Stength of Will: Saving Grace

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the classic and timeless novel in which Ken Kesey introduces the reader to the inner workings of the damaged mind of Chief Bromden, and illustrates its growth through exposure to the strength and freedom represented by Randle Patrick McMurphy. I notice a similar relationship in Jack London’s The Sea Wolf, between Wolf Larsen and Humphrey Van Weyden.

Wolf Larsen is a man of force and will. He is Jack London’s quintessential study of the blonde beast. His judgment is indisputable and his ship is his domain. Those who question him never come out ahead and those who come out alive learn never to challenge him again. Secretly however, his tough and brutish exterior shelters beneath it a remarkable intelligence.

When Humphrey Van Weyden is rescued and brought on board Wolf Larsen immediately looks on him with disdain and disgust. He pegs Van Weyden as someone born into money and when Van Weyden asks to be put back to shore he refuses telling him, “…it's for your own soul's sake. It will be the making of you. You might learn in time to stand on your own legs…”

McMurphy is, through the common eye, debauched and mischievous, a trouble maker and a con man, but through the eyes of Chief Bromden we see his kind heart and generous soul. His strength of will and cunning enable him to take decisive action when he needs to, and other wise he can prod and persuade or trick and fast talk his way into getting nearly all the things he wants. He is not malicious in the way Wolf Larsen is, because he has no crew to command and so no need to exercise cruelty as a form of control. However, just like Wolf Larsen, McMurphy is the bearer of an indomitable will and his only focus is maintaining his freedom. He is a strong sailor, wildly free, slicing through the ocean of America

When McMurphy is first committed to the asylum he is confounded by the way all of the men are so quiet