McMurphy The Con Man

Let me tell you a story about my first con. Yessir, it was a real doozy. It all started in high school when I played the game “King of Mao.” Whoo-me when I tell ya this was one for the books. I even put money on the line, “If you win, you can have my lunch money, but if I win, I get your lunch money.” It was a deal! Chi’chingg, the sound of money in my head. I knew I was going to win this game. I handed them all six cards; there were four of us. I was the dealer of the game, of course, so that meant that I made the rules as we went along. These bozos had no idea that I was about to con them. The rest of the deck was put in the middle of the table, and one card was put face up on the table. I started. The first card that was on the table was 8 of hearts, so I slapped my damn 8 of hearts right on top. Next was Bobbie’s turn; he fiddled with his cards. Come’on, damnn, he taking forever; this must mean his ass don’t have anything. He has the worst goddamn poker face. He yells goddamit, I pull a card from the stack on the table and hand it to him. You’re not supposed to speak during the game. I say to myself, I got one fool so far! Then Max was next. I let him place his 8 of diamonds, and I didn’t give him an extra card; I decided to let him slide this time. Now it’s time for Daniel to go, and he puts down a raggedy 3 of diamonds. I could tell he was excited that he had a card. So I decided to ruin that excitement by waiting until he put down his card. I looked at him with an expression that suggested that he forgot to say something, and he didn’t say it, so I gave him an extra card. He thought he was off the hook because he had a card! You thought wrong, buddy. “Hey, why are you giving me this?” he says. Because you didn’t say have a good day to me. What, since when was that a rule, he said? But I didn’t answer him, and he’s a fool, I said in the back of my head with a smirk on my face. Now it’s my turn again, and I slammed down my 5 of diamonds. Then, there’s a pause in the game. We are all waiting for Bobbie to go, so I give him another card; the hell with that; he tak’in all day like we got that type of time. “I’m not taking that card,” he said; ohh, you sure as hell will. You took too damn long to go when it was your turn. “Okay, I see how this game will play out,” Bobbie says. Thirty minutes had passed, and only one card was left on the table from the extra card pile. Now it’s Daniel’s turn. As he goes to put down his card, my hand is up, holding that last card on the table. With a devious smile on my face, I gave him the last card. He didn’t even question why he just accepted the fact that he just lost. I told them to count their cards, and Max had the most, so I told him that he lost the game. Time for ya to pay up, Booyah. I took all his money. The true con always wins, and that’s just the way it is. Well, well, well, this was my first con, and when I tell ya, it felt Goddamn good, it felt Godddamn good!

Artist Statement: When choosing to write from the point of view of McMurphy, I wanted to show all his Greed, manipulative ways, and competitiveness. These attributes stuck out to me and intrigued me to explore more closely. Throughout the book, he speaks very passionately, uses a lot of profanity, thinks that everything is a competition and needs a vote, is cocky, playful, and wants to win at everything. What better way to show all of his traits than him being a mastered con man? This also further adds a significant part of the book: characterization and how different characters appear to the readers. His specific talking style and background appeal to readers and help create a dynamic tone to his story. The specific moment from the book I wanted to build on was on page 72 when McMurphy states, “The secret of being a top-notch con man is being able to know what the mark wants, and how to make him think he’s getting it.” Furthermore, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to explore his character further and find ways to extend that outside the book. Being a dynamic character includes many aspects of culture and language, which I wanted to utilize in writing this scene.