An Analysis Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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One of the reasons Rick was excited on finding the Toad was because the Toad happened to be considered special to Wilbur Mercer. “Wilbur Mercer is the messianic figure of Mercerism, a religion that encourages fusion with other humans in order to share in suffering and persecution. By fusing with Mercer, humanity is able to draw on the power of the collective in order to survive.” (gradesaver.com) The empathy box was a means of “fusing” with Wilbur Mercer and it was first introduced into the story in chapter 2. John Isadore, a character in the story, is in his apartment and feels lonely and choses to use his empathy box. During his fusion, Isadore is described as feeling community as he works with Wilbur Mercer, climbing up towards the top of this hill which has no end in sight. “This fusion of their mentalities oriented their attention on the hill, the climb, the need to ascend.” (Dick, 22) This experience that …show more content…

Rick had recalled a commandment laid out by Wilbur Mercer stating, “You shall kill only the killers.” (Dick, 30) This rule set out by Mercer, though vague, was instantly interpreted by Rick as meaning that in the killing or retiring of potentially dangerous androids from Mars, that this killing was justifiable and therefore the androids were considered “Killers” in Rick’s eyes. As a bounty hunter, it was Rick Deckard’s job to retire any android that was on his list and he got paid quite well for doing this which made him happy because he enjoyed spending his money as soon as he was paid. I believe Rick was excited to spend his bounty money because as soon as Rick had finished his assignment, he hurried over to the animal store. “As soon as he officially quit work that evening, Rick Deckard flew across town to animal

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