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Examples Of Allegory In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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In many societies, including The United States, one can infer that the government has an overwhelming depth of power. Although sometimes for good, it is obvious that the government abuses this power in various kinds of situations. Author Ken Kesey sees this and made this a central theme throughout his novel, deliberately including many details that allow the reader to come to the same conclusion. Through Kesey’s use of characterization, symbolism, and allegory in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he warns society to curtail the government’s power. To begin with, McMurphy’s personality and actions throughout the novel prove Kesey’s underlying warning of the government by presenting him as a tragic hero in society. Before the reader …show more content…

In the novel, Chief Bromden’s character is pretends to be deaf and ignorant. Because the chief pretends to not be able to hear and be oblivious to his surroundings, he sees everything and is fully aware of how merciless all the patients are treated (Sassoon). With Bromden telling the story, one can have a first hand experience of what it’s like to be belittled by one who holds more power. Kesey goes on to describe how Bromden became the way he is in the first place when Bromden narrates the part of his childhood where three government officials takes away his tribe’s land. “Not a one of the three acts like they heard a thing I said; in fact they’re all looking off from me like they’d as soon I wasn’t there at all. And everything stops and hangs this way a minute,” (Kesey 181). None of the officials pay a single bit of attention to Bromden’s opinion. This explains where Bromden begins to feel as though he’s invisible and Kesey most likely included this part to emphasize that people who think that they are irrelevant and don’t have a say end up like Bromden and let people like Nurse Ratched rule over them. Those who are similar to Bromden are the ones who allow the government to take a tremendous amount of advantage over them because of its power. Bromden’s characterization further demonstrates Kesey’s theme of the government’s control. Bromden’s perceived mental illness symbolically represents those who are too

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379 Words | 2 Pages

He keeps himself away from the Acutes and Chronics by pretending to be deaf and dumb (“One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest” 6). The ironic thing about the story is that he [Bromden] is the narrator, telling the reader about everything hears. Bromden is a main character who does what he’s told when he’s told; “Stick a mop in my hand and motion to the spot they aim for me to clean today, and I go” (Kesey 3). If he’s caught slackin’, they’ll whack him in the back of the knees with a handle from whatever they’ve got in hand to get him moving. As the reader gets farther in the novel, they’ll notice how Bromden starts to do what McMurphy says

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1929 Words | 8 Pages

For the character McMurphy for example, he was unable to find his place in society due to his criminal behaviour and actions, which made him be viewed as mad. Although he was only wrongly accused of his actions, such as seen with his conviction of statutory rape, and his rebellious nature made it a challenge for him to be accepted within his society . It can further be seen within the character Billy Bibbit, who price for being unable to live up to the expectations his mother put upon him, was his own life, and resulted in him having a hard time coping with all the unfortunate circumstances in his life. These unfortunately were brought upon by this pressure and rejection of those around him, that has not driven him mad, however has only pushed him to his limitations and caused others to only perceive he is truly mad. Lastly, this was seen within the character Chief Bromden, whose Native American background is repressed by society, thus causing the Chief a tremendous amount of pain, anger and grief, that made him be looked upon as crazy and pushed even further

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830 Words | 4 Pages

After winning, , he offered Bromden a share of the money won, but Bromden refused. McMurphy betrayed him, because Bromden has always been on McMurphy’s side and been loyal, this time he couldn’t accept the fact that McMurphy is selfish. Although the patients realized (with Nurse Ratched’s guidance) that McMurphy is all about money, his actions in the future contradict their opinions on

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483 Words | 2 Pages

In this quote, Bromden is describing how the Chronics are already too far gone for fixing and that they are just the results of the “Combine” controlling them and turning them into machines. He then goes

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759 Words | 4 Pages

As Bromden grew as person, McMurphy has now been stripped of his rights as a person, which is evident by Bromden’s actions. Ken Kesey

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970 Words | 4 Pages

Once McMurphy helped him realize that, he became a new, confident, man. Bromden no longer had to hide because he thought he was insignificant. He could now be anyone

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1389 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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1144 Words | 5 Pages

Additionally, his ability to have full awareness triggers the newfound sense of confidence in himself that he uses to finally escape from the ward. One night when Bromden is lying awake in the ward, he describes, “I was seeing lots of things different. I figured the fog machine had broke down in the walls when they turned it up too high for that meeting on Friday... For the first time in years I was seeing people with none of that black outline they used to have, and one night I was even able to see out the window” (Kesey 162).

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1459 Words | 6 Pages

This silence is literally and figuratively represented through Chief Bromden, a longtime patient of a psychiatric ward during the 1960s in the United States. Bromden, along with all the other patients in the ward, religiously abide by the rules and regulations enforced by the ward administration, particularly Nurse Ratched, a strict and abusive manipulator who does anything in order to maintain her power. This power dynamic quickly evolves

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1380 Words | 6 Pages

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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755 Words | 4 Pages

The question of sanity becomes apparent when McMurphy, a confident gambler, who might have faked psychosis in order to get out of the work farm, is assigned to the mental hospital. He quickly stirs up tension in the ward for Nurse Ratched by encouraging the men to have fun and rebel against her rules. Brodmen appears to be sane for the most part, despite his hallucinations of a fog, which seems to be the result of something both the ward and the world has done to him. He is able to think logically and though others believe him to be deaf and dumb, he uses this to his advantage. Chief states, “They don't bother not talking out loud about their hate secrets when I'm nearby because they think I'm deaf and dumb.

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275 Words | 2 Pages

Because Kesey chose the work to be from the point of view of Bromden, who to the rest of the patients and staff is believed to both dumb and deaf, the readers are left with a story that relies heavily on Bromden’s own observations and perceptions of events. Though Bromden is actually neither dumb nor deaf, he does nothing to attempt to alleviate this facade, and instead, remains a mute spectator. Due to the observing nature of Bromden that Kesey writes, much of the story is comprised of imagery. The readers cannot rely on Bromden’s lack of conversation with others to grasp the story, so much of what Bromden recalls is based off of his senses. Bromden’s faux disability allows him to observe much more than that of other characters, such is portrayed

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993 Words | 4 Pages

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

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1010 Words | 5 Pages

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, prompts very important aspect of the human condition. In the movie, the protagonist, Mac McMurphy, is deemed dangerous, so the mental institute tries to suppress him (Kesey). The film highlights various aspects of human conditions like psychology, sociology and philosophy. The mental institute tries to suppress the mentally challenged people rather than to try to communicate with them.

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1468 Words | 6 Pages

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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