Of Insanity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

The novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, follows the lives of mental patients living in an asylum during the 1960s. As another attempt to get out of the hospital, McMurphy sets up a fishing trip for him and the patients. They soon have to face their fears of the outside world, encountering the people that come with it. When they arrive at a gas station, McMurphy and the Doctor have very different approaches to the servicemen. Through this contrast, Kesey suggests that insanity can be used to one’s advantage. Harding then states “perhaps the more insane a man is, the more powerful he could become” which supports Kesey’s suggestion. Many of the patients stay at the hospital voluntarily out of fear of the outside world and the

One of the servicemen asks if they are from the asylum, to which the doctor lies and says that they are simply workers. Although they don't believe him, they laugh it off and try to manipulate the doctor into buying more expensive gas and other unnecessary things. Right when the doctor was going to agree out of fear, McMurphy comes out of the car cursing and hollering. McMurphy states that they just want their tank filled and that they should get a discount because they’re on a government-sponsored expedition. McMurphy says that they are criminal-insane patients being transferred to another unit, giving a background story on the “crimes” some of these men have committed, intimidating them with Chief who supposedly killed six men. He told them to send the gas bill to the hospital, and the men were more confident than ever, knowing that these servicemen feared them. Kesey suggests that the doctor is ashamed of the patients and lies to the servicemen so they don't judge him. McMurphy, on the other hand, embraces who he is and uses the fact that they are mental patients to his advantage, saying that they are mentally insane criminals and intimidate the