Yiran Cheng
Mr. Schaffer
ENG4U1
Monday, April 26, 2016
Critique of 1950 America’s Society in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author obvious intention can be easily seen in analogies the author draws. For example, he makes an analogy between the mental institution in the story and a small society, which is the very epitome of that period. He makes an analogy between the patients in the mental institution and the common people in 1950s American society. He also makes an analogy between the nurses and the authorities in mid-twentieth century of America. The rules in the hospital are same as the dogma and law in American society. The common people have to strictly follow the dogmatic rules and the autocracy; freedom does not exist. The patients in the book are like machines. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, using the analogy of a mental institution, suggests that 1950s American society is not free and that people need to rise up to try to change it. Firstly, the Big Nurse’s manipulation and subtle cruelty cannot give enough freedom for the patients. Secondly, the main elements of control are self-inflicted; the fear that holds them down is internal. Thirdly, McMurphy is a messianic figure, and his doom is inevitable. He brings liberation to others, and this is the true meaning to his own life.
First, Nurse Ratched’s manipulation and subtle cruelty mirrors discrimination of the era. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the chief Bromden and the patients who are there are essentially being "segregated" from the rest of society because they are different. This segregation from the normal life can compare to the struggle with racism, discrimination, and segregation between whites and African Americans in post-World War II era. In the book, the patients are not treated as normal people, and they do not have freedom. For