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Summary Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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Novel Notebook: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Setting/Matter: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” takes place in an institution for the mentally ill in the 1960’s. From the very beginning the patients know that they are confined to the ward, “The first day we arrived over here we were given a demonstration about those[window]screens. They’re specially made. A technician picked up a chair just like that one you’ve got your feet on and beat the screen till the chair was no more than kindling wood. Didn’t hardly dent the screen” (Kesey 108). The windows form an impression that the patients are trapped, with no way to escape. Each day runs on a strict time schedule with each patient wearing the exact same uniform. The whole routine and issued clothing …show more content…

McMurphy is described as having “a bright devilish grin, and he’s hard in a different kind of way from Papa, kind of the way a baseball is hard under the scuffed leather. A seam runs across his nose and one cheekbone where somebody laid him a good one in a fight, and the stitches are still in the seam” (11). McMurphy, from the way he looks and tough impression he gives off, doesn’t seem to be a likely candidate for someone who will be the leader of the weaker side. The reader, along with the characters, don’t immediately know whether or not he will turn out to be the hero or the bully, because of his tough exterior. Especially after he introduces himself immediately as a “gambling fool” (11). He lets everyone know exactly what is habits are and why he’s there, explaining his situation as “If it gets me out of those damned pea fields I’ll be whatever their little heart desires, be it psychopath or mad dog or werewolf” (13). He wants everyone to always know from day one that he made the choice to come to the mental institution. He’s straightforward about it because he wants it to be apparent that he is higher above his fellow patients. Altogether the way McMurphy presents himself makes him an unlikely candidate for the one who stands up for everyone. The nurse is a drastic opposite because “her skin is

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Ted Issac 's is sorting artifacts from the Folsom floor when Leaphorn introduces himself and tells him that the police department are searching for two boys. Issac tells him that he used to see them around the dig site, but they never stole or caused any trouble. In chapter five, Leaphorn stakes out Jason Fleece. When he went into the commune and notices that other people are living in Madman 's hogan. This is because his wife died and it was tradition to knock a hole in the wall so that the spirit of whoever died con come and go as they wish.

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McMurphy does the exact opposite and acts out inspite of someone else controlling him. He does this in order to prove to all the other patients that he is going to be in charge and take over Harding’s place. Also, McMurphy tries to

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His scars also inform us, you guessed it, that McMurphy is different from the other patients in the ward in a sense that the damages of life have toughened him up as opposed to other the patients who are very weak minded and subservient. This is shown to us throughout the book by the fact that McMurphy is the one who opposes Nurse Ratched's tyrannical rule while the other patients just follow his

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He was trying to break Ratched, but now he realises that he needs to be careful and not give her a reason to send him up to disturbed. An example of McMurphy not acting irrationally was when Cheswick started yelling during a group therapy

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Moral Lense Literary Analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest The 1950s, the context of which One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a novel by Ken Kesey, was written, was called the Era of Conformity. During this time, the American social atmosphere was quiet conformed, in that everyone was expected to follow the same, fixed format of behavior in society, and the ones who stand out of being not the same would likely be “beaten down” by the social norms. In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey argues that it is immoral for society to simply push its beliefs onto the people who are deemed different, as it is unfair and could lead to destructive results. First of all, it is unjust for people who are deemed unalike from others in society to be forced into the preset way of conduct because human tend to have dissimilar nature.

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Weather in literature is often used to symbolize the mood or mental state in which a character experiences. For example, rain is commonly associated with sadness. As it is commonly identified, fog is a cloudy element of weather that affects one’s ability to see clearly, however, it is also used in literature to represent a character’s lack of clarity. Throughout One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the motif of fog is used to represent the mental instability and confusion Bromden experiences under Nurse Ratched’s ward. As the story progresses and Bromden gains confidence, the fog diminishes and he is able to overcome the Big Nurse.

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“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a novel that dives into the theme of societal indifference. In the book, the mental asylum is run by a woman named Nurse Ratched. Usually the hospitals such as this one are run by the doctors, but due to the matriarchy, the head nurse calls the shots. The patients in the ward have no choice but to look up to her, that is until R.P. McMurphy, a former inmate committed to the ward, makes an appearance. Nurse Ratched loves being in control, especially being powerful than others.

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That heroes don’t always have to be wholly serious. McMurphy is a fun-loving guy who throws caution to the wind and is still the hero of the patients at the mental institution. Farther into the book, Kesey says that “Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy.” (pg. 212). McMurphy wanted out of working on a farm, so he decided to get himself institutionalized.

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McMurphy dies both literally and figuratively when he receives the lobotomy, further depicting him as Christ. He sacrifices himself for the benefit of the other patients and saves them from their inevitable future in Hell (Miss Ratched’s ward). Kesey chooses McMurphy to fulfill this position because he himself was escaping his own Hell, the work camp, and incorporates irony through the fact that he avoids one terrible situation to enter another, but has a large unpredicted impact. Although McMurphy does not embody an ideal protestor, his tactics of violence and rebellion are enough to defy the authority Miss Ratched holds to the point that she can no longer "rule with her old power anymore" (Kesey

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This madness in Mcmurphy gives the men hope throughout the novel. The irrational behavior can be judge as reasonable in many cases. Mcmurphy is a big, loud and confident man. He’s different from many other patients in the ward. When he first entered the ward he was laughing and telling jokes.

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(Kesey, 216). In this quote, it shows that McMurphy shows no sign of fear when he is confronting Sam. Additionally, Sam is clearly caught off guard when McMurphy confronts him, therefore suggesting to the readers that he is more scared of McMurphy than he is of other patients. Furthermore, due to the fact that McMurphy was brave enough to confront the aide, it shows that he has enough power to be able to stand up against him without getting punished for doing so. In short, McMurphy demonstrates his power clearly by confronting the aide of Nurse Ratched, someone that is

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While a mental ward sounds nicer than jail, McMurphy quickly realizes there might be bigger challenges. One is understanding the minds of the other men in the institution. McMurphy encounters several interesting characters such as: Dale Harding, a well-educated but uptight man who has marital problems; Billy Bibbit, the paranoid one with a speech disorder; the sensitive and prone

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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.

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In the book “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” Ken Kesey shows that the “insanity” of the patients is really just normal insecurities and their label as insane by society is immoral. This appears in the book concerning Billy Bibbits problem with his mom, Harding's problems with his wife, and that the patients are in the ward

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His rebellious and free mind makes the patients open their eyes and see how the have been suppressed. His appearance is a breath of fresh air and a look into the outside world for the patients. This clearly weakens Nurse Ratched’s powers, and she sees him as a large threat. One way or another, McMurphy tends to instigate changes of scenery. He manages to move everyone away from her music and watchful eye into the old tube room.

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