In the face of the dictator, Doctor Spivey managed to stand firm against the Nurse’s oppression. This evident several times in the book when Doctor Spivey speaks out and presents ideas that conflicts with the ideologies of the Nurse. “McMurphy and I (Doctor Spivey) wondered what would be the attitude of some of the men toward a carnival here on the ward?” (97). Doctor Spivey clearly knows the Nurse’s agenda and is constantly oppressed by the Nurse. However, he chooses this moment to speak out and break his silence in the meeting, suggesting an idea that goes against the ideologies of the Nurse. Doctor Spivey demonstrates to the readers that anyone, even the most frightened and oppressed person, can break his silence and resist the oppression of the oppressor. Despite fears of retaliation by …show more content…
This illustrates the point that a person standing up for themselves against an oppressor can break the constant oppression and persecution and have their own free will. As seen in Doctor Spivey, other patients began to break their silence and have a new sense of freedom while being oppressed by the Nurse. The idea of breaking the silence and freedom is a crucial theme of the book, as the silence that had held back people like Doctor Spivey is shattered and replaced with freedom and choice. “And that might be coming quickly, now, without regard for whether I had ever spoken what needed to be said, or had only betrayed myself into small silences, while I planned someday to speak” (Paragraph 7, Lorde). Mandela further reveals that silences merely restrains people like Doctor Spivey and oppresses them. In the end, death takes everyone regardless of what people said or didn’t say. Because of this, Mandela implies that people speak up for their own cause and resist tyranny because eventually, people will be silenced forever and will be unable to break that