Reaction Paper

Ordinary People and

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Karla M. Reyes, RN

Lota V Isles, RN, MAN

Master of Arts in Nursing

Crisis Intervention

Arellano University

23 November 2013

ORDINARY PEOPLE

The movie, Ordinary People, is a story set during the 1970s with a story on
Jarret family that is under crisis. The main characters are Calvin, Beth and their son
Conrad. The crisis began when Buck, the eldest son, died of a boating accident. After
his death, Conrad became deeply troubled and tried to commit suicide by slashing his
wrists but was saved when he was seen by his father Calvin. Conrad was hospitalized
and went through a therapy and met Karen with the same case suicidal. When he
was released from the hospital, he was still emotionally ill as seen in the movie, e was
not sleeping very well and having many nightmares of the accident. And with the
request of his father, Conrad begins to see a psychiatrist, Dr Berger. Conrad tells him
that he wants to gain more control of things so his father will stop worrying about him.
He goes back to school but is not coping very well as he feels very alienated from even
some of his best friend. He decides to quit swimming team. He meet Jeannine, a choir
mate who became his love interest at the end of the film.

In some scenes, it was shown that the mother, Beth, was more of a private
mother with somewhat ineffective denial of what is happening around her after the
death of her more favored son, Buck. She loves going out on vacation and is very
concerned of what people might think when people knew what their problems are with
an example of getting mad at Calvin when he told a friend that Conrad was seeing a
psychiatrists. Beth is a type of mother who projects all that is good and only what is
good because she is very concerned with what people might think of her and her family.

As seen in the film, I think she also has a bit of obsessive personality which is seen
when she prepares dinner table or cleans the house like moving a vase into the center
of the table. However, it is also clearly seen that the behavior she posed in the film
showed that she also could not cope with the loss of a loved one. She goes out on
vacation with complete denial that there is something wrong with her family. And every
time time she gets confronted, she would get mad, suppress the feeling or rationalize
that the matter is a private family matter and that it can be resolved on their own. In
literary, she is a flat character because she never changed her attitude and instead just
left her family at the end of the film.

Calvin is the father who tries to keep everything okay and is more demonstrative
in caring than the mother. But it is seen that he is also undergoing a lot of stressful
periods which he keeps to himself. Calvin is a kind father who looks after his family. He
does love his family and tries his best to keep the family together even if he, himself,
could no longer understand what has happened after the event occurred. He worries too
much for his family and his friend from work is already noticing this change In him.
Eventually, he decides to talk to Dr Berger and his soft character eventually changed
as the movie progresses as he becomes firm to Beth and Conrad.

The plot began when Conrad knew about the death of Karen. He begins to blame
himself for the death of his brother Buck and Karen, claiming that in both cases, he
didn't do enough to help and he has to live with his mistake. Dr Bergers words of
comfort was moving. He said that, Feelings are scary and sometimes it is painful. [But]

if you can feel pain, you cant feel anything else either. You are here and you are alive.
Now dont tell me you dont feel that This cheers him up considerably.

Conrad was happy and showing affection for his mother. He gives Beth a hug,
who reacts very surprisingly. However, during the middle of the night, Beth wakes up
and finds Calvin at the dining room table, crying. He proceeds to explain his feelings for
Beth. He feels that she can't allow any love in her life as she only showed love for Buck,
and her love died with Buck. He also says that he doesn't know whether or not he loves
her anymore. Beth is so shaken by this, that instead of arguing, she packs her bags and
leaves. Conrad wakes up and has a talk with his father. He expresses his admiration
and love for him.

The movie showed a plot of an ordinary family in the setting of the 1970s which
was then can be an ideal one. This means that the father works to provide for his family.
The mother takes good care of the household like cooking and baking food for the
family and children doing well in school. They live in a cool and big house and is loved
by their neighbor. All of the major characters portrayed this picture of an ideal family
until a crisis Bucks death from a boating accident occurred.

Loss of a loved one is a major stressor in life which we all certainly will
experience since all people belonging to a family or not - will die in one way or
another. Individual coping mechanism should be present and adaptive to the stressor or
else, it will cause crisis in the family. Since it is a whole family stressor like the death of

Buck, there is a need for every member of the family to support and comfort each other.
This, I think failed in the Jarrette family. The coping mechanism of Conrad was not
effective thus, his attempt to kill himself. The coping mechanism of Beth was also
ineffective since she already continuously denies the occurrence of the problem within
her family. And with all of these happening, Calvin, faces more anxiety as he does not
only suffer from the crisis of losing his eldest son but also of keeping his family together
amidst the crisis.

Stressors come and is said in many psychiatric and medical surgical books that it
is a normal occurrence in life and that it is important to make people develop
themselves as long as they can adapt to the different situations. People face crisis when
they arent able to adapt to change or keep their state of equilibrium. This happened in
the family. However, they can still cope like Conrad provided they have social support
which in this film is represented by Jeannette and Calvin and most importantly, when
needed, there can be professional help, like from Dr Berger to form a structured way of
therapy. Maybe, if the mother, Beth, would have admitted there is something wrong in
her family and that she would accept the help from Dr Berger, then there can be a
different ending.

