I'm reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Like Sarah, I am not very far into it, but far enough into it to see some key differences between the novel and the movie. First off, the narrator of the novel is Chief Bromden, a half-Native American man who has been a patient in the ward since the end of World War II. Chief appears to be deaf and mute, which makes him subject to the ward's deepest and darkest secrets. In the movie, Chief is but a supporting character. He appears at points in the film, but it is not narrated by him.
Nurse Ratched is also very different in the novel. She is described as a petite woman, with a face that is "smooth, calculated... like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel.." (pg. 5). In the movie, Nurse Ratched looks pasty and rather caniving. The one similarity that I see so far between the film and the novel is that Ratched is a tyrant.
I think its interesting that you mentioned he knows the deepest and darkest secrets. He really does seem to have a different perception of the ward than anyone else does. Not only has he been there the longest, but he is also able to hear things that nobody else believes he can hear. But on some level, I feel like he is more aware for other reasons as well. He just seems to have some kind of awareness that others lack, and he knows what everyone's motives are at any moment. Like when McMurphy comes in he knows right away that he is laughing because he doesn't buy his deaf & dumb act. I don't know why...I just feel like he sees things much more clearly than others do.
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