The One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Literary Analysis

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".

“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

A theme that keeps reoccurring throughout the book is, never backing down or running away from your past. It is correct that at first, Somaly ran away from the brothel with her husband, Pierre, and went to live in France for a while, however they moved back. “Your experience is yours forever. Keep it and find a way to use it” (page 156), the best motto that fit the story. In the book when Pierre and Somaly moved back to Kratie in Cambodia, where she started volunteering in the mornings with a MSF clinic. During the mornings, some girls would come in seeking help for their sicknesses or AIDS so they could work, however, the nurses who see who they were judge them causing neglect to help them. Although, Somaly knew from experience it was not the girls fault and had to do something to help them, since the workers

While in the ward Kesey underwent many psychoactive drugs such as cocaine, LSD, and Mescaline. During his stay at the ward, Kesey had the opportunity to talk to mentally ill patients and believed the patients were not insane but rather misunderstood by society's conventional views (Bernaerts). Due to his experience in the psychiatric ward it inspired and served as a basis for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, it demonstrated the maltreatment established by an offensive system against the individual. By the time Kesey began to work on his next novel, he believed the key to personal liberation was psychedelic drugs, and he often wrote under the influence of LSD. Like Cuckoo, the resulting work, Sometimes a Great Notion (published in 1964) focused on questions of individuality and conformity. Throughout all this, Ken Kesey used it up and wrote down the life changing events and piled it into one making One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel that encapsulates a unique view of an already unique decade. By presenting the decade through the perspective of a mentally unstable group of people, it is seen the harm done to everyone in the decade, regardless of race, class, social standing, political values, or mental

After Big Nurse’s disagreement, the patients propose that McMurphy should be sent to the Disturbed but once again Big Nurse disagrees. However, this time Kesey describes her expression as “She smiles around at all of them,” and by using “smile” which creates a paradox of her characteristics. Because the word “smiles” means being in a state of happiness or delight which makes her response extrinsic because such expression is unexpected from an authoritative and cruel figure as Big Nurse. Kesey does this so Big Nurse catches the patients off guard creating an opening for her to takeover through the confusion caused by her expression. Going against her the proposal to send McMurphy to the Disturbed is an effective technique as she is leading them to think that McMurphy’s rebellious behavior is not as remarkable as they think it is. In addition, she furthers her credibility that she is still in control by asking “Would removing him undo the harm that he has done to our ward?” By asking a rhetorical question, it creates a direct confrontation by her that such action is unnecessary and will not solve the issue. Furthermore she adds on, “I believe if he were to be sent to the Disturbed … he would be a martyr,” and because “martyr” symbolizes a Christ like figure. By using it, Through Big Nurse, Kesey is emphasizing how

Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, tells a fictionalized tale regarding a mental asylum in the 1960s. By analyzing the novel, we can see that Kesey argues that games are the ideal and natural manner in which homosocial communities and friendships are created, which ultimately benefit men by allowing them to resolve their issues surrounding masculinity; Kesey argues that games are the antithesis to the authority observed in society and institutions which aim to control men within rules and standards.

Literary elements play a very important role in literature discussed in How to read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. It adds richness to a novel helping convey complex concepts. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, Kesey loads the novel with insightful literary elements that bring dimension to his story. The book is also jam packed with literary devices that range from Chapter 1: Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It’s Not), to Chapter 14: Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too in Foster’s book. Focusing on Chapter 12: Is that a Symbol? , Kesey fills One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with several dynamic symbols that make it facile for his reader to analyze, interpret and connect to his work.

In the convoluted mess of the botched colonization of Mars in The Martian Chronicles and the horrors of mental institutions in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest arise many intricate similarities and differences. Both The Martian Chronicles and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest have characters who oppose change, strive for freedom, and oppose the status quo; however, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the maintenance of current norms is portrayed as evil while in The Martian Chronicles it is painted as an act of heroism.

Medication was also a treatment portrayed the film that had important contributions to the plot of the movie. Many of the scenes within One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest included either the patients taking their medication, or conflict that occurred at the medication window. The use of drugs within metal institutions is a large part of the treatment process, and has been for some time. However, it is not well understood how the different types of drugs are administered. Usher, Baker, and Holmes (2010) wanted to research how PRN (pro re nata) medications, or medications that are used as needed, are prescribed in mental health settings by clinical professionals. Usher, Baker, and Holmes (2010) recruited 16 nurses and doctors from local mental health services to be in the study. Each participant was given a scenario, followed by a questionnaire of how they would react to the situation in the scenario. Each scenario

In essence, the unbending traditions coupled with the pressure to conform to the institute’s perception of normal, creates a microcosm of society in both texts. The strictly enforced routine in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is used as a tool to portray the struggle for independence. Patients bend to conformity by not only the influence of the totalitarian Head Nurse Ratched, but also by the monotonous daily life. Any deviance from the ‘normal’ was met with cruel punishment through the threat of the electroshock table and other de-masculating forms of punishment. The Chief’s commentary on the daily routine, reflections on Nurse Ratched and her interactions with the patients is how Kesey demonstrates the extreme institutionalisation to the

Throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey often uses fog as a symbol. Although fog may have been used as a symbol in other literary works, they do not hold a candle to the fog’s significance in Kesey’s piece. While reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, two major interpretations can be made for the symbolism of fog. For one, fog is symbolic of the waste that our mechanized society produces, and it pollutes the way we live naturally. In one instance, Chief and his inmates were asleep while the Combine were inspecting the ward (Kesey 90). During this time, Chief was afraid of them, the fog, and the mechanized society in general. On the other hand, fog symbolizes the fog of the mind -- after all, chief is schizophrenic -- and it

The main character, McMurphy, represents ideas of sexuality, freedom, self-determination. Nurse Ratched represents ideas of sexual repression, authoritarianism, and conservation. Billy Bibbit’s behavior represents and shows the influence and effects that guilt has on people. Ruckly, is a chronic patient that suffers from having too much electroshock therapy, and in his mental state holds a “Jesus Christ” pose, arms out forming a cross. He cannot move unless the “nails” are removed from his hands. The Aides Warren and Williams represent oppression and the unfairness that was to colored people back in the day. How this is represented is the patients use slang towards them and call them “boy.” When the Aides speak they use incorrect grammar and slang. Also due to the oppression and unfairness that they have dealt with all their lives they are very bitter and cruel people. They abuse the patients behind Nurse Ratched’s back and are constantly taunting and teasing them, doing nothing to help the patients already corrupted mental state. Finally, when the Nurse is being choked, the Aides, fed up with doing the same amount of work and getting paid less, and having to obey everything Nurse says, just watch and let it happen behaving almost pleased about the

Ken Kesey had a fairly normal life did sports went to college . Every thing shifted once he volunteered as a subject to take“mind-altering drugs and asked to report on their effects.”(Biography Ken Kesey ) At the same time he was working in the hospital in the psychiatric ward witch led to the writing of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The novel intakes the treatment of the patients and “themes of individuality and rebellion against conformity, ideas that were widely discussed at a time”(spark notes ofotcn).The novel actually is taken from Oliver