One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Capitalism Analysis

Capitalism is an integral part of our modern society; countless individuals have benefited from the system. Nevertheless, capitalism has consequences that are often hidden in our society, the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest reveals these consequences by comparing aspects of the animal world to capitalist society. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, characters are compared to certain animal species in order to illustrate the consequences of capitalism.
The role of rabbits in nature is used to illustrate how capitalism punishes those who cannot conform to society. This comparison is made by Harding to McMurphy during their argument concerning Nurse Ratched. Harding lectures McMurphy on the reason the patients are in the institute. Harding explains, “Oh, don’t misunderstand me, we’re not in here

This imbalance is noticed by McMurphy during the group therapy session, McMurphy tells Harding afterwards why he called the session a “pecking party”. McMurphy explains, “The flock gets sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go to peckin’ at it, see, till they rip the chicken to shreds, blood and bones and feathers” (57). McMurphy compares the pecking order behaviour of chickens to the patient’s behaviour in the group therapy sessions. McMurphy use of the words “rips”, “shreds”, “blood”, and “bones”, creates a vicious image of the patients being “pecked”; the session is weakening their power, not helping them. By revealing an embarrassing secret, a patient’s integrity is weakened, they lose respect in the group and the ability to influence. By the end of the session, Nurse Ratched has not revealed anything and therefore retains power, while the “pecked” patients are left with little to none. This is an example of capitalism at play, the vulnerable and weak are targeted while those in power remain unscathed, creating an imbalance of