Ken Kesey Symbolism

Kesey has also given this novel great Symbolic value. As an opposer to the McCarthy scheme, he has used the mental hospital as a scale model of how society breaks free of society's conformity. McMurphy acts as the ‘liberator', or rebel of the ward's excessively strict conformity. He saves the patients from "the

The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey is about the power structure of a mental ward from the perspective of a patient, Bromden. The story takes place during the 1950's in Oregon. Many of the patients on the ward are not necessarily insane however do not fit in with pre established societal norms and have chosen a life away from these norms. The men who are voluntary have given in to the staff and follow them like sheep, however, the men who are committed need controlling according to society so they were sent to the ward. The head nurse, Nurse Rached, of the ward keeps control using her staff that has been picked out over years of meticulous selection. The staff under Rached's orders keep control of the patients

Lee’s writing is littered with descriptive and flowery visuals that truly capture both the environment and his emotions. In one such case, he recalls an evening where he “[stared] at the brightest star, viewing it not so much on this night as a beacon, something [he] wanted to believe would lead [he] out of this dark tunnel, but instead as a place [he’d] rather be” (155). His juvenile wistfulness is tangible in the words and the reader can almost feel the chill of the night air. He continues, wishing to be “anywhere but here…[wishing to have] been born anywhere but here.” (155). His yearning twists the heart with sympathy for his lonesome and pitiable plight. This moment is but a minute fraction of the incredibly intimate tale that Lee

In Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the patients in a mental institution are put through a restorative treatment in order to follow the line and fit into society. McMurphy, he who breaks boundaries inspires the rest of the patients to live their lives when they are slowly giving up their struggle for life, to rebel against the authority of the Big Nurse and her undermining attempts to get them to submit to her power and rules. Uniformly disturbing the principal at Welton Academy and a group of determined parents attempt to conform the lives of their children to the ideals of society in the movie Dead Poets Society. The students follow the new ideas brought on by a teacher only to learn of the obstacles that face them. A romantic non-conformist, McMurphy and Keeting who challenge the system and its leaders in turn becoming the ultimate sacrifice, brings them to a new vision. They inspire the oppressed and give them confidence to be successful like Bromden and Todd or to reject reality and fail like Billy and Neil.

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a book in which he dealt with the issues of racism, sex and authority that is going on in a mental institute. In the novel, the women are depicted as the power figures who are able to significantly manipulate the patients on the ward. There are four ways of Ken Kesey’s using of “woman” as a subject: Superiority of male sexuality over female authority, matriarchal system that seeks to castrate men in the society, mother figures as counterpart of Big Nurse and “Womanish” values defined as civilizing in the novel.

Although it may seem that Chief passively accepts the system and it’s methods, his accounts of the treatment implicitly convey Kesey‘s on critique of mental institutions. The cure administered by the hospital is described as the insertion into the patient’s brain of “head installations” (18) or “controls” (45) that produce a dull machine generated man. Once discharged, a fully adjusted patient and turns into a model worker and citizen who is warped in the ways of conformity.

When norms of society are unfair and seem set in stone, rebellion is bound to occur, ultimately bringing about change in the community. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest demonstrates the conflict of individuals who have to survive in an environment where they are pressured to cooperate. The hospital's atmosphere suppresses the patients' individuality through authority figures that mold the patients into their visions of perfection. The ward staff's ability to overpower the patients' free will is not questioned until a man named Randal McMurphy is committed to the mental institute. He rebels against what he perceives as a rigid, dehumanizing, and uncompassionate

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a controversial novel that has left parents and school authorities debating about its influence on students since its publication in 1962. The novel describes the inner workings of a mental institution, how the patients are emasculated and mistreated by the terrifying Nurse Ratched, who will go to any length to control them. But in comes McMurphy, a criminal who chose to go to an asylum rather than serve physical labor; he disrupts the order of the hospital with his big personality and loud opinions, undermining the authority of Nurse Ratched and encouraging the patients to live their own lives, until he too, is silenced forever by authority. With his novel, Ken Kesey paints society as an oppressive

