The Origins of Madness in One Who Flew Off The Cuckoo's Nest The book, One who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, is an eccentric story on the cruel treatment of patients within psychiatric wards in the 1960s. It is told from the narration of an indigenous man, named Chief Bromden, a character who is deeply conflicted and wounded inside, as he narrates the story of another patient McMurphy. McMurphy is not like Chief, nor any of the other patients for that matter, for he is a man who refuses to follow the wards rules and does whatever it takes in the book to strip the head nurse, Miss Ratched, of her power, in a fight for the patients, sovereignty within the ward. His rebellious attitude unfolds and the consequences begin unveiling
EJ Vasile. I read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey. The setting of One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest is a Mental Institute in Oregon. Randle McMurphy also known as R.P. McMurphy is the Protagonist of the One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest.
Albert Einstein once said, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything”. The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey portrays this quote through the main character McMurphy’s internal and external conflicts of falling into Nurse Ratched’s trap of becoming an obedient patient and being under her control or rebelling and fighting for the patients’ rights and freedoms. McMurphy’s actions can lead the reader to assume that he is an evil character, but he redeems himself by partaking in the selfless acts he does for other patients. One way it can be proven that McMurphy is a morally ambiguous character in this novel is that Nurse Ratched uses McMurphy and forcefully puts an idea in other patients minds that McMurphy has purely evil motivations. After McMurphy takes the patients from the ward on a fishing trip, Nurse Ratched has a
Chief Bromden, the narrator of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, has been a paranoid-schizophrenic patient in the psychiatric hospital as he suffers from hallucinations and delusions. Everyone believes that he is deaf and dumb, although this is merely an act on his part that he has kept up due to the fear of huge conglomeration. Nurse Ratched is a nurse who runs the ward with harsh and systemized rules for the mental patients. For an example of what happens in the daily life of patient in her ward, she encourages the patients to attack each other in their most vulnerable spots, shaming them during daily meetings, which she concludes as “therapy”. In any case patient rebels against the rules set by her, he is sent to receive electroshock treatments.
Moral Lense Literary Analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest The 1950s, the context of which One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a novel by Ken Kesey, was written, was called the Era of Conformity. During this time, the American social atmosphere was quiet conformed, in that everyone was expected to follow the same, fixed format of behavior in society, and the ones who stand out of being not the same would likely be “beaten down” by the social norms. In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey argues that it is immoral for society to simply push its beliefs onto the people who are deemed different, as it is unfair and could lead to destructive results. First of all, it is unjust for people who are deemed unalike from others in society to be forced into the preset way of conduct because human tend to have dissimilar nature.
In the novel, One That Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey sheds light on one of the world’s best kept secrets; the mistreatment of the ‘mentally ill’. Kesey proves that anyone capable of free-thought or having any form of diversity is seen as ‘broken’ and is forced to undergo certain treatments to fit expectations. From lobotomies to electroshock therapy, anything is fair game when it comes to treating those deemed as mentally ill. Bromden, the protagonist in One That Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, views the society he lives in as one that is brutal and oppressive. The hospital he lives in is seen as a ‘mechanic’s shop’ for those that don’t fit right in with the rest of society; a prison for displaced souls.
Weather in literature is often used to symbolize the mood or mental state in which a character experiences. For example, rain is commonly associated with sadness. As it is commonly identified, fog is a cloudy element of weather that affects one’s ability to see clearly, however, it is also used in literature to represent a character’s lack of clarity. Throughout One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the motif of fog is used to represent the mental instability and confusion Bromden experiences under Nurse Ratched’s ward. As the story progresses and Bromden gains confidence, the fog diminishes and he is able to overcome the Big Nurse.
The portrayal of the two main female characters Nurse Ratched in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth by Shakespeare both emphasize the power differential and utilization of emasculation that defies stereotypical gender roles of the 16th and 20th century, however, the rationale to climbing the power hierarchy pyramid differ as Nurse Ratched’s authoritative demeanor exemplifies traditional masculine characteristics, misandry and a need for order, while Lady Macbeth embraces her womanhood implementing manipulation to generate chaos. For example, Lady Macbeth mocks her husband, “Infirm of purpose/Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead/Are but as pictures. ' Tis the eye of childhood/ That fears a painted devil.”
The concept of undertaking the role as a boss had an influence on all characters in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. Throughout the story, the characters face hardships, all stemming from someone accepting their status as the boss. Life gets strenuous for the patients as they fight the system some have lived in for years, just to hold power over forces taking too much control of their lives. Essentially, at the end of the story, the characters exertion to be in control of themselves leads to many different outcomes. Some as great as freedom and others as unfavorable as death.
In the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the mental hospital is very strict with lots of structure. This causes many thing to happen that doesn’t necessarily have to happen and it's almost as if the patients are antagonized to overreact at points in the movie. Also as a human being we should be able to make our own choices and its important to be able to make your own choices to feel like you are an individual. Not to mention I would think it was improvement to have the patients working together as a team, but Nurse Ratched didn’t reward or even compliment them on working as a team. Instead she punished them and if you ask me working as a team is an key element of human behavior, because at this point your not just thinking about yourself
Modern Problems from Historic Sources: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a film from 1975 that is based on a book written in 1962. It follows the story of Randall P. McMurphy, played by Jack Nicholson, who is sent to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation. While this movie is a fictional work, it highlights some of the problems looming over the field of psychiatry today, such as the power structure, invasive treatments, and even determining if a patient is actually insane. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest received all 5 major academy awards, and it reflects the antipsychiatry movement present in the 1960s (Pepper). By examining some of the events and characters in this film, the problems within the field of
One Flew Over Society’s Utopia In 1962, Ken Kesey shook Americans across the nation with his book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest illustrates controversial topics in society as triumphant and was therefore under scrutiny since its publication. The novel expresses material, such as nonconformity, rebellion, freedom of the mind, and the hardships of having a mental illness. It also challenges many levels of reality and social norms, such as glorifying corrupt juveniles, criminal activity, and depicting images of obscenity, all which landed the novel a spot on the banned books list.
The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey, presents the ideas about venerability and strength by using his characters and the way they interact with each other to establish whether they are a submissive or a dominant, tamed or leading, venerable or strong. Kesey uses strong personalities to show the drastic difference between someone who is vulnerable and someone who is strong. Nurse Ratchet is a perfect example of how Kasey presents the idea of strength over the venerability of others (the patients). Keys also exhibited vulnerability throughout characters such as Chief Bromden and his extensive habit of hiding himself in all means possible from Nurse Ratchet. Another idea presented by Kesey is a character’s false thought on what
“One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” is a film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey. The Film was released in 1975. It is the story of a convicted man, trying to outsmart the American legal system by playing mentally ill. The film starts at the beginning when the main character, Randle McMurphy, enters the mental institution. It won 6 Golden Globes as well as 5 Oscars and many other nominations.
The movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” gives an inside look into the life of a patient living in a mental institution; helping to give a new definition of mental illnesses. From a medical standpoint, determinants of mental illness are considered to be internal; physically and in the mind, while they are seen as external; in the environment or the person’s social situation, from a sociological perspective (Stockton, 2014). Additionally, the movie also explores the idea of power relations that exist between an authorized person (Nurse Ratched) and a patient and further looks into the punishment a deviant actor receives (ie. McMurphy contesting Nurse Ratched). One of the sociological themes that I have observed is conformity.
