...“I had to keep reminding myself that it had truly happened, that we had made it happen. We had just unlocked a window and let it in like you let in the fresh air. Maybe the Combine wasn’t all-powerful.” (Kesey, 305). A prominent theme throughout Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is social conformity. The narrator of the novel is a man known simply as Chief Bromden, a half-Indian who has been a patient at an Oregon psychiatric hospital for approximately ten years. He suffers frequently from hallucinations and delusions and his fear of what he calls the Combine, which controls society and forces people into conformity. In order to deal with this, Chief pretends that he is deaf and mute. The ward divides the each of the patients into...
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...Following his many years working the night shift at a mental hospital in California and his frequent use of LSD, both recreationally and scientifically, Ken Kesey penned his seminal work, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Written during a time of great social change in the United States, that included the emergence of the Civil Rights and Beat movements, his novel details the workings of a mental ward through the eyes of the seemingly deaf and dumb Chief Bromden. As a result, the reader is allowed a first-hand look at what it means to be considered abnormal by society and at the brutal “therapeutic” treatment the asylum enforces in oreder to make these people “normal” again. Ken Kesey realized the prevailing notion of conformity in the post-war era and it’s almost omnipotent grip on society, yet he concurrently understood the...
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...Throughout Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, one can see the book in many ways. He uses the book to express many of his believes, some of which are quite obviously drug induced. Kesey, like other authors at the time was looking at the world from the outside. He was part of the end of the beats movement. A common belief amongst beats movement writers was the idea of not conforming to the society that went against everything they believed. Ken Kesey hinted at his beats generation views all throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by reversing gender and race roles inside the mental hospital the book takes place in. Kesey also exploits the idea of conforming to, and being controlled by society norms. Early and all through One Flew...
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...Ken Kesey was born in 1935 in Colorado. In 1946, his family moved to Oregon, where he become champion in wrestling, both in high school and college (Ken Kesey Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography). He attended Stanford University and later in 1960 Kesey volunteered in the experiment organized by U.S army, in which he was using drugs such LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and then reporting on their effect. He also spent some time communicating with patients in the hospital's psychiatric ward. It was an experience which encouraged Ken Kesey to write his 1962 novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” (the book I’m reading right now), which examined the abuses of the system against the individuals and the theory that patients weren’t insane, but...
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...high school curriculum. For Example, Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest should not be censored in high school curriculums. Critics argue that One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest should be censored because it encourages acts of violence. One of the main characters, McMurphy, is known for “fight[ing] too much” (Kesey 19) which shows on his knuckles that are “covered with scars and cuts, old and new” (Kesey 28). The cuts are proof of his violent nature which doesn’t change throughout the novel. Another cause for concern is when McMurphy shatters the nurses window for the third time, pins down Big Nurse, rips her blouse open, and pries his “heavy red fingers [into] the white flesh of her throat as if they were her neck bones” (Kesey 268). This almost kills Big Nurse and is a very violent act that critics don’t want children to imitate. However, the notion that reading about violent acts will make students want to commit violent acts is a faulty analytical assumption. McMurphy doesn’t attack Big Nurse simply to be violent; it was the other patients’ “need that was making him push himself slowly up from sitting” (Kesey 268) to commit the crime. McMurphy, a stable minded man in a mental institution, put himself on the line to help the other patients who were being manipulated by Big Nurse and her regime. Critics also argue that the novel is too sexual for a high school curriculum. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is riddled with sexual innuendo. As McMurphy challenges Harding for...
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...In the novel “One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” what sticks out to me the most is that the narrator is not the protagonist. You would think at first that Chief Bromden the one who is a “Chronic” would have a flawed mental state. However that is not the case because Bromden is adept at describing what he sees. He also sees the true intention of Nurse Ratched and pretends that he is deaf. What is surprising is that McMurphy the new admission is very happy to be in a hospital for the insane. I still don’t know whether it’s all a play to get on the other patient good side or part of his true character. He notices that Chief Bromden is not really deaf and winks to Bromden that he knows. This tells me that McMurphy is someone who is not easily fooled....
