Turning Their Backs

My artwork focuses on multiple quotes from the same scene of when all of the ward patients rise up against Big Nurse by watching TV instead of doing their chores. This scene was such an obviously pivotal moment for the entire group so it made sense to emphasize this moment. I also chose to focus on the perspective of my artwork because of the importance of Bromden’s perspective throughout the book. I drew the scene from the point of view of Bromden’s thoughts, “If somebody’d of come in and took a look…they’d of thought the whole bunch was crazy as loons.” (126) Therefore, the artwork is looking at the scene from behind, looking on as a spectator would. To achieve the proper representation of this quote I drew every person in the ward, including Big Nurse, wearing their “greens” (89), which were given only to the patients at the hospital. This represents the onlooker seeing everyone in the room as crazy, not just the patients.

The next element of my drawing focuses on the fog and how it reacts to Bromden’s and the ward mates’ new-found defiance of the system. I did this by taking some artistic liberties, I drew a pair of brooms sweeping up, sweeping the fog away from the ward patients. As you can see the brooms are being operated by two pairs of red hands, which are a reference to Bromden and his fellow patients awakening, which was brought about by McMurphy’s “red hand” (121). Along with the theme of the defiance of the system, I drew all of the characters in the book with their backs facing Big Nurse, representing the bottom of page 125, “we’re all sitting there lined up in front of that blanked out TV set…and she’s ranting and screaming behind us.” I represented the insurgence by also making the TV the focal point of the drawing, not the huge screaming Big Nurse. I think it perfectly describes their rejection of leadership and Big Nurse.

The third and final theme of my artwork is power in numbers. As you look at the artwork, Big Nurse seems to be the biggest scariest subject. However, I drew her so that even as she is so much bigger than an average person, she takes up the same amount, if not less, of space as the ward patients. This highlights moments in the book like the failure to achieve a majority for vote for the TV, “ ‘Forty patients, and only twenty voted. You must have a majority to change the ward policy. I’m afraid the vote is closed.’ ”(123) and the subsequent achievement of the majority “ ‘The Chief’s vote makes it twenty-one! And by God if that ain’t a majority I’ll eat my hat!’ ”(124). This emphasizes that Big Nurse can be defeated by the power of the people in the ward. Also pertaining to this quote I drew all of the people who are watching Tv raising their hands to represent the final vote that spurred their defiance.