The Great Nations of Europe

What examples of the song are ironic? How can you tell?

-“The Great Nations of Europe” has a mismatch between what is said and versus what is meant, the author clearly states how great the nations of Europe are yet he is satirically calling great while meaning the opposite.

  

-The chorus of the whole song which goes: hide your wives and daughter; hide the groceries too. Upon there being a tension between what is said versus what is meant, there is a mocking tone to the whole sentence. The author is stating in tribal words, what would really happen. Giving us discordance between what we know, living five hundred years later, and from the point of view this song was written or what the character knows.

-“The great nations of Europe were quite holy in their way.” The author is expressing a mismatch between two settings. First of all between what is said and what is meant, because he is not truly talking about the holiness of the nations instead the contrary. On the other hand, there is a tension between expectations versus reality. It would be obvious for later generations that the great nations of Europe would not be that holy and beneficial.

What examples are not ironic? How can you tell?

-Most of the song is not ironical; it might be taken so because of the tone the author uses and the word choice that makes everything seem exaggerated. The following are example fragments, that might at first glance be perceived as ironical, yet are just the truth stated in a childish way:

-“They'd conquered what was behind them and now they wanted more,
so they looked to the mighty ocean and took to the Western sea.”

-“Some bones hidden in a canyon some paintings in a cave
they're no use tryin to save them, there's nothin left to save.”

Yes Ma'am

"There is a good principle which created order, light, and man, and an evil principle which created chaos, darkness, and woman." -Pythagoras

In the novel One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, main ruler Nurse Ratchet would be in discordance with the above quote. Instead her ruling upon the combine is imposed with the attitudes of man as described by Pythagoras. As well, men would feel emasculated by Nurse Ratchet's mere presence, the roles are reversed.

Ratchet is first introduced to us as a calm woman, with nice body and charisma. This statement coming from a man that is accustomed to the nurse being on top, the narrator, Chief Bromden. It would not be until McMurphy comes into the combine that her abuse will become noticeable. Before McMurphy came in, there was a dissonance in terms of masculinity: how men are supposed to act to overpower women, and how they acted in the mental institute. As the new inmate settles in revolts against this regime arises. Throughout the novel McMurphy will walk around in his boxers, exposing his body; sing out loud and direct authority as friends. These all because McMurphy knew relatable ideals prevailed over physical power, such as the one Nurse Ratchet imposed. 

Women are marginalized as evil in Kesey's novel. Upon there being few women present in the narration, there are only three types: first there is the distant wives of the inmates, the second is the imposing almost man figure of the Big Nurse and other small nurses, lastly there is the prostitute figure of women. None of them represent well-rounded women; they take to extremes the worst characteristics of women.

McMurphy and Nurse Ratchet are in a constant dispute for power. As it catalyzes to the end, McMurphy begins to lose power against the empowering nurse figure. He knows drastic measures are needed to be the savior the combine had so long awaited. That is when he approaches the nurse and with no stutter rips opens her shirt and begins to choke her. Not only does he for the first time use physical power, but he exposes the nurse’s femininity, her breasts. It is the end of his revolution, his point has been stated: the nurse is not a machine following societal expectations, but a human just like the inmates.

              

She simply could not lose. At the end McMurphy becomes a vegetable after various electro shock therapies were mandated by Nurse Ratchet, as pure revenge.

He died a martyr. 

PTSD

When exposed to the fog Chief claims: “I can’t see six inches”. He is blinded by this substance prevailing in the atmosphere. What it is precisely I do not know, wonders that become bigger when we take into account that he is in a mental hospital. It could be the electric shocks, sweat, a sedative, or one of my top choices Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Such disorder also affected Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five. Through satire, the author, Kurt Vonnegut narrates Billy’s story through war and his abnormalities years after the war finished.

Billy settled for an alien civilization to sober his traumas. He was abducted by the Trafalmadorians, who taught him life lessons and exposed humanities faults. He was able to “fog” reality by entering another civilization that was molded to what he in his subconscious believed.  For Chief the fog has not been thoroughly described as for us to know certainly what it is.  Yet, by taking Vonnegut’s approach to a person suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, if Chief is really suffering form that (I infer so do to his constant mention if the old times in the Army), we will later on learn his fog.

The fog appears after an uncomfortable situation happens and Chief is taken to seclusion. In here he is set around the black kids and then the fog blinds him. If asked right now what the fog is I would have to conclude it is Chief’s way of escaping uncomfortable situations that remind him of the past.

Breaking Habit

I wondered and keep on wondering if Godot will ever arrive? Will he/she/it ever arrive, not only in the play, but in my life? Even though Beckett insists that his play has no near relevance to God, I do believe the idea of eternity and religion was in the back of his head. During some lows and highs in my life I come to question God’s existence. Why do we attribute our wellbeing to His greatness or indeed our failures to His teachings?

Instead of being optimist like Vladimir, setting his faith on Godot and knowing that one day he will understand why he had to wait so long, I think more like Estragon. He keeps on complaining on time being wasted, waiting and waiting when change is not seen. God teaches us to let things happen, for in the future we will understand why. Yet in those times I question if it would not be better to stop the current and do something different.

As Vladimir and Estragon are waiting their lives go by without that worthwhile experience we all aim to achieve in life. As Estragon once suggests in the play they should leave their waiting spot and go visit the places they have always wanted to. The image above exemplifies my exact thinking in times when giving up seems right. Time is a constant, getting old as well the only way to free ourselves is by doing things differently. In the play, as I interpreted it, Beckett is upon questioning God, doubting how religious devotees live. Wrapping around that train of thought I shall say: God or Godot should not be found at the end, but through the journey.