Alcoholism In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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Quiet, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is the freedom from mental or emotional agitation; inner tranquility; peace of mind” (“Quiet”). The need for quiet in Tennessee William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Marsha Norman’s ‘Night, Mother is strong amongst characters Brick and Jessie as they struggle to silence the chaos of the mind through alcoholism and suicide. As Jessie and Brick fight for their peace of mind, their parents fight for their lives, demanding answers and explanations for killing themselves, whether it be through agonizing alcoholism or a deafening gunshot. In the end of each novel, it is clear that silence is not necessarily death but sometimes rebirth or even an answer. After Skipper commits suicide and he is left to pick up the pieces of his life, Brick wants for nothing than to quiet his mind from the consuming fire of guilt that refuses to leave him…show more content…
She pleads with her in every manner and, when that does not work, she begins to tell Jessie the truth that she has always wanted to hear. She confesses that she never loved her husband, that Jessie’s seizures were “passed down [from her father] like [her] green eyes and [her] straight hair” (Norman 45). This “greater emotional honesty” that Thelma reveals as Jessie nears her planned time for suicide is what Jessie has wanted all along, someone to tell her the truth about life and what it means (Radavich 122). Jessie is disappointed by her life because she expected it to be grand, to be more than epileptic fits, a divorce, and a delinquent son. If her mother had been honest with her about life, about her lack of love for Jessie’s father, perhaps Jessie would not be so demanding about her suicide. Her want for suicide is equivalent to her want for the last truth, the last chance to make her life what she wanted and not just what it was going to
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