ipl-logo

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

902 Words4 Pages

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

Show More
Related
1929 Words | 8 Pages

The Origins of Madness in One Who Flew Off The Cuckoo's Nest The book, One who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, is an eccentric story on the cruel treatment of patients within psychiatric wards in the 1960s. It is told from the narration of an indigenous man, named Chief Bromden, a character who is deeply conflicted and wounded inside, as he narrates the story of another patient McMurphy. McMurphy is not like Chief, nor any of the other patients for that matter, for he is a man who refuses to follow the wards rules and does whatever it takes in the book to strip the head nurse, Miss Ratched, of her power, in a fight for the patients, sovereignty within the ward. His rebellious attitude unfolds and the consequences begin unveiling

Read More
1119 Words | 5 Pages

We must learn to accept it as a law of the natural world…’”. With this description, Kesey creates a depressing mood as the patients realize their fate of being in there for the rest of their lives. He also makes the reader feel sympathetic for the patients by creating a gloomy image of these hopeless men. Furthermore, Kesey uses this graphic language to show some of the terrible flaws that occur in some of the psychiatric hospitals. For instance, when Chief Bromden described what had happened to another patient, who had questioned what was in his medicine, by saying, “And they brought him back to the ward two weeks later, bald and the front of his face an oily purple bruise and two little button-sized plugs stitched one above each eye”.

Read More
1091 Words | 5 Pages

Nurse Ratched, the head administrative nurse at a mental institution, exercised her near-absolute power over every aspect of the patients’ lives. Over time, she gradually gained a strong position of power, which was only strengthened by her ability to determine the fates of her patients. She was presented as a controlling, yet peaceful character, ensuring that her calculate outlook on the patients was upheld on every measure. Her strong personality is not seen as superficial, rather permanent through many distractions, revealing a mechanical aspect to her presence. Her lack of emotion was an extreme patience, which she used as a weapon against the patients.

Read More
999 Words | 4 Pages

Ken Kesey’s comic novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, takes place in an all-male psychiatric ward. The head of the ward, Big Nurse Ratched, is female. Kesey explores the power-struggle that takes place when the characters challenge gender dynamics in this environment. One newly-arrived patient, McMurphy, leads the men against the Big Nurse. The story is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a patient who learns from McMurphy and fights for his freedom.

Read More
808 Words | 4 Pages

Nate Skupien Mrs. Decker English IV 9 Mar. 2023 Midterm Essay In the novel, One flew over the Cuckoo's nest, Kesey constructs a world with an underlying theme of individuality versus conformity and shows it in numerous ways. The literature describes a world in which the main character, a man named Chief Bromden, lives at a mental hospital with a myriad of different people with different conditions. One day a man named Randal McMurphy is admitted into the ward.

Read More
778 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the balance of power is challenged in the psychiatric ward. Out of the several leaders that appear in the novel, Nurse Ratched and McMurphy are the most prominent. During Nurse Ratched and McMurphy struggle for power, they share many of the same qualities. It is argued that: “McMurphy and Ratched are alike in intelligence, military service, distinctive (if opposite) clothing, and conventionally masculine qualities” (Evans). These small similarities; however, do not distract the characters from fighting for their individual beliefs.

Read More
1195 Words | 5 Pages

Thomas Zimmerman Honors English Arts 10 Mr Hofsass 5/9/22 The Power Struggle in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest In Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, there is a rather obvious power struggle occurring within the mental institution. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel primarily about the events that take place in a mental institution, as narrated by a schizophrenic narrator named Bromden.

Read More
529 Words | 3 Pages

Final Exam: Prompt 1 In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey he discusses the harsh reality of living in a mental institution in the 1950’s. Kesey looks at the world from Bromdens view point a schizophrenic patient who the other patients view as deaf and dumb, despite his ability to hear and understand them just fine. The patients being use to their routines, or living “in the fog” as Bromden calls it. This lead to an uneasy change when McMurphy arrives from a work farm, pretending to be mentally ill, and disrupts their whole way of life.

Read More
1047 Words | 5 Pages

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey reveals the insensitive treatment and dehumanization of the mentally ill. The origin of the book is a story of an individual in a mental hospital. Ken Kesey’s character observes the daily life in a psych ward and reveals

Read More
3318 Words | 14 Pages

Jack Kelly Mrs. Russell AP Literature and Composition 6 April 2023 Choosing Individuality: Self-Reliance vs Societal Control in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Following his time working in a psychiatric institution, author Ken Kesey wrote his debut novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Cuckoo’s Nest (as it is often referred to) is a satirical work that tells the story of inmates in a psychiatric institution through the eyes of the narrator, “Chief” Bromden.

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is a fictional novel that tells of the unpleasant conditions of an insane asylum which houses many patients with various mental disorders. From the start, it is obvious that the hospital does not achieve the goal of curing the patients due to the authoritative nurse, Miss Ratched, until a courageous rebel named McMurphy comes along to defy preexisting standards in the ward. Despite his rough past of crime, Kesey develops McMurphy as a Christ figure to demonstrate opposition to the stereotype that only perfect people can make a difference. On the fishing trip, McMurphy allows the other men to be independent and fish without his guidance, alluding to how Jesus led his disciples.

Read More
951 Words | 4 Pages

Meadow Neubauer-Keyes Kozak 2nd Hour - Prompt 1 19 April 2023 Graded Essay #3 Authority and power are some of the most abused concepts in any society, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey exhibits this dynamic flawlessly. Kesey portrays a microcosm of American society in a mental institution led by a woman called Nurse Ratched. The administration of the mental institution manipulates the population of the hospital into subordination. Through the lens of a schizophrenic man with a warped sense of reality and his perception of a feisty peer, Kesey communicates the necessity of confrontation and rebellion when there is injustice and the consequences of blind acceptance of biased and ill-intentioned authority.

Read More
1380 Words | 6 Pages

Forcing people to follow a societal norm is detrimental to the health of the mind and body. The struggle between conformers and non conformers creates a schism in society. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey asserts the overarching importance of individuality through the use of a conflict between the patients and the nurse as a microcosm of society. In the novel, the delusions of the narrator create a surreal world that reveals a strong message on the nature of conformity.

Read More
755 Words | 4 Pages

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, considers the qualities in which society determines sanity. The label of insanity is given when someone is different from the perceived norm. Conversely, a person is perceived as sane when their behavior is consistent with the beliefs of the majority. Although the characters of this novel are patients of a mental institution, they all show qualities of sanity. The book is narrated by Chief Brodmen, an observant chronic psychiatric patient, who many believe to be deaf and dumb.

Read More
1476 Words | 6 Pages

Published in 1962, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest tells the story of Patrick McMurphy, a newly-admitted patient at a psychiatric hospital where individuals with various mental conditions are treated. Run primarily by Nurse Ratched, a demeaning autocrat who exhibits complete control over others, the patients are subjected to various forms of treatments and therapy with the intent of rehabilitation (Kesey 5). Most forms of treatment depicted in Kesey’s novel, such as group therapy, are an accurate representation of what typical psychiatric patients may encounter while under care at a mental facility. Yet others, particularly electroshock therapy and lobotomies, were quite controversial at the time of the novel’s publication. Such treatments were questioned for their effectiveness at improving patients’ condition – and while these procedures were still occasionally performed at the time, they often did not benefit the treated individual.

Read More

More about One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

Related Topics

Open Document