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Analysis Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

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Ken Kesey, author of the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, voluntarily put himself through a series of drug trials during the psychedelic sixties in which he found the inspiration for the novel (Hunter). He presents the need for a figure giving the people in the ward hope and a savior from patient suffering through symbolism. Irony throughout the novel shows how unclear and faded the line differentiating those who are sane and those who are insane is. Symbolism and irony throughout Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest connects Christian beliefs to patients in a psych ward. Ken Kesey found inspiration to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest through his life experiences. He received a first-hand experience of the life of a …show more content…

When Ellis found himself metaphorically nailed to a wall, it appeared as though he was on a cross “Now he’s nailed like that on the wall… He’s nailed like that on the wall, like a stuffed trophy” (Kesey 15). In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, there are two different groups of patients, the Acutes and the Chronics. The Acutes and Chronics usually do not usually associate with one another (Kesey 17). The relationship between the two groups of patients is similar to the relationship between the Jews and Gentiles in the Bible. In the Bible, Jews and Gentiles loathe each other when they should be helping each other, just as the patients in the ward should unite to help break through their torture. Patients being called birds is comparable to Jesus calling the people he helped “sinners.” McMurphy refers to the patients as “birds” which gives meaning to the title of the novel. Yet another example of Christian symbolism in the novel is Billy Bibbit’s suicide. His betrayal to McMurphy and suicide resembles that of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus and then suicide (Wallis). The Biblical references throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest draws the book

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In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the prolific Christian imagery serves not only to align the protagonist, Randle McMurphy, with Jesus Christ, but to provide an overarching allegory: only God can rescue mankind from the inexorable, bleak future it will spawn. The novel suggests that the bleak, oppressive future is caused by the presence of societal constraints, since government is inherently flawed as are the humans that created and maintain it. The depraved future is fully realized through the careful, populist affectations of the Combine which bely its emasculating ways. Functioning as a modern-day version of Christ, McMurphy, persists in his contrarian, self-immolating efforts to deliver his peers--his disciples--from the evils

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A Christ figure is an element of literature that draws an allusion between a character and Jesus. A Christ figure is often used in to demonstrate how one should act in society. The idea of a Christ figure is presented in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey through the character Randal McMurphy. The idea proven in this novel is that sometimes one must sacrifice himself for the greater good. In the beginning of the novel, like Christ, McMurphy came from wilderness and he begins to collect followers by rebelling against Ratched.

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Ken Kesey’s comic novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, takes place in an all-male psychiatric ward. The head of the ward, Big Nurse Ratched, is female. Kesey explores the power-struggle that takes place when the characters challenge gender dynamics in this environment. One newly-arrived patient, McMurphy, leads the men against the Big Nurse. The story is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a patient who learns from McMurphy and fights for his freedom.

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

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The incorporation of religious themes into Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest depicts McMurphy as a Christ figure, serving to protect the patients from Nurse Ratched. Just as Jesus stands up for all people against the devil, McMurphy altruistically defends the patients of the ward against Nurse Ratched. Kesey includes the theme of selflessness to illustrate that McMurphy acts as a “martyr or saint”, defending the patients regardless of consequences that he may endure (222). McMurphy “risk[s] doubling his stay in the nuthouse” to defend the patients against Nurse Ratched. McMurphy does not care about how much time he must spend in the ward, but instead about helping the patients.

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One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey reveals the insensitive treatment and dehumanization of the mentally ill. The origin of the book is a story of an individual in a mental hospital. Ken Kesey’s character observes the daily life in a psych ward and reveals

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Forcing people to follow a societal norm is detrimental to the health of the mind and body. The struggle between conformers and non conformers creates a schism in society. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey asserts the overarching importance of individuality through the use of a conflict between the patients and the nurse as a microcosm of society. In the novel, the delusions of the narrator create a surreal world that reveals a strong message on the nature of conformity.

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Insanity Essay

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, considers the qualities in which society determines sanity. The label of insanity is given when someone is different from the perceived norm. Conversely, a person is perceived as sane when their behavior is consistent with the beliefs of the majority. Although the characters of this novel are patients of a mental institution, they all show qualities of sanity. The book is narrated by Chief Brodmen, an observant chronic psychiatric patient, who many believe to be deaf and dumb.

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Ken Kesey author of the fictional novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest published in 1962 has taken the opportunity to write about the hippy culture and how society shames difference. Readers are taken to a mental institution in Oregon in the 1950’s and experience what it is like for the outcast people. The men in the ward are run by Nurse Ratched and have lost control of themselves. Majority of these men are in the mental hospital because they have checked themselves in, but not McMurphy he is a convict there for psych evaluation. Do to Nurse Ratched the men loses control over themselves and they haven’t realized till McMurphy walked through the door.

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The “good fisherman” symbolizes Nurse Ratched, the head figure of the asylum who also manifests the abusive, demeaning behavior of the U.S. government toward, not only U.S. citizens, but especially the mentally ill. The “hens” mentioned in the rhyme, represent the disadvantaged and abused American civilians and in the novel, asylum patients. This allusion is effective for helping readers to compare the treatment mentally ill receive from the U.S. government with the treatment of animals. In One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962), Randle McMurphy, the symbol for activism toward the better understanding of mental illnesses and improved quality for the mentally ill, is metaphorically compared to Jesus Christ many times in the book and seen to be the hero of the

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The goal of most mental hospitals is rehabilitation of the human psyche. To be cured of a mental disorder is nearly impossible, but the purpose of these hospitals is to attempt to suppress the id of a person’s subconscious. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey utilizes the psychoanalytic theory and his own life experiences to depict his dynamic character’s dreams, hidden subconscious thoughts, basic desire of their id, and reality of their ego. Kesey uses his character’s dreams to reveal their subconscious desires, express what they wish they could accomplish but are limited due to society’s rules, and showcase what they secretly desire when their subconscious goes unchecked during their sleep.

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