The pastor of our church is teaching a sermon series using Juicy Fruit gum as a metaphor for the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Ken Kesey, the novelist who wrote the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, also seized on Juicy Fruit for its symbolic value. The novel uses a huge Native American as the protagonist who tells the story of "Mac" who arrives at 60's style insane asylum as a messianic figure ... of sorts. Mac is full of life, vim and vigor; his mental illness appears limited to a lack of tact and a disrespect for rules. To the other, truly injured patients, Mac carries a message of freedom and hope. In this scene, "the Chief" as he is called, opens up to Mac in an exchange over a stick of Juicy Fruit gum.
In the scene above, we learn that the Chief is not deaf and dumb, but just hiding in the asylum as a defense against his fears of an outside world that has treated him, and his people, with cruelty and disregard. In the scene below, you'll see the Chief in an earlier sequence, still in disguise, looking on as Mac tries to lead the group in an escape toward the pleasures of the outside world.
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In the final scene of the movie -- perhaps the best movie ending I've ever seen -- the Chief is horrified to find that Mac has been given a frontal lobotomy, effectively killing off the essential aspects of his personality. Watch as the Chief decides to carry Mac with him in a long-awaited quest for freedom, just as we carry the Holy Spirit inside of us in our own life journeys.
Got to thinking about the concept of purgatory and how that is the perfect metaphor for where I am in my life. Not hell, because I am not damned or in eternal turmoil, but clearly not Heaven, where all tears and pain have ceased. I long for Heaven, and because I have seen glimpses of it in a buried treasure box I don't want to wait for it. I want to hold the treasure, I want to look at it (and I don't want to just write about it!). Am I doomed to melancholy so that some one may one day write of me that I suffered well?
ReplyDeleteI can't think of another case where the book was great, but the movie added such value over the book...
ReplyDeleteIn Kesey's novel, we know immediately that what's going on in the mind of the Chief is the key, bacause he is the one teling the story, as did Ishmael in Moby Dick. We see the story through the Chief's eyes, and there is much to learn.
But the movie! Oh my... Until the very end the Chief is there as a sort of minor character. And then this wonderful ending and you are like... My God, this movie was about the Chief and all the while while I thought it was about Mac! I get goose bumps every time I see him discover the might that he always had in him, picking up that slab of marble and throwing it through the window. And I just can't get over the genius of the writer (Kesey) that it was Mac who in trying and failing, is the one who showed him how to do it.
So Jesus was like Mac in that he gave his life, but the awesome thing is that Jesus knew what he was giving up, and did so willingly. As for me, I will try to live up to the courage that the Chief finally showed. If I can match up to that, I'll continue the quest and try to be Christ-like, but unlike Jesus trying to stay alive as I do... not sure I can take it past that.
just to finish my comment. We are all living in a Cuckoo's Nest of some sort. We have to find the slab of marble somehow and summon up the strength to assert ourselves. We might stay in the Nest for a while, years maybe, but with the window now busted open, there will be a breeze of nice brisk Washington state air wafting around the asylum. And maybe life will be better.
ReplyDeleteso to extend this metaphor a bit I think the real challenge is to determine how much destruction are we willing to create or allow in breaking out of the asylum. Yes, strength comes into play (strength of character? strength of conviction? strength of purpose? self-will? self-preservation?) but also a consideration of the damage done and the debris that is strewn about as a result. I guess it comes down to how much personal responsibility one is willing to take to ensure a secure Nest for others...
ReplyDeleteI see you raise an interesting point about the Washington air. One must assume the air is fresher outside the asylum.
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