Stereotype

      I personally feel that I belong to one the most stereotyped groups of people: teenagers. Many adults would lead you to believe that teenagers are lazy, dramatic, irresponsible delinquents. When a teenager walks into a nice boutique at the mall they often get the shoplifter treatment; every employee's expression says "I'm watching you," while their words say with false politeness "May I help you?" Teenagers apparently have no conversation skills, they refuse to answer their parents questions and never ask have the common courtesy to ask another a question about themselves. Right? Well, thanks to AP English, I believe we are slowly changing the teenager stereotype. Outside of drilling literary devices into our brains and making us write 74 page papers, AP English teaches us how to conduct intelligent and interesting conversations. We read the classics as well as more modern books which give us a wide range of topics to discuss. We can come across as engaging without ever having to talk about anything personal. Books and analysis serve as the perfect universal topic that rarely tires out. I quickly learned to dread the one million and two questions from my relatives about college and the future. However, instead of rudely ignoring their questions, I could transition the discussion to books (or pretend that I heard someone calling my name). Rather than just saying, “I read this or that book. I liked it. It had nice pictures,” we can actually speak in a well-informed manner. You could even throw in a couple of literary devices if so inclined, just not too many or it might seem like you are trying to show off. But seriously, the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation, whether about a book, a movie, or life in general, is an extremely important skill. After two years of graded discussions, I think every AP English student is pretty much an expert when it comes to intelligent conversation. Now go out and use your skills.

Hero or Criminal?

     By the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey effectively establishes Randall Patrick McMurphy as the protagonist and hero of the novel. However, in today's society, I do not know if we could ever see a man like McMurphy as a hero. First of all, he has quite a temper and a tendency to start fights which landed him in jail on more than one occasion. He has a nasty gambling habit and manipulates mentally ill patients out of their money. Furthermore, he does not have the greatest work ethic; he could not even suffer through four months at the work farm and had a dishonorable discharge from the army. And, most disturbingly, he was charged with raping a fifteen-year-old girl, although he claimed "'she was plenty willin''" (45). All of these facts indirectly characterize McMurphy as a pretty unwholesome guy. However, Kesey ends up painting McMurphy as the tragic hero while Nurse Ratched, a seemingly respectable citizen, serves as the villain. I myself fully supported McMurphy throughout his escapades to undermine the Nurse and help the patients. But why do I, and so many other readers, so willingly dismiss McMurphy’s unattractive behavior? Well, one reason could be that McMurphy is infinitely preferable to the tyrannical Nurse Ratched. However, I think the acceptance of McMurphy goes deeper than the rejection of the Nurse. McMurphy has an infectious personality. People, with the a few obvious exceptions, automatically like him. All the patients look up to him and he even manages to charm the doctor. In stark contrast to the Nurse’s rigid schedule, McMurphy brings fun and excitement to the ward. I laughed out loud at several of the things he said and I could never wait to see what he would do next. Perhaps most importantly, the audience saw McMurphy grow and develop. He went from selfish and self-serving at the beginning to the selfless man that sacrificed himself for the patients at the end. He was not perfect by any means, but he was extremely interesting and dynamic; I could not help but root for him. That just goes to show that you cannot judge a character by their rap sheet.
 Jack Nicholson as Randal Patrick McMurhpy in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Get Out of My Head

         We have all acknowledged at one point or another that AP English pretty much rules our lives and consumes every waking thought. But, now, AP English has taken over my subconscious. I know it sounds scary. I woke up Monday morning with an odd feeling, the kind one has after leaving a particularly engrossing dream. However, the snow day celebration drove all other thoughts from my mind. As I sat on the couch later that day reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the events of my dream came back to me in a rush. In my dream, I had gone to the dentist for a simple toothache, assuming the dentist could soothe my pain easily enough. Unfortunately, that was not the case. My dentist informed me that he could temporarily relieve the pain, but if I wanted to permanently fix the problem I would have to remove the part of my brain closest to the tooth. Yes, a lobotomy to fix a toothache seems logical. The dentist assured me that it was a very small, insignificant part of my brain that he would need to remove. I naturally felt uneasy but they informed me that my brother had had the same procedure without any problems. I warily agreed. The process took all of two minutes and then I was free to go. Remarkably, I felt fine and my toothache stopped. But when I sat down to do my English reading that night, I found that I could not analyze the meaning behind any of the sentences. The brain operation had left me fully function, but it had also made me stupid. That is an AP English student’s worst nightmare. I have unknowingly let the fears of the mental patients become my own somehow. I do not fear actually having a lobotomy though. Maybe I just hate the thought of not being able to control my own fate, the way the patients are at the mercy of Nurse Ratched. Either way, I unintentionally took empathy to a whole new level.  

