Society In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

The protagonist in The Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield, lives in a society where he feels uncomfortable and fears to be a part of. He criticizes the norms and the expectations the society has on the youth. As a young man who lives in this society he feels neglected and does not want to enter adulthood. Referring to the secondary resources, he is a social impotent upper-middle class youth who is entirely dependent upon institutions that have failed him (Salzman, 79). Holden has changed schools several times. His current school that he attends will shorty leave is Pencey prep. ‘’ Since 1888 we have been molding boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men ’’(Salzman, 2). Pencey prep takes pride in molding boys into men but in reality their

In contrast, the society in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s nest differs from the society in Catcher In The Rye. The men in the ward in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s nest live in a rigid military society where they have escaped to due to the neglect and hostility the felt in the real world. They do not feel safe in the outside world so therefore they exclude themselves from it and enters another society, the psychiatric ward that is run by an impassive nurse, Nurse Ratched. Some of the men are there voluntarily, such as the novel’s protagonist, Randle McMurphy who is a diagnosed psychopath but chooses to enter the ward thinking it would be more comfortable there than in the outside world. Other important

The fear of being looked down upon misunderstood and judged are factors resulting in them escaping that society. But as they enter the new society which is the ward they begin to fear again, this time the authority. The men fear Nurse Ratched, except from McMurphy who pushes her buttons and tries to provoke her and tries to save the men and tries regain their freedom and dignity. They fear what might happen to them if they disobey the restrictions. The restrictions limit the lives of the men. Some men do take the restrictions into consideration, others don’t. The ones who do not will face a punishment; punishments can be anything from drugs to surgeries. Some men did not want to take medication for seizures because it made their gums rot but as they have their seizures the nurses comes and forces the medication in them and some men give their medication to other men because they fear having seizures. One surgical medication McMurphy receives is the lobotomy treatment. ‘’In Cuckoo’s nest, a lobotomy becomes the ultimate weapon of control, as the operation renders McMurphy vegetative’’(Greenhaven press, 13). This surgical medication began in 1936 and was given to patients who behaved in an aggressive manner. This leads to