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Literary Devices Used In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey is viewed as one of the defining authors of the 1960s. Kesey is known for his past government testing in which he was subjected to various hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD. Using his experiences as a testing subject for these drugs and his prior work as an aide in a mental hospital, Kesey created “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a novel that delves into the inner workings of an Oregon mental institution and the abuse of and breakdown of power found within. Kesey’s utilization of literary devices such as symbolism, theme, and narrator gives his novel the shocking impact that made it into a memorable tale of insanity and the overthrow of “the system.” Symbolism is as key literary device used by Kesey in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, and most notable of the symbolism used is the ever present fog. “They start the Fog Machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold of me. I can’t see six inches in front of me …show more content…

It’s only purpose is to dim the minds of the patients so the staff can resume control and order with ease. The fog represents the a state of mind that all of the patients retreat in to, after having endured years of medication, shock treatments and various other mind altering

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