“One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”: an Allegory of Communism

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger depicts a narration of Holden Caulfield’s encounters. Holden is portrayed as a high school student that is judgmental towards adults while kinder to the youth. Holden does not want to grow up and he thinks that if one is approaching adulthood, one will turn into a phony. Holden’s leniency towards younger people, such as his sister, is because of his dilemma of growing up or not, his distaste for adult phonies, and his own childhood.

The Fall of Saigon on April 30th, 1975, marked the end of nearly two decades of fighting between the Russia and China backed communist North Vietnam and the US backed right wing South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese army entered Saigon, the free world was horrified at what it believed to be major drawback in its attempt to defeat communism around the world. In accordance with the domino theory, that same year, the capitals of neighboring former french colonies, Cambodia and Laos, both of which were also run by right wing regimes supported by the US, fell to communist insurgencies Khmer Rouge and Pathet Lao respectively. It took the communists three decades, millions of lives, and the destruction of billions of dollars in infrastructure and assets overthrow these western backed governments. So what gave these people, especially in Vietnam, incentive to sacrifice so much to “free” themselves from those governments and embrace communism as their system of governance? As this question is answered, it is important to identify aspects of the communist ideology that appeal to the general population, as well as how it goes along with Vietnamese culture, the actual practice and execution of the ideology.

The Vietnam war did not even have to happen. Vietnam was all the way across the world and it did not even matter if it was a communist country, at least then we would have it for a ally. When we started to fight with them we became not on the same side anymore. The TV’s showed us being the good guys down at Vietnam. John Kerry wrote an article explaining Vietnam’s war. “We saw America lose her sense of morality as she accepted very coooly a My Lai and refused to give up the image of American soldiers who hand out chocolate bars and chewing gum” (p.3). The idea of what we were doing in Vietnam was twisted to make it seem as gentle as possible.

Political leaders could not let this system, that they highly opposed be accepted into their country. Even within our own shores, the growing popularity of the CPA saw it almost banned because of the threat it had on the nation. Advisors and spys mainly from the U.S increased and were distributed into North Vietnam, not knowing the rebellion of Vietminh and Viet Cong soldiers were planning. After the communist revolution in China in 1949, the reliable primary source 5 image, shows the strength and people power coming in support of the North Vietnamese from China. The reliable secondary source 4 explains that we must be afraid of communism and the intensions and campaigns it is putting forth, as the U.S must defend the freedom of people in these neighbouring countries. Primary source 1 image further emphasises this with the domino theory, that if one country is going to fall to the communism reshime, the rest will follow, especially the vulnerable nations that surround Vietnam, including Cambodia and

Many different groups in Vietnam would use the American press to express their opinions to the American people. When Diem was in power, he oppressed the people of South Vietnam.

According to Aristotle, “a perfect tragedy should be […] that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or some depravity, but by some error or frailty” (Butcher 45). The novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, follows ‘Chief’ Bromden, the narrator, as he copes with life in a mental asylum in the 1950’s after the arrival of McMurphy, a stubborn and hot-headed new patient. Aristotle first defined the perfect protagonist of a tragedy in his book Poetics, published around 300 BC. His ideas of what characteristics constitute a tragic hero continue to be used to this day in analyzing the role individuals play in literature. Because McMurphy is fundamentally good yet also flawed, and because with his demise comes a significant message, he can be considered a tragic hero.

Orwell effectively conveys the rise of communism in Russia throughout the book Animal Farm by the accurate elucidation of the context in the Soviet Union from 1917-1945. Orwell’s attitude and political view towards Russia is evident in his representation of the farm animals on Communist Party leaders: Napoleon and Snowball, for example, are figurations of Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky, respectively. He expresses the anthropomorphic characters of farm animals, and major events in Animal Farm such as the Rebellion and the construction of the windmill, reminiscent of the Russian Revolution and the “Five-Year Plans”. Orwell also uses many techniques to describe the crucial points in Animal Farm by metaphoric language and allegorical means

