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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Part One
Explanation and Analysis—Japanese Statue:
In Part One, McMurphy delights the rest of the patients by getting Doctor Spivey to announce some changes he has suggested during his admission interview—changes Nurse Ratched has not previously approved. Bromden uses a hyperbolic simile (and a racial slur) to describe the power struggle that is beginning to simmer:
One by one the patients are sneaking looks at her to see how she’s taking the way McMurphy is dominating the meeting, and they see the same thing. She’s too big to be beaten. She covers one whole side of the room like a Jap statue.
Bromden compares Nurse Ratched to a huge Japanese statue that takes up half the room. There is no way the nurse truly takes up half the room, but Bromden often perceives her as a larger-than-life figure. He hallucinates that she is giant because her power makes her feel giant to him. By exaggerating her size in his mind, he accounts for the threat she poses to the entire room. Bromden also imagines that McMurphy is a giant. This moment is when these two "giant" characters lock in on one another as adversaries. In Bromden's imagination, the hospital is literally "not big enough for the both of them."
The simile also hints at Bromden's past fighting in World War II. He does not compare the nurse to a "Japanese" statue, but rather uses a racial slur for a Japanese person. This slur was popular in the United States during and after World War II because of Japan's alliance with Nazi Germany. It was still common (though nonetheless hurtful) when Kesey was writing. Bromden does not share very much about his military history, but moments like this serve as a reminder that he is just as embroiled in the politics and trauma of the twentieth century as anyone living outside a mental hospital.
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