Sentence Fragment Exercises

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Memoir Essay Michael Chabon "Libertine"

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Sample Focus Paper

Professor Holder

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Focus Paper

            The short fragment of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, by Ken Kesey describes a young man named Chief, living in a mental hospital, who most likely is suffering from hallucinations due to the fog he describes as surrounding him on numerous occasions. Chief describes the fog as if it is physically around him but one can assume that the fog is a metaphor for cloudy mental state or in some instances the cloudiness he feels, mentally, when he is medicated. The fog that he hallucinates could also be a defense mechanism as he imagines it surrounding him so that he cannot see anyone and no one can see him.

            In one instance where Chief describes the fog in the section, Chief says that the fog is “so thick that [he] might even be able to hide in it”, yet the nurse whom he is hiding from, finds him (Kesey 588). In the fog, Chief describes the nurse and those assisting her “[holding him] down…”while [the nurse jammed a] wicker basket and all into [Chief’s] mouth” (589). The fog that Chief describes is the fog that metaphorically filled his mind when he was given medication to calm himself. The wicker basket that Chief described as jammed into his mouth was also a hallucination as it was really a pill that was being shoved down his throat. Chief had been wailing up until the nurse found him and to calm him down she gave him a pill that caused him to seep into a cloudy state of mind. When Chief says,  

“when the fog cleared to where I can see, I’m sitting in the day room” this is when the pill has worn off am his mind no long feels foggy (589).

            When Chief was hiding from the nurse prior to being medicated, the fog that he imagined as “so thick that [he] might even be able to hide in it”, he is also using the fog as a defense mechanism to make him feel safer and more secure (588). When he is hiding, he feels extremely fearful that the nurse will find him. He hallucinates that the hospital had “[started] the fog machine again” to make himself fell more protected from the nurse (588). He envisions the fog because it makes him feel like he is better hidden from the nurse.

            Chief’s hallucination of fog that surrounds him is a hallucination geared towards describing his mental state and comforting himself. His hallucination of fog describes the lack of clarity he feels mentally when he is medicated by the nurse. His hallucination of fog also helped him to feel more comfortable and safe.