Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Essay

Merriam Webster defines conformity as- “action in accordance with some specified standard or authority”. As it is a type of influence that involves change in belief or behavior in order to fit into a group. Where in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, conformity is a matter of life or death. In the novel and in life, conformity is viewed as an easy way to shape into society's mold. Societal expectations are shaped by the so called “Combine” a mysterious and in the dark figure that is view as the puppeteer of the way society functions. In the Novel, Chief Bromden a long time patient at a psychiatric ward is the first to recognize the Combine and its powers. At the same time that this novel was written, the society of the 1950s was being challenged by a group known as the beat generation who wanted to reject and challenge the stringent norms that the majority deemed as appropriate and necessary. While many members of society supported the beliefs of conformity, in many ways the need for “societal-misfits” was vital to secure a community where all people would have a voice. While many did their best to challenge the Combine, in the end the Combine would prevail, but the ideas of those who spoke out would resonate with others. The Combine is an unstoppable force fueled by conformity, but Ken Kesey explains that the only way for progress in the novel (and society) is for a McMurphy type of character to challenge the Combine.

Second in a discussion of power are the women associated with the patients. The supervisor at the hospital is associated with the patients by controlling who is employed to take care of the patients. Nurse Ratched and the supervisor served in the Army together as nurses. They are still very close and have a good relationship. Because of this relationship, Nurse Ratched’s employment is secured and others won’t stand up to her for fear of losing their own jobs. Harding states “In this hospital, the doctor doesn’t hold the power of hiring and firing. That power goes to the supervisor and the supervisor is a woman, a dear old friend of Miss Ratched’s” (61). The receptionist on the ward is Nurse Ratched’s neighbor

Other patients on the ward begin to stand up to Nurse Ratchet and her rules. For instance, Cheswick hollers “ Rules? Piss on your fucking rules, Miss Ratched!” (Forman One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Film). A momentary outburst from Cheswick is an indicator that McMurphy has been able to model a sense of indignance at all of their treatment, and this is now being emulated by other patients through their behaviour towards Nurse Ratched. Another instance of patients talking down to Ratchet is when Sefelt states “Maybe he'll just show Nurse Ratched his big thing and she'll open the door for him.” (Forman One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Film). In this statement the use of sexual language is about empowerment. This makes reference to the possibility that McMurphy holds the key to their liberation from Nurse Ratchet’s control through his capacity to dominate her both sexually and otherwise. His ability to stand up to her and challenge her has captured Sefelt’s

Searching for an archetype, or an example, when trying something for either the first time or something that is daunting is a common train of thought for a person. This same idea can apply to Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in which the protagonist essentially becomes an embodiment of a hero. This piece of literature takes place in the 1960’s, and is presented through the vision of Chief Bromden, a patient that is stuck within an figment of imagination where those who fall to the mechanical system become the machines themselves. The novel’s lead character, Randle Patrick McMurphy, assumes the role of a hero, in both a classical and contemporary sense, where he is pitched against Big Nurse Ratched, a tyrannical force within the

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell). Although animals might only look like animals, they are symbols of deeper meanings. Throughout the fiction novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, many symbols/motifs are presented in the form of animals that represent characters. These animals give meaning to the story and illuminate the plot by giving insight on character development, parallels, themes and thought processes of characters. McMurphy represents the Geese, Nurse Ratched is rendered as a wolf and the Patients are portrayed as hens and rabbits.

Ratched is drastically changed by Bromden’s point of view. While in the movie, Ms. Ratched seems rigid, strict, and controlling, Bromden’s descriptions in the book paint her as a manipulative monster. When he describes Ratched’s transformation into her “real self,” he describes her growing huge. Her size is a metaphor for how much power she has over everyone in the hospital. In the movie, Ms. Ratched’s personality can only be developed by her actions. Because of this, her characterization is much less powerful, and she seems less as, to quote the patients, “a ball-cutter.” This takes away from the main conflict in the movie of nurse Ratched versus the protagonist, Randall