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

After Big Nurse’s disagreement, the patients propose that McMurphy should be sent to the Disturbed but once again Big Nurse disagrees. However, this time Kesey describes her expression as “She smiles around at all of them,” and by using “smile” which creates a paradox of her characteristics. Because the word “smiles” means being in a state of happiness or delight which makes her response extrinsic because such expression is unexpected from an authoritative and cruel figure as Big Nurse. Kesey does this so Big Nurse catches the patients off guard creating an opening for her to takeover through the confusion caused by her expression. Going against her the proposal to send McMurphy to the Disturbed is an effective technique as she is leading them to think that McMurphy’s rebellious behavior is not as remarkable as they think it is. In addition, she furthers her credibility that she is still in control by asking “Would removing him undo the harm that he has done to our ward?” By asking a rhetorical question, it creates a direct confrontation by her that such action is unnecessary and will not solve the issue. Furthermore she adds on, “I believe if he were to be sent to the Disturbed … he would be a martyr,” and because “martyr” symbolizes a Christ like figure. By using it, Through Big Nurse, Kesey is emphasizing how

In the movie One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, we see many different examples of the sociological effect that a controlled environment can have on different individuals. The movie follows Jack Nicholson's character McMurphy. McMurphy is a convicted convict who pleaded insanity to avoid serving his sentence out in jail, hoping to ride it out in a mental hospital. The movie follows him and his struggle with the cruel hospital staff. McMurphy is upset by the treatment of the patients seeing how controlled they are, all forced to be the same. He seems to notice the damaging effects it has on everyone in there. He exploits the staff and the patients numerous times to try to give the patients a taste of freedom and show them how things should be. Basically fighting for their rights. Slowly he started to get institutionalized as well, fighting till the end, in a final attempt at giving the patient's a taste of freedom, Murphy's closest friend in the hospital commits suicide because of the threats Nurse Ratched made towards him for having sexual intercourse with a woman. Murphy lashed out in rage and tried to kill her. He was stopped and punished

While I agree that the heart of this novel is the power struggle that ensues and that RP McMurphy is not "mentally ill", the other patients are more clearly suffering illnesses, to reach the conclusion that McMurphy himself is "not crazy". As readers, we must first examine what it means to be "crazy", both to ourselves and to society at large. When researching Ken Kesey and his life, I had stumbled upon an interesting fact. Ken Kesey heard of a government program that paid people to take part in experiments with psychedelic drugs. When I heard this, I was so shocked, I thought “wow this is going to be a very interesting book.” There were things that I really enjoyed about the book, such as the narrator, McMurphy, and the crazy parties they both threw. Things that I disliked about the book was the death of poor Billy Bibbit, how nurse Ratched treated the

To begin, Kesey portrays society with its repressive nature that makes individuals on the ward conform to certain standards. For example, Chief Bromden describes the great force of society: “the pressures of the different beams and frequencies coming from all directions, working to push and bend you one way or another” (Kensey 239). This is also depicted when the Chief recalls the Combine working on his father when he says, “if

The true form or essence of a particular substance is delegated through perception in the wake of social viewing. It is the reality of self-evaluation in terms of being able to identify the line between what is real and what is a mere figment of assumption.Truth itself is the quintessence of discovery through both the introverted and extroverted explorations of life that strive to define the purpose of being. This concept of “truth” presents the poetic descriptions attributed in Emily Dickinson’s “Much Madness is divinest Sense-” and Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty,” expressing the conceptual idea that truth comes through perception and evaluation.

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is a story revolving around “Chief” Bromden, a schizophrenic patient in a ward who pretends to be deaf and stupid. The ward is controlled by a nurse named Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched has a strict system of control over the ward and her patients, choosing staff members whom follow her loyally. In the ward we have two types of patients; the Acutes and the Chronics, the Acutes are those whom can still be treated and can become ‘model citizens’ while the Chronics are those who the staff believe are long past saving. Chief, the narrator is a Chronic and looks at the happenings within the ward from a passive point of view.