Angel of Mercy (page 55)

Theme:
Self sacrifice vs. Self Interest, because Miss Ratched (The Big Nurse) helps other people on her weekends, she never has a time where she doesn’t help someone. That means she sacrifices her time for other people, however, she does it partly for self interest, because this way she knows that these people will never forget her.

Motif:
The motif represented is the Nurse and her Power. On page 55, Harding described the nurse and what she does when she is not at the ward; she does volunteer work. The nurse has the power to make other people think that she is a angel, and does everything for other people, however she knows exactly that these people will never forget her.

Symbol:
There is no symbol represented in this part.

Language:

Mood: Tense; everyone is listening to Harding, without saying a word. The patients all wait until Harding is finished and then McMurphy is again the first one who says something.

Tone; Descriptive, because Harding is explaining the situation with the nurse.

Furthermore, there is some listing:
"throwing kisses, smiling ethereally"

Also there are a lot of metaphors and similes describing the nurse:
"unselfish as the wind"
"a sound comes out of his mouth like a nail being crowbarred out of a plank of green pine"

Diction:
Some of the words are quit complicated
Harding talks to people as grownups, does not put them down.


Important Quotes:

"Miss Ratched is a veritable angel of mercy and why just everyone knows it…and the couple is forever indebted to her benevolence…Oh the bitch, the bitch, the bitch, he whispers through his teeth."

"she is so intoxicated with the sweet milk of human kindness" ---relationship with Shakespeare Macbeth ?????