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Analysis of one flew over the cuckoo nest
Analysis of one flew over the cuckoo nest
Analysis of one flew over the cuckoo nest
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It’s common for some works of literature to improve upon their writing by sustained allusions to myths, the bible, or other literature references. In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Ken Kesey makes use of frequent allusions from the bible. Because of this, McMurphy, the main character, is painted as a Christ-like figure.
Ken Kesey’s figurative language in his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, illustrates that a broken individual can be made whole again. Throughout his life, Bromden has always been assumed to be deaf and dumb. When he speaks to people, their “machinery disposes of the words like they were not even spoken” (181). Here, Kesey’s metaphor represents the effect that Bromden’s words have on a mind plagued with societal expectations. Bromden is a large, Native American man that does not conform to the mold set by the Combine.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey uses the motif, Christ and Savior to find faults within society demonstrating that one should sacrifices oneself in order to save others from tyranny imposed by authority. In the beginning of the novel, the motif, Christ and Savior is not prevalent within the ward. However, as McMurphy appears, the figure of Christ and Savior starts to reveal by McMurphy’s actions. While the men think McMurphy is going to stand up for them against Big Nurse, he says, “I couldn’t figure it at first, why you guys were coming to me like I was some kind of savior.
More Than Meets the I Maybe one is perusing a book store, looking for a novel to purchase and read. And, lo and behold, a very unique title catches one’s eye. Certainly, a book with a name like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is worth a look, one thinks to him or herself.
SETTING One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest takes place in Oregon during the late 1950’s or early 1960’s in a mental hospital. We know this because the memory of World War II is fresh in Bromden’s and McMurphy’s minds. The environment is very grey, dull, confining, and machine-like. There is very little warmth before McMurphy’s arrival.
Triple Entry: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey Quote Analysis Synthesis "She’s swelling up, swells till her back’s splitting out the white uniform and she’s let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times. She looks around her with a swivel of her huge head.... So she really lets herself go and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big" (5).
In the novel, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey uses mechanical devices and imagery to represent modern society and nature. By the means of mechanisms and machines, society is able to gain control and suppresses individuality and natural impulses. The hospital, is representative of society at large, and is pretty easy to say that it is unnatural. The nurses and the big nurse are machines themselves that manipulate and control the patients in the ward.
In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the story’s setting takes place in a society that burns books to create happiness for every individual. Guy Montag, a fireman, begins to see society from different perspectives. Once new characters and events arrive, he tries to solve the meanings behind books. By the end of the book, Montag finds a group of guys that memorize books and believe in Montag’s thoughts. Ray Bradbury uses the motif of colors to demonstrate that when one forces a way of thinking, it creates an unimaginative society.
“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.
The 1960's were the beginning of social rebellions, like, women's rights movements and the Civil Rights Movement. Women in positions of authority were perceived as manipulators and castrators. For example, one of the most controversial points McMurphy makes in the book is the fear of women, and the women in the book are constantly described as threatening and terrifying figures. Most of the patients have been damaged by relationships with overpowering women. Chief's mom is portrayed as a castrating woman.
Colors are everywhere in our lives. Most of artists, poets, and musicians use colors as symbols or meanings in their writing or art. In the Great Gatsby written by F.Scott Fitzgerald uses colors to represent the meanings. Fitzgerald uses the color green to represent hope. My quote is “Involuntarily I glanced seaward and disguised nothing except a single green light” chapter I page 21.
“One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest”, written by Ken Kesey is set in a mental hospital in the 1960s. The antagonist, Nurse Ratched, takes the reins of the hospital and dictates everything that happens inside it. In Kesey’s novel, Nurse Ratched abuses her authoritative power and uses it to manipulate and restrain patients to maintain what she calls order in the hospital. Being overly protective is an understatement for her because she pays no regard to the patient's mental and physical health. She focuses on shaping how they act to meet her own standards.
“The eyes see everything” is a quote from the book. It describes that the people who live there are lower class and work hard for there money. Green, represents the longing and strong hopes for something. Many people long for a chance to succeed at something they have wanted or dreamed of for a long time. Not everyone gets the chance to succeed.
Kesey utilizes the symbolism of fish and a similar circumstance to Jesus's disciples to help McMurphy appear as a Christ figure. McMurphy organizes a fishing trip for the patients in his ward to do something for entertainment. Nurse Ratched continuously tries to scare the patients out of going to sea with continuous reports of rough seas and fishing accidents. However, despite her efforts, twelve of the patients agree to go to sea with McMurphy. He,“led the twelve of us to the ocean”(203), McMurphey took the patients that had grown to follow him to the ocean, to help develop them more and help them to be more normal.
Color symbolism plays a big role in showing readers how hope is represented throughout this novel. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the narrator, Nick Carraway is telling a story about the life of a man named J. Gatsby. J. Gatsby was a young man who fell in love with a young woman whose name was Daisy Fay. Daisy and Gatsby were in love for a while until Gatsby was deployed into World War 1 and left for five years. Daisy moves on with her life and finds another love, Tom Buchanan.