Rock and a Hard Place

      When Randall Patrick McMurphy showed up on the psychiatric ward, there was a palpable change in the atmosphere. With his outgoing personality and flagrant disregard for authority, the reader could tell McMurphy would make things fun, or at least extremely interesting. He stood up to Nurse Ratched in a way no other patient had dared to. Finally, the men had a champion, a rabble rouser to carry their cause. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped. McMurphy decided to play it safe. He found out that the more trouble he causes, the longer he will stay in the ward. Then, the situation on the ward started to get depressing again. And I really want to get angry with McMurhpy; I want to criticize him for giving up and acting cowardly. But I cannot. McMurphy has a lose-lose situation on his hands. How can one blame him for wanting to get off the ward and away from the Nurse as soon as he possibly can? I can sympathize with that completely. On the other hand though, the book was a lot more exciting when McMurphy did not play by the rules. He gave the patients something to live for, for the first time in many years, and their characters blossomed before our eyes. But with McMurphy playing nice, everyone goes back to their lifeless selves, trapped in a hopeless situation. All I know is that this situation cannot last long because it does not make for a very entertaining book.

Diagnose Yourself

     As I flipped through Newsweek to read the Scope (the only thing I actually read in Newsweek), which talks about the most outrageous behavior throughout the week, I happened upon an article that caught my eye. "Diagnose Yourself" it read in big bold letters. I immediately thought of the motley crew in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. However, the article talked about a new iPod application that allowed a person to test themselves for STDs, not mental diseases. Still, the article really got me thinking. Why do we not have an iPod app that can help someone diagnose themselves with a mental disorder? Now, I know you can find plenty of little quizzes on the internet that will tell you if you have some serious disease. And WebMD always has some severe and obscure illness to go along with any symptom one might have. However, this self-diagnosis quiz would be completely legitamate. The most respected doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists worldwide would hold a convention or maybe a top secret meeting at Apple headquarters. They would devise questions that would most effectively determine if someone actually has a mental illness. It would obviously take more than ten questions and the answer to each question would determine the next question. For instance, if someone answered "C" indicating they have a deathly fear of cheese, then the computer would choose a question that can further delve into that cheese fear. Furthermore, the person would have to make sure they take the diagnosis test in complete solitude to make their answers more accurate and honest. If you sat around with your friends answering the questions out loud, you may be scared to admit that you sometimes pretend to not speak English just so that people will not talk to you. Once the person finishes the quiz, the application will come up with a mental illness most fitting your personality. You can then feel free to compare results with your friends or strangers on the street even. You may get off easy, with a social phobia or something. Or, you may find that you have something more alarming, such as schizophrenia. Either way, you will find that you have a mental illness of some kind. Everyone is crazy, if only a little bit.  
What does this look like to you?

Awkward Does Not Even Begin to Cover It

        This past week in class we talked about various awkward situations people dread encountering in AP English. Some of the more prevalent fears include paying for a book, slip-ups during discussions, and what to say when Ms. Serensky slowly walks around the room to show everyone the picture of the poet we studied over the weekend. I personally find the last situation particularly problematic because I feel like we are supposed to say something, but I never know what. So I usually end up making a less than clever remark, such as “her husband looks like a woman.” But, despite all the stress caused by our efforts to avoid awkwardness, I know that we could really have it so much worse in terms of awkward situations. First of all, if anyone has ever watched The Office, you should know that one single episode is about 57 times more awkward than any situation one comes across in daily life. As for English classes, my mom had the awkward experience to top all awkward experiences in high school. My mom’s English teacher her sophomore year had a reputation for acting somewhat off-beat. However, he tended to take quirkiness to the extreme. On the day of a test, the class nervously entered the room ready to struggle through the period. However, no one seemed to know where the teacher was. The students started talking, saying things like, “he can’t give us the test now, we won’t have enough time. What is he gonna do, fail us all?” or “he is so weird, let’s just leave now.” Ten minutes passed in which the students discussed his odd behavior and planned how to avoid taking the test without getting in trouble. All of a sudden, the closet door flung open and the teacher jumped out screaming “Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!” at the top of his lungs. He has been hiding in the closet the entire time, listening to what the students said about him. Throughout the remainder of the year he would repeat comments he heard the students say about him while he hid in the closet. Awkward? Yes. Uncomfortable? Yes. Just plain strange? Absolutely. So if you ever think you made a fool out of yourself in AP English, just remember this awkward situation and you should feel a lot better in comparison.