Rebellion in George Orwell’s 1984 and Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

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Rebellion in George Orwell’s 1984 and Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest George Orwell’s 1984 and Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are two excellent and closely related novels. Set in two very different times, these two novels are essentially about the rebellious fighting spirit of individuals. Authority in 1984 is depicted in the form of the Party, which rules over Oceania. In One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nurse Ratched and her staff are the authority figures. 1984’s protagonist, Winston Smith, fights against the Party, and McMurphy fights Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. These two men have several character similarities. The Party and its leader Big Brother play the role of authority in 1984. The Party is always watching the citizens of the Republic of Oceania. This is exemplified in the fact that the government has telescreens through which they can watch you wherever you are set up almost everywhere. Even in the countryside where there are no telescreens, the Party can monitor its citizens through hidden microphones disguised as flowers. The Thought Police are capable of spying on your thoughts at anytime, and can arrest or even kill you on a whim. Not only does the Thought Police find and hunt down felons, but it also scares others into being good citizens. The Party strives to eliminate more and more words from people’s vocabularies. Thus, the Party can destroy any possibilities of revolutions and conspiracies against itself. Its ultimate goal is to reduce the language to only one word, eliminating thought of any kind. The Party makes people believe that it is good and right in its actions through the Ministry of Truth and through the slogans printed on the Ministry of Truth:... ... middle of paper ... ...o novels have similar authority figures and protagonists. Both novels express the importance of standing up for what you believe in and fighting against authority no matter how difficult. Even though they are both defeated at the end of the novels, the reader empathizes with each of their struggles. The oppressed Winston Smith fought against the evils of the Party while other citizens accepted it and all its lies. