“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey tells the story of a psychiatric ward in Oregon through a schizophrenic patient named Chief Bromden, and how his world as well as the lives of those like him take a dramatic turn after Randle McMurphy, a conman, is introduced into the ward. The novel makes heavy use of symbolism in order to continue the biblical allusions that are introduced early on in the novel. The biblical allusions used in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” are the crucifixion of Jesus in the form of the Shock Shop, and a savior of the sinned in Randle McMurphy. Firstly, The Shock Shop in the novel is described as “a filthy brain-murdering room” (15) where the electroshock therapy table resides. It symbolizes the end of all remaining hope in the ward, as Chief Bromden …show more content…
Prior to their time at the Shock Shop, Ellis and Ruckly were a part of a group known as the Acutes, or patients that doctors considered still "sick enough to be fixed” (13) and are released into the real world after successful treatment. In Ellis’ case, the electroshock treatments led him to his ultimate “death” as he is now "nailed against the wall in the same condition they lifted him off the table in the same shape, arms out, palms cupped, with the same horror on his face” (15). This action resembles Jesus when he was nailed to the cross as a punishment for infuriating the authority by claiming that he was the Son of God in the Bible. The reference to the crucifixion of Jesus is repeated once again when McMurphy, a new patient who poses as a challenge to Nurse Ratched, inquires about the electroshock treatments. Harding, a
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey during a time in our society when pressures of our modern world seemed at their greatest. Many people were, at this time, deemed by society’s standards to be insane and institutionalized. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set in a ward of a mental institution. The major conflict in the novel is that of power. Power is a recurring and overwhelming theme throughout the novel. Kesey shows the power of women who are associated with the patients, the power Nurse Ratched has, and also the power McMurphy fights to win. By default, he also shows how little power the patients have.
When McMurphy shows his provocative and sexual playing cards to the men of the ward, he begins to unmask the importance of sexual expression, allegorical to the word of God or new religion proposed by Jesus. McMurphy also attempts to reveal the damaging effects of Nurse Ratched's mental ward, parallel to Jesus' attempts to bring humanity, "out of the darkness," and, "into the light of the Lord," where one can be eternally saved from original sin. In the first scene, we also meet Ellis, a man who has received numerous treatments at the facility and has become completely docile and, "Now he's nailed against the wall" (20). This image can be associated with the Book of Matthew because it foreshadows the inevitable Christ-like sacrifice that McMurphy makes at the end of the novel. Ellis also acts as the crucified criminals that share in Christ's pain beside him on the cross (Matthew 27). The image of Ellis communicates to the reader the impact and importance of McMurphy as a character of the salvation that he brings to the patients on the ward as the novel continues.
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Winnie the Pooh once said. In the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the men that live in the Oregon Mental Institution do not hear words like these very often. They have been rejected from society because they are not classified to meet the social norm. So they hide away behind the white walls of the ward, protecting themselves from the world around them. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, author Ken Kesey uses religious allusions to depict that society rejects people that do not fit the ideal social “norm”, but when someone can prove himself powerful enough to stand up for his beliefs men easily follow.
For Chief’s hallucinations he sees the people in the ward as machines that have mechanical abilities and technologies that are so advanced. For example, instead of him seeing medication he would see bolts and wires as well as for blood he sees rust. “...she’s got that bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties today-wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that gleam like porcelain, needles, forceps, watchmakers pliers, rolls of copper wire.” (Kesey 10). There would be no need for these mechanical things unless Chief intercepts the people as machines. The ward has the nurse carry medication, but in Chief’s eyes they are viewed as wires and tools meaning the people are being mechanized. “I expect to be sick, but there’s no blood or innards falling out like I was looking to see-just a shower of rustand ashes, and now and again a piece of wire or glass.” (Kesey 81). During the hallucination, Chief sees the body of a chronic cut open and instead of blood and guts coming out he sees wires and rust spill out. This represents the people as machines instead of
“A success, they say, but I say he’s just another robot for the Combine and might be better off as a failure…”(17).
Introduced as a "redheaded" (11) newly admitted patient with a "healing wine-colored scar on his nose" (23), McMurphy naturally distinguishes himself from the rest of the patients. Kesey's detail of the scar serves purpose: referring to Jesus who changed water into wine and referencing Christ's scars of hope that signify the victory of his resurrection. In essence, the author presents the main protagonist by depicting him as a Christ figure, foreshadowing the changes that will follow upon his arrival. Ironically, McMurphy associates with immoral activities, such as smoking, gambling, and pimping prostitutes, which demonstrates the humor and sarcasm in Kesey's writing. When he attempts to lift a burdensome control panel, McMurphy tears his hands in the process, leaving behind "stained pieces of paper on the floor" (125).
