And So It Ends

Well, now the novel is finally over. I have mixed emotions about the climatic ending of this book. On one hand I find myself satisfied with Bromden’s escape, but on the other, I have to question my own sanity. I mean here I am consciously cheering on a whole ward of mental patients in a drunken party and ultimately an escape. I think that in the end I was mostly satisfied that Nurse Ratched was overthrown from power, even if only for a brief amount of time. Seeing the nurse on the Disturbed ward gave me hope that, even if these men couldn’t become well enough to leave the institution, at least they could be treated humanely with the absence of Nurse Ratched. I find it interesting how Bromden feels that, in the end, the patients were in control the whole time. They just needed McMurphy to open their eyes to the power they truly held. I feel that McMurphy proved himself to be a heroic character; he stuck to his cause until the bitter end and never gave in. True, he made some profit along the way. But what the men in the ward gained in terms of confidence and life evened out the playing field. Ultimately, McMurphy’s selfish tendencies proved helpful in the escape of Chief Bromden. Had McMurphy never bet he could lift the panel, Bromden probably wouldn’t know his full potential in terms of strength. I do not consider Bromden a murderer, mostly because I feel that McMurphy was already dead. The lobotomy would have left him paralyzed in silence. I believe that Bromden freed McMurphy in a way. He also honored McMurphy’s fight by not letting Nurse Ratched win. She wanted McMurphy to live and serve as an example of what could happen to those who disturbed the order of her ward. So I enjoyed the novel overall and I found the ending satisfying. I only hope that the ward does not fall back to its old ways now that McMurphy, Bromden and Harding have left the institution.