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...Ms. Latasha Keith HUMN401-1305B-01: Literature and Film Professor Bonnie Ronson January 19, 2014 Unit 2 Individual Project – Canonical Classics of Literature Section 1- Introduction Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is set at an Oregon asylum in the 1950s (NovelGuide.com). The book is a study in the institutional process of the human mind, a critique of Behaviorism and a celebration of humanistic principles while exploring themes of individuality and rebellion against socially imposed repression (NovelGuide.com; SparkNotes.com; CliffsNotes.com). These themes and ideas were the topic of discussion during the publication of this novel because the world was introduced to communism and totalitarian regimes. The novel was published in 1962 and received with immediate success (SparkNotes.com). Section 2 – Biographical Information La Junta, Colorado is the birthplace of novelist Ken Kesey. He was born in 1935 and grew up on a small farm in Oregon and Colorado with his family. He married his high school sweetheart in 1956 and they had three children together (Lone Star College). He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon where he participated in wrestling and theater in 1957 (Lone Star College; SparkNotes.com). In 1959, Kesey enrolled in a creative writing program at Stanford University, the same year where he began volunteering with the Stanford Psychology Department (CliffsNotes.com; Lone Star College). The Stanford Psychology...
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...Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Dead Poet’s Society. At first glance, many would argue that there could not be two settings more dissimilar than a men’s mental institution, and a boy’s private school. However, both texts are set in heavily instituonalised arenas, where the individuals within the communities have had their independence and freedom stolen by overpowering figures of authority. Although the setting of the two institutions is contradictory in various ways; the warm, bricked and neat academy against the blinding white hospital walls; the oppression and rigidity between the two is evident. Both pieces introduce an...
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...Roles of Domineering and Passive Women Sometimes our expectation of what is good and what is evil can be surprisingly reversed. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is an example of this. Prior to the women’s rights movement in the 1970’s, men considered women to have limited roles in society. Men felt that the woman’s place was in the home. Women in the workforce were often looked upon as threats to manhood because they could take jobs and promotions away from men, who were typically the main source of a family’s income. This sentiment is reflected in Kesey’s novel. The majority of women in the book hold positions of authority. These women are portrayed as dominating and abusive with the intent to emasculate the male patients. The only other role of women in the novel is that of prostitutes who are portrayed as good because they allow men to be masculine. The prostitutes help the male patients with “women in authority” issues overcome their anxieties. In his novel, Kesey portrays nurses as threats to male patients in order to illustrate that, in general, women in authority can only result in the emasculation of men, while passive women can help restore the confidence of manhood. The principle authority figure, Nurse Ratched, is ruthless in her mission to dominate and control her male patients. She has the power to intimidate the staff into complying with her demands. When patients do not comply, she manipulates the doctor into ordering shock treatments and even...
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...When looking at a tragic hero, the first thing that comes to mind is a type of character that starts as a low key person, and then becomes relevant person within society. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the mail McMurphy is a god like human in the minds of the other patients and gives them life as his time dwindles at the institution. Someone in my mind that reminds me of McMurphy is Barry Bonds. In his life, he started his career as a one of the most looked at players until he was tested positive for steriods. Randall McMurphy and Barry Bonds share the character traits of determination, arrogance, and isolation. To begin, the up forth of R.P McMurphy and Barry Bonds’s glory came to be from the determination they have to be the best at what they do. McMurphy, along the road for his rise amongst the patients at the home, could not have happened if it was not for the lack of enthusiasm he saw in the faces of the people he was with every day of his life at the institution. “Damn, what a sorry-looking outfit. You boys don’t look so crazy to me” (Kesey 19). McMurphy knows these men have been dragged down for being in the institution and believes in himself to help them. One way he gets them to see how his personality is, is by loosening them up and trying to me them feel better about themselves. In comparison to Barry Bonds, the way he went up in the ladder was by playing the game of baseball how every American loved to watch it be played, with lots of...
