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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

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Petar Popovic AP Lang Mikulak 04/27/2024 Readers Journals One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, is a strong criticism of mid-century American mental health institutions. Kesey views these institutions as crooked and cruel. Throughout the novel, Kesey emphasizes the risks of institutionalization, showing how it may strip patients of their identity and transform them into objects to be controlled and exploited by those in authority. One of Kesey's main complaints of mental health institutes is that they treat patients as things rather than humans. This is demonstrated by the character Nurse Ratched, who manipulates the patients in her care to comply with her will. She has power over every area of their existence, from the clothes they …show more content…

Nurse Ratched's "blood gathers up under her skin and settles into a kind of glow" when she asserts her dominance over McMurphy, and her "soft" voice and baby-like breath betray a sense of power that is both calm and threatening. The patients in contrast are shown to be powerless to resist her, as they are conditioned to obey her every command. Kesey's critique of mental health institutions stems from his opinion that they are intrinsically dehumanizing. By treating patients as objects, these institutions deny them their identity, turning them into passive recipients of medical therapy rather than active participants in their own care. As patients lose control over their lives, this can lead to feelings of hopelessness and depression. Kesey's goal in writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is to reveal the dark truth of American mental health institutions and to advocate for a more …show more content…

Kesey contends that the border between sane and insanity is not as clear as we may assume. Throughout the narrative, Kesey introduces people that dispute this perspective of mental illness, blurring the boundary and demonstrating that it is mostly a social construct. Randle McMurphy Murphy is one of the most prominent best examples of this on the one hand, McMurphy is regarded as a hero who stands up as a fighter to the repressive character of the mental facility. He defies Nurse Ratched and urges other patients to rebel wishes and engages in activities that undermine the established rules and structure of the institution. McMurphy, on the other hand, demonstrates symptoms of mental illness. His risky behavior, deliberations, liking for violence, and periodic outbursts of rage all imply that he is not completely sane. Kesey challenges our concept of mental illness portraying McMurphy in this manner, demonstrating that even people who appear to be sane may contain components of insanity. Chief Bromden is another example of this blurring of the border between sanity and insanity. Chief Bromden is regarded as mad from pretty much the start of the tale. He has hallucinations, believes he continually fears that he is being watched by the Combine, and

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