The Green Eyed Monster

Taking a break from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I shall be exploring literature in which authors manipulate emotions in order to delve into the complications of the human heart. I shall be honing in on the emotion of jealousy. Jealousy is a want for what you do not possess, but which you can obtain through stealing it from someone else. In Shakespeare's Othello, most of Iago's actions are out of jealousy. He is jealous of Othello for his rank and wife, so he plots to take those away from Othello. In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Gatsby had everything in the world except for Daisy. The one thing he couldn't buy with money belonged to Tom, so Gatsby vowed to "repeat the past" and attempt to win her back from Tom. In The Lord of the Flies, Jack and Ralph were constantly jealous of the power that the other had accumulated. This jealousy put them at odds with each other, and burnt down the island figuratively and literally. Such amazing work for one little emotion.

Admitted (9/23/2013)

Today I was admitted to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a classic mental institution novel written by Ken Kesey. I chose to read this book because, like many people, I was only exposed to the Jack Nicholson film version of this story. As it always goes, the book > the film. Therefore, I was intrigued to be able to read the story I thought I already knew. I began the exposition today. The institution is described as bleak, sterile, and overall a place I would avoid at all costs. Sticking with the era the book is set in, the custodians/ restrainers are all African American. The book is actually quite racist to them, but that is the intent. The "Big Nurse" is Nurse Ratched, who may just be one of the greatest antagonists in literature. I am excited to see what nuances are in the book that the movie had omitted, and feel that I will very much enjoy this book.