Daily Dialogue — April 9, 2014

Nurse Ratched: Aren’t you ashamed?
Billy: No, I’m not.

Applause from friends.

Nurse Ratched: You know Billy, what worries me is how your mother is going to take this.
Billy: Um, um, well, y-y-y-you d-d-d-don’t have to t-t-t-tell her, Miss Ratched.
Nurse Ratched: I don’t have to tell her? Your mother and I are old friends. You know that.
Billy: P-p-p-please d-d-don’t tell my m-m-m-mother.

— One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, novel by Ken Kesey

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Fear, suggested by Gordon.

Trivia: This story was based on author Ken Kesey’s experiences while working at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, California.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Let me frame my commentary with another piece of trivia: “Louise Fletcher got the part of Nurse Ratched mainly because she could embody evil without knowing it. She believes she’s helping people even when she isn’t.” Billy has had sex for the first time. And he responds without hesitation to Ratched’s first question. But then Ratched brings up Billy’s mother and his mood instantly changes — to one of abject fear. I believe in her mind, she’s helping Billy see the error of his way… and that’s what makes her manipulation of Billy so horrifying, eventually leading to his suicide. 

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