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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Paranoia

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As Phillip K. Dick had once said, “Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then.” This quote tells one that the paranoia of a person can change how everything can be perceived. Since the paranoia a person has can cause them to think in absurd ways and react differently to what happens around them, they are essentially using their paranoid mind to change their perception of reality. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, paranoia and its effects become prevalent themes in each of the novels. The narrators, Chief Bromden in Kesey’s novel, and Holden Caulfield in Salinger’s tale, are shown to be affected by their paranoia frequently throughout each story. Therefore, paranoia acts as …show more content…

The quote tells of Bromden believing in the “Combine”, a machine that controls everything and makes people “normal”. The paranoia is making him more aware of his surroundings in the sense that he notices all other people outside of the ward to be similar in every way. Chief Bromden views others as if they were perfectly molded by the Combine. This paranoid activity affects Bromden because it gives him a more cautious behavior and his reliability as a narrator decreases because he becomes influenced severely in every way due to his fear and paranoia relating to the Combine.
Furthermore, in J.D. Salinger’s tale, Catcher in the Rye, narrator Holden Caulfield seems to be plagued with paranoia of his own. Caulfield’s paranoia is more realistically based than that of Chief Bromden. Examples of this heightened realistic paranoia can be found in the quotes “I could feel him standing on the shower ledge, right behind my chair, taking a look to see is Stradlater was around.” (Salinger, 26) and “I felt something on my head, some guy’s hand. Boy, it really scared the hell out of me. What it was, it was Mr. Antolini’s hand. […] Boy, I’ll bet I jumped about a thousand feet. […] –boy was I nervous! I started putting on my damn pants in the dark. I could hardly get them on I was so damn nervous.” (Salinger …show more content…

Shown in the first quote, Holden Caulfield’s paranoia is expressed by his ability to “feel” exactly who was around him. Due to Holden being able to sense who was near him, readers view insight to his edgy behavior caused by the constant paranoia. To continue, in the second of the above quotes, Caulfield shows his nervousness and paranoia to the reader. When Mr. Antolini gave a reassuring pat on the head to a sleeping Holden, he was met with utmost rejection of the act by Caulfield. This rejection shows Holden Caulfield to be more aware of what is happening, even though he may have misinterpreted the action done. Holden’s realistic paranoia that makes him more aware affects his behavior by causing him to be more on edge during situations, and it reduces his reliability because he views the wrong in the situation even if the intention was of a positive

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In every novel around the globe you can find carefully constructed paragraphs, written by the author to send a specific message to the readers. In The catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, one particular section overflows with symbolism, metaphors, and hidden messages. By analyzing the passage’s diction, setting, and selection of detail it is possible discern the less overt statements hidden in the text and reveal the turbulent nature of the main character, Holden Caulfield. The diction of this passage appears to be the key in unraveling Holden’s mood swings.

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He also felt that McMurphy was bigger than him, even though Bromden is about 6’7. Its only when Bromden starts hanging out with McMurphy is that he starts to feel his is big again and grows as a person in terms of self-confidence. By Bromden suffocating McMurphy, this shows that Bromden has truly grown in terms of self-confidence, because if this were to happen in the beginning of the novel Bromden would have just stood by and done nothing about what had happened to McMurphy. McMurphy has done what he set out to do from the beginning of his stay in the ward, which was given the men a sense of pride and confidence, which he has now given to Bromden. Bromden’s character has now developed opposite of Mcmurphy.

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Additionally, his ability to have full awareness triggers the newfound sense of confidence in himself that he uses to finally escape from the ward. One night when Bromden is lying awake in the ward, he describes, “I was seeing lots of things different. I figured the fog machine had broke down in the walls when they turned it up too high for that meeting on Friday... For the first time in years I was seeing people with none of that black outline they used to have, and one night I was even able to see out the window” (Kesey 162).

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A. Allie’s death causes Holden to become obsessed with death and this obsession makes him believe that growing up and becoming a “phonie” is like dying; this belief that is planted inside Holden’s head when Allie died is what sends him on a quest to preserve children’s innocence and save them from the “death” of growing up. B. Salinger includes the traumatic story of Allies death that happened years in advance to provide an explanation for Holden’s obsession with death and how he sees loss of innocence as equivalent to dying. Allie died with his innocence still intact, so Holden does not want other children to grow up and have their innocence “die”. C. Holden even admits to being mentally unstable after his brother’s traumatic death when he says, “I was only 13, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all

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