Today, our World is a lot safer than 1960s. With emerge of civil rights; The United States was at its own War in 1960s. Despite, the differences and political crisis inside the Country, American politicians denied the fact that Americans were at their own War. Chronically, the Government threatened most of Civil rights Movement leaders to death, but they fought for people’s rights against discrimination. Meanwhile, the United States was unrest with emerging Vietnamese War. With the help from Soviet Union, the Communist Government of Vietnam was trying to destroy Southern Vietnamese. To stop spreading out the Communism in Vietnam, the United States intervention required. In this essay I will talk about how American Government

The Vietnam War, is widely regarded as a conflict that divided public opinion in the United States and influenced civilian perceptions on international relations. The conflict lasted for over twenty years and began after a policy of communism was introduced in the North after the withdrawal of French imperialists. The American government was highly concerned with the spread of communism in Asia (known as the Domino Theory) and wanted to end the possible political threat. Over time, the war has became a part of American social memory and is especially known for its distribution of iconic imagery of civilian atrocities. Through these images, varying tales have been told and have brought into question American values, as well as possible hidden motivations of both the government and the press. Over the course of several decades, a popular myth has formed that photojournalism was a critical hallmark to the effectiveness of the anti-war movement, however the public perception of the imagery was commonly not out of sympathy for the Vietnamese people who were victims, but dissatisfaction with the influx of internal confusion and misinformation. This essay will argue the Vietnam War 's use of photojournalism, ultimately contributed to the questioning of American values, as well as the hidden motives of government and media outlets that remains a concern in modern America.

“People don't want other people to get high, because if you get high, you might see the falsity of the fabric of the society we live in.” This quote by Ken Kesey embodies his view of society in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest. He depicts the modern society through Nurse Ratched, a strong authoritarian figure, that embellishes the nature of society. Nurse Ratched is notorious in her endeavors to control the men and uses her power to regulate the men. In this domain the beams of society cause the men to shrink from individual freedom that is reawakened with McMurphy, who teaches the men to be bold in the face of society. In Kesey’s work he highlights several major ideas about society. He illustrates the repressive nature of society that causes men to conform to boundaries. Further, he depicts how society rejects those who are deemed defective in the system. Lastly, he also illustrates how society is a major cause of shame and indignity. Thus, Kensey delineates the nature of society as being repressive, selective, and a cause of diffidence.

were affected by the Vietnam War. I learned that many South Vietnamese were persecuted for not supporting the idea of Communism. They were being executed, being placed in prison camps, or were being horribly

Our perspective of a stranger whom we’ve never met nor seen, but only heard of through the mouth of the enemy’s opinion, will inevitably align with the only version of the story we’ve heard. This sort of bias is found in Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with Nurse Ratched’s depiction through the narration by Chief Bromden. The reliability of Bromden’s perspective is questionable, as it is his interpretation of the world, rather than what it actually is.

China has been a communist country since the communist revolution took place in 1949, since then China has been ruled by the dictator Mao Tse-Tung. However the Chinese dictator died in September 1976, he was hailed abroad as one of the worlds’ great leaders. Certainly one of the more impressive aspects of the Chinese communist government, has been the willingness of the people to protest against it (3, pg. 4).

     What is Communism? Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat. It also can be defined as a conceptualized system of government in which resources and production facilities are the property of the entire society rather than individuals. In a communist society, labor is shared equally as well, and the benefits of labor are distributed according to need (Communism.4all 1). No one person shall be ranked higher than another and there is to be one person in charge of the society in a communism government. There are still to this day many countries that fall under the rule of communism and the ways they were transformed under communist rule is quite interesting.

In the beginning Communism seemed to the people of Russia as a utopian ideal. The promise of the elimination of classes, of guaranteed employment, "The creation of a comprehensive social security and welfare system for all citizens that would end the misery of workers once and for all." Lenin's own interpretation of the Marxian critique was that to achieve Communism there would first have to be a socialist dictatorship to first suppress any dissent or protest. Through coercive tactics this new government seized power and in 1917 Lenin came to power. Under his "rule" Russia underwent radical changes in it's economic doctrines adopting a mixed which was termed the New Economic Policy, also referred to as NEP. This