Overall, the movie teaches us that we need to learn how to adapt and cope to all
of the lifes stressors to lessen crisis, if not to completely avoid them. Support from
family, friends, and other significant others and if needed, professional help to guide the
family back to adapt and live normal lives again.

Reference: Redford, R. (Director). (1980). Ordinary People [Motion Picture].

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST

The movie revolved around a guy Randly McMurphpy which is played by Jack
Nicholson. He is a criminal trying to have himself declared as insane so hell be
transferred to mental institution avoiding the labor of prison. His makes friends
throughout his stay in the hospital Billy Bibbit suicidal, stuttering man child whom
Ratched has humiliated and dominated into a quivering mess; and "Chief" Bromden, a
6'5" muscular Native American who has schizophrenia. His tyrant was played by the
character of Nurse Ratched but the black guy, Washington one of the attendants or
nurses is more oppressive without reason.
McMurphy gave variety to the routine of the ward. This started as he insisted on
watching the World Series. Car napping the bus to get his pals on fishing or plans of
escaping the mental institution. He even came to a point of bribing the person in-duty for
some booze and women to allow them to party in the night. He is considered a hero of
his ward mates for his courage of defying the routine and rules. Although given the
evaluation of the psychiatrists that he is not mentally ill, Nurse Ratched saw that there is
something wrong with him and that he needs help. Although that was a chance for her
to get rid of him, she did her duty to help a very unruly person by trying to keep him in
the ward.

The evening he planned to escape is, I think, the climax of the story. McMurphy
and the Chief plan to finally leave but Billy, upset with Macs departure, wanted to go out
with Candy. He allowed Candy and Billy to have sex and waited until he also falls
asleep with the rest of the patients. Nurse Rathced came into her ward and found the
mess that the patients got into. She also founds out that Billy had sex with Candy. A
passively angry nurse then threatens to tell Billys mother of the incident. Billy's stutter
returns very quickly and, very upset, begs Ratched not to tell his mother. When she
explains that he should have thought of the consequences, he breaks down into tears
and is dragged away to Dr. Spivey's office, screaming. McMurphy, still in possession of
Turkle's keys, unlocks one of the windows and is about to escape when one of the
orderlies screams loudly and stopped him from escaping. Billy slits his throat with a
jagged piece of glass. . After McMurphy sees what the ward has done to his friend, he
explodes into a violent rage, strangling Nurse Ratched until she is near death. She
survives, but McMurphy is knocked unconscious by one of the orderlies and taken off
the ward. Others say that he was able to escape while others mentioned that he was
lobotomized. The Chief sneaks over to McMurphys bed, spoke to him and suffocates
him with a pillow knowing his situation and unwilling to leave him behind. The Chief was
able to escape the ward as he lifted the heavy marble and threw it in the window.
I quite saw an interest in the character of McMurphy knowing that he
continuously challenge the system of healthcare in the ward and help patients
experience variety. One good example is how he was able to make the Chief talk after
he insults, plays and chats with him. Another is trying to get the ward members vote for
the World Series. He energizes and gives variety or happiness to the patients as he

introduces different kinds of activities from card betting games to getting a bus and
fishing. Nurse Ratched might be right that he has a personality problem that may need
help but that was the good part of his character.
Looking at how the health system played placed me in a bit of a dismay of how
patients were treated in the ward. Nurse Ratched was, in my opinion, was the only
nurse who is already the best person to portray a good psychiatric nurse. She conducts
group therapy sessions very well as she starts and ends the session. She shows
firmness when needed, acknowledges each and every patient, allows them to talk and
explains very well their conditions. However, she was very stiff with her routine
rationalizing that changes may not be applicable to other patients. Thus, it shows that
she may have forgotten that patients also need variety of environment and activities as
noted by Florence Nightingale.
Moreover, the other health care provider in this film are portrayed as the
antagonist of the story and not one of any health care character showed the basic ways
of how to properly care for psychiatric patients. They are too much routinely doing their
job that they forgot how to work WITH the patients to help them in their mental state.
One example is giving the medications. Although the nurses will individually give the
medications to the patients, she does not check if it is swallowed ending up that
McMurphy was able to just throw the capsule he falsely swallowed. Another is the
uncaring Washington who was always bullying McMurphy and other patients, even
pressing a stick on McMurphy while he was bathing.

It is in my opinion that the story writer intended to make the mentally challenged
patients the protagonist of the story and the health care provider the antagonist to
emphasize a point that mental patients do need care. Most of us would sometimes
forget that they are also human beings and that they too should be treated with care
and respect as much as we give to those whom we take care because of physiological
illness. Some would take these kinds of patients for granted because they think that
they do not understand the things that are happening with them, it is usual so we should
not mind them doing that like in the case of The Chief who was believed to be mute,
deaf and stupid. They treated him that way for so long only to find in the ending that he
will be the one who can escape the institution.
This story does not only teach nurses or people to challenge the current system
to evolve and place different activities or programs to enhance living or empower
people. It also tells us to care for those incapable of caring for themselves even if they
are unable to acknowledge or understand may they be mentally challenged or not. We
must maintain their dignity while balancing it in the fulfillment of our roles as nurses.

Reference:
Forman, M. (Director). (1975). One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [Motion Picture].