Character Sketch of Dale Harding (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

Character Study of Dale Harding

By: John Lina

I am 42 years old, born in St. Louis Missouri in December of 1920, Christmas Eve.  When I was 5 years old we moved into relatively new house on Oriole Avenue, in the Baden section of St. Louis.  It was one of five new houses in an older neighborhood of eight houses.  Oriole Avenue ended at the top of a gently sloping hill and the undeveloped area was a landfill, a dump.

St. Louis is a predominantly Catholic city, we were Methodists.  I attended Baden public school but almost everyone else in the neighborhood went to either Holy Cross School or Mount Carmel School.  We played together but there was an unspoken differentiation.

My dad worked for Curtis Wright out near the airport.  He was an engineer and eventually was promoted and we moved to Seattle Washington when I was twelve, where he would work until he retired from Boeing.  He was absorbed by his work.

My mother, like most women at the time, took care of the house and raising me and my older sister.  I noticed that she favored my sister in most of what happened between us and, as I recall it, she was a bit unfair to me.  I later would label it as “disdain.”

I was a rather weak kid, sort of willowy, and my sinuses bothered me a lot.  It seemed like I was always wiping my nose.  And my forelock seemed to always be down in my eyes.  I wanted to cut it off but didn’t dare.

Our move to Seattle was unsettling mainly because it meant a whole new environment, school, and the need to make new friends and acquaintances.  Not to mention the weather that aggravated my sinuses.  We lived on the corner of 16^th Street and South Orca Ave.

I finished grade school and went on to Cleveland High School, where I was in the top tier of students.  We were grouped according to potential and it was thought that I had some so I was in that group.  Finishing Cleveland, I went to the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma where I graduated with a BA in literature; went on to get an MA but demurred on a Phd.

I went to work for Bennett and Hastings Publishing as an editor.  It was a starter job and I liked the work and the people there.  They were largely intellectuals and the discussions were always interesting but didn’t lead to anything substantial.

It was here that I met Vera, she worked in the printing area.  I was attracted to her due to her looks and appearance; she to me because of my somewhat “backward” personality.  We got along well enough and after a year of dating we decided to get married.

The wedding was a small affair, she had almost no family there and my side was my immediate family, mother, father, and sister.  It was a church wedding but like I said, not a big deal.  We set up housekeeping in an apartment and then, later a small house.

Almost from the start, she was in charge sexually.  I mean, I couldn’t seem to satisfy her rather strong libido.  I don’t think she was ever unfaithful to me but the pressure to perform was becoming intense.  It got so bad that I thought I was inadequate and, without her knowing it, I got some counseling.  

The counselor suggested that I “take a break” and get some help.  I need to tell you that it was depressing and I sank into a malaise that was costing more than my self-esteem; I was beginning to think the worst, that I am homosexual.  I even contemplated suicide.  The break suggested was to check into a psychiatric facility where I would be “out of harms’ way.”  That was two years ago.

I enjoy it here.  It is all-male company and non-threatening; every day they give me a big dose of some kind of dope that keeps me feeling pretty good about the whole situation.  The guys in the ward all look up to me because, in their perspective, I have it all together.  They have elected me president of the patients’ group.

The chief nurse, Miss Ratched, is someone who reminds me of a combination of my mother and my older sister.  I dread her wrath and will do almost anything to avoid it and, so far, I’ve done a remarkable job of it.

Then… (the play starts.)