Revelation The of Commonly Held Assumptions As you are engaged in reading, An Enemy of the People, you become aware to what each person is after. Peter Stockmann, Dr. Stockmanns brother, has a conversation with Hovstad and immediately mentions how great the Baths are going to be as well as the center of attention for the entire municipality. While the talks between Peter and Hovstad go on we learn how enthusiastic Dr. Stockmann is about the Baths and because of his excitement we wrote an article to promote the benefits of utilizing the Baths. Within this we also see how there is a bit of jealousy on the part of Peter by a remark that was made by Hovstad in relation to Dr. Stockmann being the spearhead of creating the Baths. Peter wants everyone to know what his role was in the entire process and that is was not only because of his brother that the Baths came to play. In the duration of the play we can see the differences between the mindset of Peter and Dr. Stockmann. Peter maintains an old methodology of thinking in where everyone who is beneath a person of power should do as that individual says. On the other hand, Dr. Stockmann does not follow that belief or necessarily totally agree with it because he sees that we are living in a new age. This was made prevalent when the Mayor told Dr. Stockmann that he could not speak his mind without first being given permission. (Miller, 65) The general assumptions that were made by everybody are that the upper hierarchy, in this case, the Town Council does everything in its power to benefit the common man. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The Town Councils goal was to enrich the people on it and not necessarily bring the wealth back to the people.
Dr. Stockmann made the discovery that the Baths were contaminated and not as clean as everybody thought. Peter took it upon himself to try to manipulate the printer by saying that if the springs were to be fixed to avoid contamination it will be on behalf of the taxpayers. Even though the company was privately held he went above the right of his power to try to play this mind game with the people. At the end of this Dr. Stockmann stood alone with his family and even though his impact may have not been realized immediately it ultimately did come. Who at the time but he would risk everything that he has for the benefit of everyone else. He could have kept his mouth shut and not told anyone a word. The society would have continued as it did without any hiccups but he chose to tell the truth and to stick by it. In the play, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, we met our protagonist Randall McMurphy. Randall chose the path that others probably wouldnt. As a convict whose daily duties involved working at the Pendleton prison farm Randall soon grew tired of that life. A born leader, he actually pretends to be a person of great insanity and gets committed to a mental hospital. This hospital represents society and how it feels people against with mental disorders. The role that society takes is to keep these individuals caged up away from the normal people and under their constant control. McMurphy begins to challenge this ideology. McMurphy quickly learned his position in the hospital and becomes the leader of the pack. His personal belief goes against that of the hospital in the way that the individual patients are treated and their reliance upon the staff to tell them what to do. The Big Nurse, Nurse Ratched is the controller and McMurphy quickly breaks the
mold. He realizes that these people have a voice of their own and need not to accept the beliefs of society but pave their own way. McMurphy is viewed to be a Christ like figure. He sacrifices himself for the greater good of the patients. He attempts to try to help them out in various ways, such as when he brought the men prostitutes. Another situation that we can use for this resemblance is on the fishing trip similar to the apostles who were fishers of men. As each of the patients grew stronger we notice that McMurphy starts to take a back seat. He is made weaker over the course of time by the treatments that he is getting by the Big Nurse. He is a threat that she ultimately immobilizes him forever. The Chief ends up killing McMurphy to take him out of his misery of being in a vegetative state. McMurphy really broke the mold for everybody. He brought an insight that nobody has seen in this hospital before. His views were accept by the other patients but hated by the administration. With his ultimate demise everyone in the hospital ultimately freed themselves from the situation that they were in. Even though he didnt get to see it unfold entirely McMurphys goal was ultimately fulfilled. The play W;t takes us into the life of Dr. Vivian Bearing. Vivian has a rare form of cancer, advanced ovarian cancer. The doctors are unsure if they can treat it but of course do everything in their power to do it. In the beginning Vivian is some what unsympathetic. She is not a fan of being in a hospital and has a bigger problem with not being the person in charge similar to what used to happen in her days as a teacher. As we go on in the play Vivian begins to find some sort of new meaning for life. She starts to embrace the humane side of life such as the human touch. This woman has
been a thinker her entire life and has now evolved into a person full of passion. This ultimately allows for a peaceful death on her behalf. With the three of these plays we got to see these individuals sacrifice themselves for the greater good of others. With that in mind they have also grown as people away from their selfish ways. We could not ask for anything else.
Works Cited Wasserman, Dale. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 2002. Miller, Arthur. An Enemy of the People. New York:
Penguin Books., 1977. Edson, Margaret. W;t. New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 1999.