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<title> A very sad little man. </title>
"A little man with a big wide forehead and wide jowly cheeks and squeezed narrow across his tiny eyes like he once wore glasses that were way too small, wore them for so long they crimped his face in the middle, so now he has glasses on a string to his collar button: they teeter on the purple bridge of his little nose and they are always slipping one side or the other so he'll tip his head when he talks just to keep his glasses level." This is the first introduction we get of Dr Spivey by Chief Bromden, and even though we only know what he looks like I feel I can get a pretty good idea what kind of person this is. A very sad little man. 

The Big Nurse has during the years more or less handpicked "her" staff and the doctor is no exception. All the doctors who came before, and who wanted to have a say in the running of things on the ward, she has one by one driven from the hospital. The fact that she finally settled for Dr Spivey revealed to me that this is not, to say the least, a man of authority. 

At first I thought the reason for his somewhat "whimpy" character was that he was frightened of the Big Nurse just like the patients. But as I read on I realised that this was not the fact at all, instead he seemed unaware of the effect she has on the others. And he even, without knowing it himself of course, openly defies her. For example, when he gets tricked into opening the tub room, so that Mr McMurphy and his friends could play cards there, which the Big Nurse had already said no to. During the group meeting he is arguing for the idea and even though the Big Nurse comes with objections he stands his ground and does not back down. 

Another, and more important, example of Dr Spivey's tougher character is shown to us when they are on the fishing trip. Here we get to see a man who will not back down for almost anything. The doctor has gotten a big fish on his hook and is struggeling with it for a long while: "We have to cut him loose Doc, Sefelt said and put his arms across the doctor's shoulders. The doctor didn't say anything: he had sweated clear through his suit between his shoulders, and his eyes were brigth red from going so long without glasses. He kept heaving until the fish appeared on his side of the boat. We watched it near the surface for a few minutes longer, then started getting the rop and gaff ready" "That was something. The doctor panted from the floor, not enough strength left to push the huge fish off him. That was... certainly something." 

Actually the reason for him not involving himself in the decision making more is because of the sole reason that he is not at all interested in it. Instead he is more comfortable sitting by himself in his office, drawing on charts. He does not enjoy attending group meetings unless there is a new patient that he can explain his "theory" to. This though he takes great joy in, and he tells it with such great passion that the Big Nurse almost always has to hush him up. 

When they get back into shore the police is waiting for them and the doctor again proves to be a strong man when he tells the police that they have no jurisdiction over them and starts to point out that there were not enough live jackets on the boat to shut the captain up. After that incident there is not much mentioning about Dr Spivey, so you do not really know whether he has actually changed into a stronger person or if it was just that the fishing trip had toughen him up for the moment.

Dr Spivey seems to be a man who has ended up in the wrong place in life. He has a lot of passion, the only problem is that that passion is not for the patients which it should be. Of course, he has great sympahty for them, just as long as they do not try to get him involved in their lives or their problems, of that he has no interest what so ever. He has his passion for numbers and theorys and that is what keeps him happy in life, he does not need anything else. And even though my reason might have changed as I was reading along in the book, I still consider him a very sad little man.
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