The Combine A Mixed Blessing essays

The Combine A Mixed Blessing essays On the surface, the Combine would appear to be a good thing for society in general. People who are presumably unproductive and perhaps dangerous both to themselves and society are taken off the streets and put into a highly controlled environment. By removing these people from society, the rest of us can go about our business without the need to have contact with or provide support for people who have been deemed crazy. A closer look at the impact of the Combine on society reveals many flaws however in the way that system operates. The most important issues that emerge from this examination are the development of a nuthouse subculture, the institutional abuse of patients and, the removal from society of elements that should instead act as a reminder to all of us that sound minds and bodies should not be taken for granted. In One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey describes an environment where people in the nuthouse are grouped into specific classes and characterizations. Younger patients are known as Acutes because the doctors figure them still sick enough to be fixed. (p.19) Chronics, who are in for good, (p.19) are kept in just to keep them from walking around the street giving the product a bad name. (p.19) Others are simply known by whatever trait seems to dominate either their appearance or their personality. And in charge, there is Big Nurse. It becomes obvious as the book progresses that everyone also falls into one of three categories: bosses, lackeys, and victims. Indeed, the only normal people are visitors who are led on a tour by that fool Public Relations man who is overjoyed...that mental hospitals have eliminated all the old-fashion cruelty.(p.14) Bosses, like Big Nurse, are all powerful and yet are mysteriously governed by rules that are devised by unseen forces. Interestingly, on ly in t...