In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey shows the reader the idea of sanity versus insanity. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is about the struggle between chaos and order. There is no freedom without a little chaos, yet to maintain the order there must be oppression. McMurphy upsets the routine of the ward by asking for schedule changes and aspiring resistance during therapy sessions. He teaches his fellow inmates to have fun, and encourages them to embrace their human desires. He does this by convincing them that not only are they sane, but they are man (real people), in contrast nurse Ratched as an authoritarian. He soon discovers due to this that he is not only trapped behind physical walls but mental ones as well. Many patients

Regarding Miss Ratched, she seems to show signs of passive-aggressive behavior throughout the book. This behavior adds to her manipulative ways and contributed to the decrease of the patients’ progress (mental/physical state). Passive-aggressive behavior is used to maintain control and power because it’s a way for her to not display any signs of weakness. Miss Ratched, also known as the Big Nurse to the patients, fights hard to remain as the top authority figure in the Ward due to her thirst for power. To maintain the control over the men, she emasculates them, stripping them of their masculinity, in various ways to prevent the chance of an uproar against her. For instance, after a group meeting regarding Harding’s problem with his wife’s breasts, the patients attack Harding. In response, McMurphy provides an analogy of a pecking party to the current

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

Laughter proves a vital role in helping the patients deal with their problems. Not only does it help them deal with problems but it also gave them the push toward progress on getting out of the institution. Randall McMurphy is sent to the asylum, he shows them that to laugh is good, and laughing at yourself can sometimes be the best medicine. He is the comic healer who gives life to the otherwise hopeless patients of the asylum. McMurphy was the one who started making people laughing in the ward. When he first came into the ward he was cracking jokes and shaking everybody’s hand. (16) No one in the ward responded with any real response but confusion. Nobody knew what laughter was in the ward, it was taken from them. The only thing they had was board games and Mrs. Ratched’s music (15). The ward was a very depressing place.

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

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a story that has touched the lives of many people since the publishing of the novel by Ken Kesey in 1962 and the premier of the film (directed by Miloš Forman) in 1975. The story has remained timeless and continues to be a critical part of the educational curriculum. This is because the story-line continues to relate to current themes and issues our society is experiencing. One of these issues including the need for rebellion against a strict autocracy or governing body. It is evident throughout both the film and the novel rebellion is needed by those who are a minority, by individuals, and those within our society.

Even her name, Ratched, can be interpreted as a tool, the ratchet, or a word meaning filled with misery, wretched. She works as the head administrative nurse in a mental institution which is the Salem, Oregon State Hospital, where she maintains complete control over her patients' privileges and basic necessities of life, withdrawing them whenever a patient displeases her. In the novel, Nurse Ratched is presented as “a bitch and a buzzard and a ball-cutter,” (Kesey, 1962, p. 36) as said by Harding, one of her patients. There are also constant sexual references towards her “big, womanly breasts,” (Kesey, 1962, p. 8) which Nurse Ratched attempts to conceal, as evidenced by the quote; “in spite of all her attempts to conceal them, in that sexless get-up, you can still make out the evidence of some rather extraordinary breasts,” (Kesey, 1962, p. 42). This “sexless get-up” that is mentioned in the novel refers to, “Her uniform, even after she’s been here half a day, is still starched so stiff it don’t exactly bend any place; it cracks sharp at the joints with a sound like a frozen canvas being folded,” (Kesey, 1962, p. 27).

     The one that flies over the cuckoo's nest is the giant, allegedly deaf-mute Chief Bromden. In Ken Kesey's original novel, Chief narrates the story, providing evocative images of an all-powerful bureaucratic 'harvesting machine' fostering functionalist social integration: a combine that would process out individuality, thus creating compliant individuals (the exaggerated representation of this in the film's ward is a microcosm of society at large). Those who did not conform would be relegated to a correctional facility for repair or removal.

   The choice that a novelist makes in deciding the point of view for a novel is hardly a minor one. Few authors make the decision to use first person narration by secondary character as Ken Kesey does in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  By choosing Bromden as narrator instead of the central character of Randle Patrick McMurphy, Kesey gives us narration that is objective, that is to say from the outside of the central character, and also narration that is subjective and understandably unreliable. The paranoia and dementia that fill Bromden's narration set a tone for the struggle for liberation that is the theme of the story. It is also this choice of narrator that leads