One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest Madness Essay

Madness has become a controversial and popular topic over the years, especially in literature. Readers are intrigued by the suffering of others, making themselves feel happier and healthier. But what truly defines this so called ‘madness’ that we automatically attach to these abject characters. In that matter, why would anyone be mad? Today society is letting people starve, so does that make society mad? What is madness based on? Madness is explored in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and Shruti Ravindran’s article, “The Twilight Box”. All this works of literature have one common thread, environment. Someone’s sanity isn't always caused by medical issues, it could simply be a result of the world around

Before assuming that environment has little effect on one’s sanity, it is important to note Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest which deals with control, manipulation, and destruction. These elements are portrayed in the novel by what is referred to as the Combine. The Combine acts as a metaphor for society’s ability to destroy and manipulate those who don’t fit social norms. The overall atmosphere of the Combine is strict and overwhelmingly controlling. As the main protagonist, McMurphy, enters the Combine, he immediately sees a sterol and disturbing place,“If somebody’d of come in and took a look, men watching a blank TV, a fifty-year –old woman hollering and squealing at the back of their heads about discipline and order and recriminations, they’d of thought the whole bunch was crazy as loons” (126). Although, the Combine is a hospital established for those deemed mad by society, their environment and routine only added to their mental instability. The only one who notices this injustice being done to the patients is an outsider, McMurphy. Coming from the real world, he notices the despair and mistreatment occurring in the

People resort to extreme violence, forgetting all about the social norms of society. This world is illustrated by the protagonist in the novel, the man, in extreme detail; “Creedless shells of men tottering down the causeways like migrants in a feverland. Old and troubling issues resolved into nothingness and night” (28). This quote describes the harsh realities of what is becoming the real world for all the remaining survivors. Since there is a significant loss of natural resources and the majority of food, people reject cultural codes and resort to cannibalism, which should be seen as madness. However, this insanity is only a result of the scary environment that has been put in front of these people. The man and his wife understand that in this deplorable environment, they are likely to be brutalized at the hands of rapists, murderers, and cannibals; “No, I'm speaking the truth. Sooner or later they will kill us. They will rape me. They'll rape him. They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you won't face it. We used to talk about death, she said. We don't anymore. Why is that?” (56). The wife considers death to be a needed relief from these threats. On the contrary, the father considers death an abhorrent threat that would prevent him from protecting his son. At this point the wife