Insanity In 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'

Ethan Collard
Miss Lewis
AP Literature and Composition Combined
17 January 2016
Question 3 Final Draft
Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the definition of insanity is profoundly questioned, however the societal implications of this ambiguity are just that, implications. Kesey, the author, never gives any specific answer to this question. For many of the patients, their madness is unquestionable, a direct effect of Nurse Ratched’s treatment. To the audience, though, the question of the patients’ insanity is more uncertain. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest questions societal expectations’ effect on the definition of insanity, and this proposal of Kesey directly impacts the theme that this definition of madness is ambiguous and that societal norms are able to be both oppressive and pillars of civilization simultaneously.

Ratched is depicted as the embodiment of these social standards because she controls the definition of insanity just as the standards do. For example, McMurphy’s defiance is nearly halted when “the Big Nurse” explains that she can hold him in the ward until she deems him sane. McMurphy, however, is able to interrupt Ratched’s plans, and therefore the expectations, by rebelling and empowering the other patients. During his time in the psychiatric ward, McMurphy discovers that many of the patients are self-committed. This spurs him into action, along with Dale Harding, to rebel against Nurse Ratched. In addition, McMurphy’s rebellion equates to an attack on the social expectations that initially caused so many of the patients to commit. The ability to allow the patients to overcome their fear of their social standing is indicative of McMurphy’s embodiment of the novel’s central