I found that this poem by Sylvia Plath made an interesting connection between The Bell Jar and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. The poem's subject, as well as the title, seem to strongly symbolize the condition of the patients on the ward.
Sheep in Fog:
The hills step off into whiteness.
People or stars
Regard me sadly, I disappoint them.
The train leaves a line of breath.
O slow
Horse the color of rust,
Hooves, dolorous bells ----
All morning the
Morning has been blackening,
A flower left out.
My bones hold a stillness, the far
Fields melt my heart.
They threaten
To let me through to a heaven
Starless and fatherless, a dark water.
I feel like this poem is depicting a progressive corrosion of purity, as well as an intrusion of darkness into the light. Furthermore, when the Chief and Colonel Matterson are floating in the fog, Matterson refers to this concept of sheep, saying, "Now . . . The green sheep is . . . Can-a-da. Canada is . . . the fir tree. " (117) Maybe has some connection, may not.
ReplyDeleteI find the lines "They threaten, to let me through to a heaven" very interesting. It seems as if heaven is undesirable, perhaps akin to the relation between the ward and the patients: the ward is supposed to be a friendly, rejuvenating place, but the patients feel trapped by their problems. Furthermore, heaven is 'threatened' and the patients are also threatened and forced to reside within the ward because of their instability and mental issues.
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