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...“...Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance…” (Kesey 250). When Randle Patrick McMurphy initially arrived at the psychiatric ward, with his laugh reverberating against the walls, uncertainty of his agenda reciprocated throughout the minds of the other patients. This uncertainty gradually evaporated once the patients realized that McMurphy only possessed one objective: to address the individual needs of the patients, regardless of the punishment. Through the previously mentioned quote, we viewed the expansion of Chief Bromden’s thinking beyond consequence. Before the presence of McMurphy on the ward, Bromden shriveled at the mention of pain and hardship. Nonetheless, McMurphy installed a sense of strength and acknowledgement within Bromden. Before the appearance of McMurphy, Dale Harding occupied the title of “Bull Goose Loony” (19); a position of leadership quite opposite of his character. Harding, an intelligent man, retained qualities that restricted him from comfortable social interactions: a lack of initiative, minute self-esteem, and a desire to always be correct. During the introductory Therapeutic Community, Harding’s lack of conduction glared as he tolerated “what [the] nurse and those other bastards did” (58). Rather than display his drive and question the reasoning behind the procedure, Harding accepted that the destructive questions are “solely for therapeutic reasons” (58), which allowed Nurse Ratched to retain...
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...The Fog in Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, symbolises PTSD and other trauma that has caused Chief Bromden to be put into the ward. The fog makes it so he can escape from the real world, but it also suffocates him and frightens him. As the fog dissipates, it symbolises how his emotions changed throughout the novel, making him a stronger person both physically and mentally. Throughout the novel Chief Bromden feels as though he is falling into a fog, that he is convinced is being pumped into the ward. Progressively getting lighter and lighter until it does not affect Bromden anymore, Kesey used the idea of the fog to represent the change bromden experiences in the entirety of the novel. With its many symbolic uses during the novel the fog can be seen as many different things both supporting and keeping bromden away from his goals. In the novel, Kesey points to the fact that Chief Bromden was a soldier in World War II, and during his time in battle, they used fog to hide the troops when they were under attack or surveillance by the enemy, this memory is instilled in Chief’s mind, causing him to fall back into the fog whenever he feels frightened or violated. The fog is not truly there, although, he has come to believe...
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...Although Ken Kesey creates Nurse Ratched as a thoughtful and caring nurse throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey reveals Nurse Ratched’s authoritative demeanor she holds throughout the ward. The ward runs on a policy-based system that Nurse Ratched has created to ensure the floor works like a machine. But, now that McMurphy has become a part of the ward, he is determined to mess up, even the littlest bit, of Nurse Ratcheds system. Specifically, when Nurse Ratched walks into the ward she finds McMurphy standing in nothing but his towel with his toothbrush in his hand. Nurse Ratched is becoming “madder and more frustrated than ever” because she expected an aid to have “[issue] a change of greens” to McMurphy (89). Here, Kesey has brought...
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...In the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the mental hospital is very strict with lots of structure. This causes many thing to happen that doesn’t necessarily have to happen. It's almost as if the patients are antagonized to overreact at points in the movie. As a human being we should be able to make our own choices, therefor its important to be able to make your own choices to feel like you are an individual. Not to mention, I would think it would be improvement to have the patients working together as a team, but Nurse Ratched didn’t reward or even compliment them on working as a team. Instead she punished them. Working as a team is an key element of human behavior, because at this point your not just thinking about yourself but of others feelings too. These situations are all very unethical to me, I believe no matter what state you are in, mental or sane,...
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...The majority of individuals in society are often deceived by fallacious beliefs on those suffering with a psychological illness. The novel, One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, educates readers on the prominence of proper education on mental health, as well as, the severity of the treacherous treatments directed towards the predominantly oppressed group. The renowned tale is narrated by Chief Bromden, who is described as a “deaf and dumb” Native- American, inhabiting the Oregon Psychiatric Institution. Conversely, the protagonist of the novel, Randel McMurphy, is introduced as a polar opposite to the majority of the ward’s patients. McMurphy, distinguished as an American of Irish decent, proclaims to be a well-known gambler,...
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