Monday, November 17, 2008

She doesn't do the cutting, she just hands them the knife

We know that Nurse Ratched is for immasculating the men on the ward, and I think it's fair to say that she is almost a-sexual. I say this because it's mentioned multiple times that she wants to be this cold, stile person, and someone who is not connected to her sexuality (ie she is ashamed of her breasts). However, until the last reading I was not under the impression that she hated the opposite sex, but now I am not so sure. On 149 she says, "He is simply a man and no more, and is subject to all the fears and all the cowardice and all the timidity that any other man is subjected to," making it quite clear that to her Mac is not extradordinrary, but simply a man. She also makes the claim that all men are like Mac, in that they all want to manipulate and use sex to their advantage. In this same speach Nurse Ratched also says that "our redheaded hero will cut himself down to something the patients will all recognize and lose respect for." I bring this quote up because it made me think that perhaps, in her oppinion, all men must be taken down, or rather cut down. We've talked about her being a ball cutter and how that affects the men on the ward, but this quote says more than just that: instead of her her doing the cutting, the men themselves will do it. This is significant because it shows once again her cleverness, knack for insinuataion, and desire to see men powerless. I wonder how she got this way and what made her "hate enough"?

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