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Mental Illness In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

901 Words4 Pages

Personality and consciousness are some of the most important aspects of what makes a human individualized. When those aspects become disturbed, one becomes labeled as mentally ill. Experiencing life while mentally ill can be an extreme challenge. Whether it be the harsh environment, rapid frustration, or complete inability to function. Reality becomes significantly more difficult to get a hold of and comprehend. It can be crippling to always be living in a ripe environment to be taken advantage of and ridiculed and it's very common to see mentally unstable people accentuate little problems into an explosion of emotion. But the amount of resilience that is exhibited by them is equally astounding. Living with these conditions doesn't just alter …show more content…

Girl, Interrupted paints a vivid picture of how mental illness can alter a person's reality. The novel shows how Susanna's reality changes as she begins to accept her condition and learns to cope with it. She begins to understand that her mental illness does not define her and that she can still lead a meaningful and fulfilling life. Most cases of psychological disorders are mild and those who are diagnosed with conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, or depression can live extremely functional and satisfying lives. But mental illness is a very large spectrum with some experiencing major distortion, the character of Lisa is an example of that. Lisa isn't as high-functioning as Susanna is. She tends to break out in fits of rage and try to escape the mental asylum. “‘It’s my hand,’ I said. I was angry too. And I was getting really Nervous. Oh God, I thought, there aren’t any bones in there, there’s nothing in there.” (Kaysen 91) It’s in this novel that I noticed a pattern throughout the books. When an individual is diagnosed with a more severe form of mental illness, they tend to get set off by really small things or minor complaints. They fixate on an insignificant issue, and if it's not granted to them, it blows out of

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Lisa seems to be filled with regret, confusion, and despair as she tries to understand her life and identity. In her eyes, she had suffered a childhood that is not typical nor common, causing her to feel like an outsider in society with the other “normal” people as she states in the following quote about her foster parents, “I couldn’t get over how perfect they looked, how normal they seemed.” (42) This epitomizes her feelings of bewilderment on what a normal life looks to her and how this idea is so new to her due to the fact that for most of her life she has lived in solitary not being exposed that much to the real outside world. The first person Lisa has seemed to really connect with and be able to let herself become close with is her school friend Amanda.

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After this part she's speaking to a new psychiatrist whom she's never spoken to before and he believes that the pimple she picked at is a symbol of self destruction. He arranges for her to have a place at the ward as a “rest” and Kaysen attempts to fight it, albeit very weakly. Throughout this book we see not only Susanna’s private and in depth thoughts, but also how she reacts to the world around her.

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Insanity vs. Sanity: Sometimes Being Ignorant is the Intelligent Choice In the book One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey utilizes literary devices, irony, tone and conflict to achieve the theme of the difference between being sane but ignorant and being insane but intelligent. The tone, irony, and setting of this book helps the reader create a mental image of the real location and the situations the characters were at times. Symbolism is added as well in order to further understand the way the characters think.

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Mental Institutions change throughout the years in order to be the best for their patients. Patients are treated much more nicely than they were back in 1963. Patients have many more privileges now days. There is a huge comparison from today’s institutions from the institution in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.” There is also many similar things between the two mental institutions “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” took place in 1963.

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295 Words | 2 Pages

Billy Bibbit, a character in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, serves as a window into how people in society view mental health. Throughout part one of the novel, the battle of anxiety in society has made Billy believe he is not sane, which then tends to make him wish to remain in the ward. The first way in which Billy Bibbit reveals the societal understanding of mental health was by describing how his mother was a contributing factor to his anxiety and stutter. Nurse Ratched states, “I can't give you a new mother,” (Kasey 137). This comment demonstrated how his mother put a lot of pressure on him as a child, which led to his mental problems, especially anxiety, which eventually took control of his life.

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755 Words | 4 Pages

How they are perceived, and their of lack ability to meet the expectations of society was interpreted as mental illness. Although they are all institutionalized for different reasons, the one they all have in common is society. McMurphy, for example, was admitted for being a “psychopath”, while others felt that they were not able to function and signed themselves up voluntarily. Consequently, society sets up expectations for what is viewed as normal. If these expectations are not met or if someone is different they walk the fine line of sanity vs.

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1033 Words | 5 Pages

In the book “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” Ken Kesey shows that the “insanity” of the patients is really just normal insecurities and their label as insane by society is immoral. This appears in the book concerning Billy Bibbits problem with his mom, Harding's problems with his wife, and that the patients are in the ward

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834 Words | 4 Pages

In the book Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, one of the biggest focal points is mental illness. Mental illness can be tough to talk about, simply because the phrase “mental illness” encompasses such a wide range of conditions and conjures up images of deranged people, but it is very important, especially in this book. There is a certain stigma that people who are put into mental hospitals because they have medical problems or are insane and a possible danger to society. While this is sometimes true, it is far more common for patients to need help for a disorder, but just don’t know where to go or what to do, and can end up putting themselves or someone else in danger.

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1150 Words | 5 Pages

Susanna has issues in all types of relationships in her life, regarding that she does not have a concrete relationship with her parents, and does not seem to have any friends, due to her clear fear of abandonment. In the beginning of her stay at McLean, Susanna viewed the other patients as crazy, and truly had mental illness, unlike her. Ultimately she was able to develop friendships with the other patients, resulting in them helping each other throughout the movie. Susanna self destructive behavior stems from her troubling childhood caused by emotional problems from her parents. An example of what has caused

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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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1041 Words | 5 Pages

In the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a group of men living in a psychiatric ward are dealing with different types of disorders. The character that I chose to observe and analyze was Billy Bibbit. Billy is a young man who struggles to speak without stuttering and make his own decisions. He seeks approval from those around him and is always worried he will disappoint those around him. Although some people at this psychiatric ward are committed, Billy is a voluntary patient.

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562 Words | 3 Pages

The story focuses on the main character who is a woman suffering from mental illness. It is very clear that the woman is ill when she states, “You see, he does not believe I am sick!” (677) speaking of her husband who is a doctor. So first she admits she is sick then later she states, “I am glad my case is not serious!”

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881 Words | 4 Pages

Susanna’s roommate is Georgina, who is in the hospital for having pseudologia fantastica. Lisa starts to take Susanna under her wing and helps her to get to know the ropes. Susanna has sexual interactions with her boyfriend and with one of the orderly at the hospital in the same day, which is seen as promiscuous. Being promiscuous is a sign of her disorder (Mangold,1999). Once Lisa is moved out of the ward Susanna is in, the two of them decide to escape and sell Valium to get money to go to Florida.

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673 Words | 3 Pages

Ken Kesey uses his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to describe the lives of patients in a mental institution, and their struggle to overcome the oppressive authority under which they are living. Told from the point of view of a supposedly mute schizophrenic, the novel also shines a light on the many disorders present in the patients, as well as how their illnesses affect their lives during a time when little known about these disorders, and when patients living with these illnesses were seen as an extreme threat. Chief Bromden, the narrator of the novel, has many mental illnesses, but he learns to accept himself and embrace his differences. Through the heroism introduced through Randle McMurphy, Chief becomes confident in himself, and is ultimately able to escape from the toxic environment Nurse Ratched has created on the ward. Chief has many disorders including schizophrenia, paranoia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and, in addition to these illnesses, he pretends to be deaf and dumb.

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688 Words | 3 Pages

Polly suffered from a sever case of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that chartered by delusions, hallucinations, apathy, and a “split” between thought and emotion. She was sweet but had breakdowns when someone mentioned her burns or anything relevant to them. Yet Susanna met some of the girls by her self. The first girl Susanna met without Lisa introducing her to them was Cynthia.

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