Society is governed by a set of rules and laws that help to maintain order and efficiency. However, the rules and laws that are set may be given by one person and is not acceptable by society or an individual. This could lead to challenging authority and becoming an individual and not a statistic in society. Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, one of the main characters, Randle McMurphy, defies all the rules given once entering the mental hospital. In doing so, he challenges Nurse Ratched's authority which disturbs the order in the ward. Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,a children folk rhyme, and a Beatles song, Tomorrow Never Knows, depict the power and control one may have over society or an individual.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest comes out of a nursery rhyme - “one flies east, one flies west, and one flies over the cuckoo's nest". The “one flew over” represents McMurphy and the “cuckoo’s nest” depicts the psychiatric ward. McMurphy’s personality gives way a sense of freedom and enlightenment to everyone in the ward - just as a bird helps others gain the ability to fly. This novel contains lots of imagery and metaphors, but the most interesting aspect of it is how the Combine relates to society as a whole and how we as a people abide by it.
Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a unique fiction novel about oppression and rebellion in an American 1950’s Mental Hospital. In this highly distinctive novel, setting definitely refers to the interior, the interiors of the Institution. It also refers to the period this novel this was set in, the 50’s, 60’s where McCarthyism was dominant. Furthermore, it has great symbolic value, representing issues such as the American struggle of freedom and conformity. This essay shall discuss the ‘setting’ & its significance towards Ken Kesey’s “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
Throughout the film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", many changes differentiate the movie from the book. Not only can these differences be seen in the characters of the novel, but also in the series of events that make this story so interesting. In this essay, the significance of these differences will be revealed as well as the reasons for the changes.
Because of this Kesey warns us about the consequences of rebellion through the emphasis on the symbolic feature of the electroshock therapy table. This image of the table symbolises the consequences as well as the Nurse's power which is used to plant fear within individuals preventing them from stepping out of line and becoming disobedient to the system. As a consequence to McMurphy's effort in teaching about the importance of individualism and the impudence of conformity, he was given several ruthless electric shocks. The ruthless, abusive treatments that are given to patients who opposes the system, portrays the tactics used by the authorities as a way of maintaining this social order. Thus we are informed about the harsh consequences of disobedience. Additionally, Kesey also takes advantage over the diction 'combine'. Chief mentions how "the Combine which is a huge organisation that aims to adjust the Outside as well as she has the Inside", the diction fully represents the idea of a mechanical force on society that represses individuals, manipulating and controlling their movement. The significance of the combine which is a machine that harvests wheat, symbolises the mechanical nature of the hospital and the way in which individuals are cut down and controlled. McMurphy who embodies spontaneity, individuality and freedom opposed too big of a threat to the system and thus through the authority of the combine was eventually lobotomised. Concurrently this idea of rebels being stood down is once again proposed when the nurse states how the patients are "all under the jurisdiction and control" of hers, this example shows the dominance and control she has on the patients and the way she waits "on the sidelines with a needle" expresses the violence and power used to suppress rebels from opposing the system that
In 1962, when One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (the Nest), was published, America was at the start of decade that would be characterized by turmoil. Involvement in Vietnam was increasing, civil rights marches were taking place in the south and a new era of sexual promiscuity and drug use was about to come into full swing. Young Americans formed a subgroup in American society that historians termed the “counterculture”. The Nest is a product of time when it was written. It is anti-authoritarian and tells the tale of a man's rebelling against the establishment. Kesey used metaphor to make a social commentary on the America of the sixties. In this paper I will
Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a creation of the socio-cultural context of his time. Social and cultural values, attitudes and beliefs informed his invited reading of his text.
Kesey portrays McMurphy as a loud and swaggering cowboy, a character who brings laughter and a manly smell of the outside world into Nurse Ratched’s precise and sterile environment. An argumentative character, McMurphy laid a bet that he could “put a betsy bug p that Nurse’s butt within a week”. Kesey describes McMurphy’s expressions as he continually resists being moulded by the Nurse’s lethal agenda, accentuating the degrading effects of Ratched’s power, as she works at McMurphy’s insecurities, slowly tightening a form of noose around his neck, maintaining firm pressure as he begins to crack. As McMurphy goes from puzzled, to haggard, to frantic –Kesey demonstrates how even the strongest of characters eventually comply with situational norms. Kesey further develops McMurphy into a Christ-like figure, as his admirable presence on the way influences a new found confidence amongst other characters. Kesey correlates the effect McMurphy had on the other patients to the effect Jesus had on society, giving them faith for peace and justice. Kesey characterises McMurphy as fatally ambitious; an overriding desire which costs him his life as he resists conforming to
Conformity has been the target of many works of literature even before Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye spewed angst about everyone around him being a “phony.” To many people, there are forces in the social order that shape others to fit a certain mold, and one who does not fit the mold will be considered an outcast by society. During the 1960’s, rebellion was a shared act among the majority, including authors and artists; this was due to the conflict in the East as well as the Civil Rights movement. To these people, the government was a criminal, even a machine perhaps, which threatened one’s individuality. This provides some historical context on the background of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ken Kesey, the author, worked in