with my dad.  He is a big movies person and also enjoys the comedies and three movies that he introduced me to were Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, and The Odd Couple 2 (I think the second one is funnier than the first one).  All three of those movies have Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in them, and these two guys together are hilarious.  Since I have 3 brothers and a dad, as a child I was forced to watch all Batman movies, and I actually like the most recent one, The Dark Knight, but that was mostly because I love Heath Ledger and thought he was amazing as the Joker.  I also do like some chick flicks.  I'm not really the type of person that likes really mushy love stories, but I do really P.S I Love You and A Walk To Remember.  I think they are really cute, but also funny which makes them bearable to watch.  I like to watch movies that I can relate to or movies that aren't so fake that its unrealistic.  And they have to be funny!

Three Themes of Death of a Salesman

In the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, there are three themes that occur throughout. One of the big themes of the book is the idea of the American Dream.  The American Dream is the idea of a "self made man" who succeeds in life and goes from poverty to being rich.  Willy believes that being "well- liked" and popular are the keys to success and he tries to instill these beliefs in his two sons, Happy and Biff.  At first the dream was Willy's, but he has gotten too old and didn't succeed, so now he wants that life for his sons, and wants to push them to get it.

Another theme in Death of a Salesman is the idea of abandonment.  This is shown through Willy's whole life.  When Willy was about 3 or 4 years old his dad left the family, so Willy never really go to know him.  When he left he also left the family with hardly any money.  Later on Willy's older brother, Ben leaves to go start a life in Alaska.  Those two losses in Willy's young life could very well be the reason for Willy's yearning for the American Dream.

A third theme shown in the play is deception.  Willy doesn't want to let down or look bad in front of his family, so he tries to make himself sound better then he really is.  He tells his sons that he makes more money than he really does, so he will sound more successful.  He doesn't want to appear as a failure to his sons, he wants it to look like he posses the American Dream.  He also lied to his wife, Linda about how much money he made so he didn't appear to have failed, even though Linda knew how much he was really making and what he was really doing.  He also was dishonest about the fact that he was cheating on Linda.  She just assumed he was working she didn't know what was going on.   Biff did find out about it, because he walked in on them.

Nicole

Flaws of the Salesman

In the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy tries to teach his boys some values.  I think what Willy is trying to teach his sons is that being "well liked" will lead to success and is most important.  On page 18  Willy says "Bigger than Uncle Charley! Because Charley is not- liked.  He's liked, he's not - well liked."  This is explaining that his business is going to be even bigger than his brothers because he is well liked and his brother is not.  He thinks that his children will do well in life not because of their success, but because they are popular. 

I think that these are probably not the best concepts for him to teach his sons because it is more important to develop the character within then to try to change yourself for what other people want you to be.  It may be true that well you are in school if you are popular, you get invited to more things and have more friends, but in the real world it takes more than being popular and well liked to get you anywhere.

These Inconsistencies tell us that Willy changes his opinion on things based on the circumstances of the situation.  Whichever answer will help him or benefit his argument in the situation is the one he uses, whether it contradicts something he has said in the past or not.  It also depends on the mood he is in. For example when he is talking about Biff and says he's a lazy bum he was mad and arguing that Biff needs to get a job and that he's too old to not be able to hold a job.  Then when he says Biff is a hard worker that was because Linda had told him that she thinks he was lost so Willy felt bad so he was saying that Biff has such "personal attractiveness" he shouldn't be getting "lost".  When he was talking about the Chevvy being a great car he was in a good mood then when he said it was a bad car it was because he was stressed because he owed money that he didn't have for it to be fixed so he was stressed and upset.

Linda reacts to him by just agreeing with him no matter what he says.  She doesn't try to argue she just agrees even if what he is saying is a contradiction to something he has said previously.  I think this is both helpful and harmful.  It is helpful in the short term because it saves Willy from arguing with her or over reacting.  This is harmful in the long term though because he is never confronted with his contradictions, so he just continues and doesn't work on correcting himself, but he may not even realize he is doing it.

Nicole