Theme Of Mental Asylum In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's 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".

The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey is about the power structure of a mental ward from the perspective of a patient, Bromden. The story takes place during the 1950's in Oregon. Many of the patients on the ward are not necessarily insane however do not fit in with pre established societal norms and have chosen a life away from these norms. The men who are voluntary have given in to the staff and follow them like sheep, however, the men who are committed need controlling according to society so they were sent to the ward. The head nurse, Nurse Rached, of the ward keeps control using her staff that has been picked out over years of meticulous selection. The staff under Rached's orders keep control of the patients

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.

As the seeds of McMurphy’s influence are being planted, the men on the ward still won’t take any gambles or let loose and have fun (with the exception of McMurphy’s casino), choosing to stay with the mechanical and manufactured routine. As the Acutes begin to gamble more on the ward, the doctor proposes using the old tub room as “...a sort of second day room, a game room” (111), which is a gamble in itself for the doctor, because he knows the nurse will shoot it down. With the help of some forward thinking from the doctor the idea is approved, and the patients begin gambling on more games, even betting on Monopoly at one point and the World Series. To watch the games, McMurphy proposes at a group meeting that the television time on the ward be changed and it’s put to a vote that the other men are too cagey to actually participate in for cynicism that the Nurse will cheat and get her way. Pissed off at the Acutes, McMurphy bets that he can lift a large control panel in the tub room. They all bet more than they usually do, because they know that McMurphy can’t possibly lift the control panel, and when McMurphy inevitably fails, he give all the Acutes the accumulated IOUs back and says, “But I tried, though...Goddammit, I sure as hell did that much, didn’t I?” (125). McMurphy establishes the main

To illustrate the mental institute, the narrator describes remembering “the trapdoor… and find the girl tied to a bed (Ellison 74).” Many medical facilities have a seclusion room where they isolate patients who are violent or self-destructive, with medical restraints, according to Gale Springer from the American Nurse Today. The girl tied to the bed symbolizes the use of medical restraints and “her clothing torn to rags (Ellison 74),” suggest that the girl was doing harm upon herself or to others. One may think the narrator’s comment on “everything was fixed (Ellison 75),” was about the constant visits to the “bingo hall” looking the same. In the perspective of a mental institute, an

When norms of society are unfair and seem set in stone, rebellion is bound to occur, ultimately bringing about change in the community. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest demonstrates the conflict of individuals who have to survive in an environment where they are pressured to cooperate. The hospital's atmosphere suppresses the patients' individuality through authority figures that mold the patients into their visions of perfection. The ward staff's ability to overpower the patients' free will is not questioned until a man named Randal McMurphy is committed to the mental institute. He rebels against what he perceives as a rigid, dehumanizing, and uncompassionate

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”.

Wright, D. (1997). Getting out of the asylum: understanding the confinement of the insane in the nineteenth century. Social History of Medicine, 10, 13

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

In the asylums during the 50’s, patients were allowed to smoke, were admitted for petty issues such as jealousy, or laziness and were also treated with harsh consequences like electroshock therapy or lobotomies. I would recommend this book because it gives a special message, that we can change the structure of society – if we possess enough determination, courage, and perseverance. McMurphy showed his courage and determination by not giving up when trying to make the other patients happy, while still trying to get into Nurse Ratched’s head. Throughout the story, I have noticed that McMurphy could be looked at as a God, because he “cured” the patients by providing them with hope and happiness. McMurphy’s death could be referred to as Jesus dying for people’s sins. Overall, I believe this was a very good book and would be in my top five favorites. The message that “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” brings, and the close relationships all the characters have really pull the book together and present a bittersweet

Unfortunately, asylum founders could only guess at the causes of insanity. Patient after patient was admitted into the state hospitals, but the cause of their disturbance was often a mystery. Many were inflicted with various organic diseases, like dementia, Huntington’s disease, brain tumors, and many were in the third stage of syphilis. With no treatments available, providing humane care was all that could be done. In the years following the civil war American cities boomed and the asylum began struggling to keep up. Soldiers, freed slaves, and immigrants were stranded in a strange land. The asylum became organized more like a factory or small town. There were upper and lower classman, bosses and workers, patients with nothing, and patients with privileges. Sarah Burrows, a schizophrenic and daughter of a wealthy doctor had a ten bedroom house that was built for her on the hospital grounds. Burrows home was just a stone’s throw away from the hospital’s west wing, where over sixty black women slept side by side. (Asylum: A History of the Mental Institution in America). The hospital began to rely on the free labor the patients provided. However, isolating the hospital from the community meant there was no way of knowing what was happening inside the asylum. The asylum became a world apart. In the 1870’s, Elizabeth Packard, a former patient of St. Elizabeth’s, wrote about her mistreatment and abuse

The author of the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Keasey, received his inspiration for the book while volunteering at a veteran's hospital. This is where he was first introduced to LSD. The moment he tried it, he became addicted, and began experimenting on himself with the drugs, observing the effects. The novel deals with the tyrannical rule of head Nurse Ratched in a mental hospital somewhere in Oregon. She runs all business and daily life in the asylum to her every whim and rules the ward by fear and manipulation. This has gone on for as long as the narrator, Chief Bromden, can remember. However a new patient, Randle McMurphy, enters the hospital and begins to wreak havoc upon the system

Oregon State Hospital in One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest was built using the Kirkbride Plan was its foundation. This meant the patients were to be treated with a high level of ethical respect, opposed to the treatment patients received in the book. The question that now arises is, just how realistic is the novel when it comes to the general rules, layout, and procedures in a mental hospital?

A variety of treatment techniques were present in the mental facility. We will examine those of McMurphy, Nurse Ratchett, and the head doctor. Nurse Ratchett and the head

In the opening scene of the film we are shown a wide range shot filled with hills and a sense of freedom, which is a complete opposite to the restraining walls of the psychiatric institution. All of the doors are kept locked, furniture is secured to the hard floors, all the walls bare as well as clothing are all plain and unadorned. All the sense of freedom, individuality, independence becomes nothing more than a distant memory. A lot of the scenes in the film are static rather than dynamic which only adds to the feeling of confinement. Jack Nicholson's character is a ‘free spirited’, outspoken person who has no respect for authority. When McMurphy is first admitted into the institute he has an interview by a psychiatrist. The doctor asks McMurphy