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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Laughter Analysis

Decent Essays

Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest portrays the importance of humour in human nature. Laughter is the main source of physiological recovery for the voluntary men staying on Nurse Ratched’s ward. The men are so detached from reality, that the ward is a place without laughter and minimal emotion until Randle McMurphy arrives. The pressure the ward exerts on the inmates strips them of their identities until they are reminded of what it feels like to be normal while on the fishing trip. The patients free themselves from the sovereignty of the Nurse when the ward party proves their strength and sanity. McMurphy’s humour provides psychiatric improvement for the inmates as they regain their individuality.
The absence of laughter on …show more content…

In order to liberate themselves, the group’s “biggest step is their laughing binge, led by McMurphy, because laughter shows people are free” (Macky). On their road to recovery, the men do not openly laugh nor talk, despite their saviour’s best efforts, as they feel they are restraint by the Nurse. Laughing symbolizes the bits of freedom attained by the men as they break their restrictive bonds with the Nurse. The more they laugh, the closer the men become to being sane. McMurphy knows the key to proving the men are sane is showing them they are strong, but they “can’t really be strong until [they] see a funny side to things” (Kesey 239). The rebel knows his humour is his strength against the Nurse as he attempts to spread it throughout the ward. The slight giggling shows progress of the men starting to open up to the idea of acknowledging the humour in things, and reacting. McMurphy urges progress while offering hope, as he is a source of providing therapeutic therapy through his laughing ability. During the situation on the fishing trip, Chief describes the roaring as “a laughter that rang out on the water in ever-widening circles, farther and farther, until it crashed up on beaches all over the coast” (250). By refusing to offer help while Candy struggles with the fishing line, McMurphy allows the men to fend for themselves while he sits back and laughs. The men finally have the capacity to find the humour in the situation, thus, relieving themselves of pain. The group as a whole laughs at their foolishness, knowing life is enjoyable. The human interaction provided by the fishing trip allows the men to become familiar with feelings they were stripped of by the

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