One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Laughter Analysis

Hospitals are meant to help some people heal physically and others mentally. In the novel One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey published in 1962, readers are introduced to a mental hospital that has goals that do not align with helping people. Within the hospital, characters with varied personalities and opinions are intermixed with three main characters playing specific roles with supporting characters close by. With the characters’ motivations, themes develop such as the emasculation of the men in the hospital by an oppressive nurse. Symbols, such as laughter and the “combine”, are also pertinent to themes as the readers watch the men transitioning from being oppressed to being able to stand up for themselves causing change in hospital policy.

"Successively, Selekman explains that fostering therapist-client cooperation is purposive use of self-disclosure, the use of humor, normalizing, demonstrating cultural and gender sensitivity, and therapeutic compliments. Mark Twain once said, 'Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.' Humor can help generate a relaxed atmosphere, influence the client from his or her concerns, and heal those in pain. Madanes (1984) contend that what makes change possible is the therapist's ability to be confident and to see what is funny or desirable in a dire situation'. Laughter releases hormones from the

Norman Cousins said, “Laughter is a powerful way to tap positive emotions" (Moss 1). Humor is studied by many researchers in sociology, psychology, art, literature, and medicine. When people wonder whether humor aids in areas other than health, a treasure trove of possible benefits to the learning or educational community is opened up. Humor can be used as a tool to promote learning.Research speaks to the many benefits of humor in healing, to its benefits in the classroom or boardroom, from reducing stress of students or employees, to boosting self-esteem and feelings of camaraderie. Additionally, studies show that those who use humor to convey a message are often more favorably perceived. Humor helps deliver the presenter's message to

Laughter makes the patients feel good, and, specifically, Bromden feels good and begins to remember other things that made him feel good (Tanner 4). McMurphy’s power in laughter is intensified by Nurse Ratched’s lack of laughter. McMurphy’s laughter and humor are genuine while Nurse Ratched’s humor is forced and smiles are chiseled like in plastic (Wallace 3, 5). Power enables McMurphy to make changes on the ward and to survive in the institution. His sanity compared to the other patients, his manipulations, and his ability to laugh give him the power. He, in turn, gives patients a sense of power by teaching them to laugh at themselves, Nurse Ratched, and the world (Magill 1533).

Laughter relates to positive thinking. The positive thinking helps us to improve our immune system and become healthier. It helps in removing the negative thoughts from our mind and not letting our immune system become worse further.

Laughter is a therapeutic form. In the novel One flew over the cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey laughter represents freedom and an escape from nurse Ratched’s restrictions.

The 1960’s was a period of great dissatisfaction from people who felt their rights were being violated. Millions of Americans, young and old, black and white, came together to fight against racial discrimination and protest the Vietnam War. The government suppressed the southern black population the right to vote, while sponsoring a war in Vietnam that was widely unpopular. Reflecting the anti-establishment movements of the 1960’s, Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It has since become an American classic for its themes of rebellion and nonconformity against an over controlling authority that does not respect individualism and humanity.

In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the lead protagonist, Randle McMurphy, changes over the course of the novel because of the characters that he meets and the effects they have on him. Originally, McMurphy was selfish, disrespectful, and inconsiderate, but then he forms closer bonds with the other characters and they change him and the way he views other people. The characters in the mental hospital struggle with conforming to the dictator in the ward, Nurse Ratched. McMurphy comes into the hospital as a way out of a prison sentence and tries to teach the patients that they need to stand up for themselves and do what they believe is right.

In this book written by Ken Kesey, the main character is a man named R.P. McMurphy who tricks people into thinking that he is a psychopath. To McMurphy, the asylum is a get out of jail free card, which quickly turns out to be something else entirely. However, one vital aspect of this book is the way in which it addresses and provides insight upon several contemporary issues relating to the American healthcare system, by illustrating the ways in which our modern healthcare system has improved and grown in the last five decades. This includes the following areas of healthcare: the need for a healthcare reform, the lack of healthy doctor-patient relationships, and the murky definition of mental illness.

laughter can free a man who is under the control of an unjust authority. Through the

Laughter is a therapeutic form. In the novel One flew over the cuckoo's nest by Ken Kesey laughter represents freedom and an escape from nurse Ratched's restrictions.

1. Passage: “You are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a crown of electric sparks in place of thorns.” (Page 69)

Within a society, non-conformity and individualism are conveyed in a negative light, which is explored through the institutions of both texts. In Kesey’s novel, characters are controlled by the hospital system but there are also those who do not conform to such order and disrupt the enforced demand. Kesey’s Randle McMurphy, conductor of rebellion, introduces laughter into the ward which encourages an element of revolution within characters. In an environment under the control of Nurse Ratched, silence conveys her authority; laughter overthrows her control. McMurphy knows that one has to laugh “to keep the world from running [one] plumb crazy.” The use of sound displays that McMurphy promotes non-conformity through laughter, likewise Mangold’s Lisa also uses laughter to display rebellion. Kesey’s use of imagery portrays that dictatorship rules the system and enforces conformity. The fog machine is Chief Bromden’s defence mechanism against a

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a famous USA movie at November 19, 1975. This movie talks about when Randle Patrick McMurphy was transferred from prison farm to a mental institution, a group people who were diagnosed with mental illness lived here. McMurphy was dynamic, distinguished himself from other patients in the disregard he displays for all authority, the patients treated him as the leader. The big nurse Ratched wanted to controlling over McMurphy as other patients. However, McMurphy was send for a lobotomy after he attacked Ratched, his friend Chief killed McMurphy and finally, he was freedom (Ken Kesey, 2003). This research paper regards to the symptoms, casual factors of narcissistic personality disorder, the type of treatments received from in this film, the influence on others and my personal feelings to this movie.

People always say that laughter alleviates tension. If this is the case, then it makes sense that the use of humor when discussing uncomfortable topics can make the conversation easier and more light-hearted. One of Mark Twain’s most frequently used devices in works such as “Advice to Youth”, “To the Person Sitting in Darkness”, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is satire, which can provide society a method to bond over uncomfortable topics, and facilitate the ability to sustain that bond through an easier way to create discussion.