Essay on Setting in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a unique fiction novel about oppression and rebellion in an American 1950's Mental Hospital. In this highly distinctive novel, setting definitely refers to the interior, the interiors of the Institution. It also refers to the period this novel this was set in, the 50's, 60's where McCarthyism was dominant. Furthermore, it has great symbolic value, representing issues such as the American struggle of freedom and conformity. This essay shall discuss the ‘setting' & its significance towards Ken Kesey's "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest".

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey during a time in our society when pressures of our modern world seemed at their greatest. Many people were, at this time, deemed by society’s standards to be insane and institutionalized. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set in a ward of a mental institution. The major conflict in the novel is that of power. Power is a recurring and overwhelming theme throughout the novel. Kesey shows the power of women who are associated with the patients, the power Nurse Ratched has, and also the power McMurphy fights to win. By default, he also shows how little power the patients have.

Society is governed by a set of rules and laws that help to maintain order and efficiency. However, the rules and laws that are set may be given by one person and is not acceptable by society or an individual. This could lead to challenging authority and becoming an individual and not a statistic in society. Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, one of the main characters, Randle McMurphy, defies all the rules given once entering the mental hospital. In doing so, he challenges Nurse Ratched's authority which disturbs the order in the ward. Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,a children folk rhyme, and a Beatles song, Tomorrow Never Knows, depict the power and control one may have over society or an individual.

Fear was a major factor, in using allegories to relate The Crucible to McCarthyism. As in both individual times, people often disassociated themselves from any means that could possibly have them relate to those crimes. The McCarthyism era, was a dark time for the United States, citizens were alarmed at the rising number of communists throughout Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. With an obscure veil of fear, altering people's judgements, the basis of the countryś beliefs began to tremble. As stated in paragraph three, of the McCarthyism Introduction, ¨The

“Loose lips sink ships”, was a popular term coined in the early 1940’s to suppress communism. This quote along with many other movies, books, art and music, have come out of that time to show the effect of McCarthyism aka “The Red Scare”. Herblock a political cartoonist and Arthur Miller the author of “The Crucible” both had a large impact on people’s intake of McCarthyism. There are similarities and differences between Herblock and Miller and the way they went about telling the story of McCarthyism. But they both expressed through different mediums how harmful the effects of McCarthyism left on the nation. The differences between them are detailed within their work and the similarities are they both realized one person was in charge but had not a lot of power and another person with the actual power. And they both realized the fake evidence that Senator McCarthy was giving out and related that fact into their form of art.

Joseph McCarthy 's time in office was a very intense and nerve racking period since he used brutal force to track down suspected communist. In the excerpt “How McCarthyism Worked” states, “Taking advantage of people 's concerns about communism, McCarthy made one

“A success, they say, but I say he’s just another robot for the Combine and might be better off as a failure…”(17).

   In 1962, when One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (the Nest), was published, America was at the start of decade that would be characterized by turmoil. Involvement in Vietnam was increasing, civil rights marches were taking place in the south and a new era of sexual promiscuity and drug use was about to come into full swing. Young Americans formed a subgroup in American society that historians termed the “counterculture”. The Nest is a product of time when it was written. It is anti-authoritarian and tells the tale of a man's rebelling against the establishment. Kesey used metaphor to make a social commentary on the America of the sixties. In this paper I will

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey tells the story of a psychiatric ward in Oregon through a schizophrenic patient named Chief Bromden, and how his world as well as the lives of those like him take a dramatic turn after Randle McMurphy, a conman, is introduced into the ward. The novel makes heavy use of symbolism in order to continue the biblical allusions that are introduced early on in the novel. The biblical allusions used in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” are the crucifixion of Jesus in the form of the Shock Shop, and a savior of the sinned in Randle McMurphy.

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

Throughout the film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", many changes differentiate the movie from the book. Not only can these differences be seen in the characters of the novel, but also in the series of events that make this story so interesting. In this essay, the significance of these differences will be revealed as well as the reasons for the changes.

     Sometimes in life people are forced to conform to a certain situation for lack of a better alternative, and this is the case in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. These such people lack the will to stand up for their scruples, and intern are simply guided through their mundane lives by the powers that be. Until someone comes along offering them leadership and the prospect to become “big again.” The man who does so is no other than R.P. McMurphy. Scanlon, Harding, Bibbit, and Chief Bromden may have become adjusted to the oppressive system in which they lived, but certainly were much better adjusted to the real world and life in general after their experience with McMurphy.

Conformity has been the target of many works of literature even before Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye spewed angst about everyone around him being a “phony.” To many people, there are forces in the social order that shape others to fit a certain mold, and one who does not fit the mold will be considered an outcast by society. During the 1960’s, rebellion was a shared act among the majority, including authors and artists; this was due to the conflict in the East as well as the Civil Rights movement. To these people, the government was a criminal, even a machine perhaps, which threatened one’s individuality. This provides some historical context on the background of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ken Kesey, the author, worked in

Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a creation of the socio-cultural context of his time. Social and cultural values, attitudes and beliefs informed his invited reading of his text.

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.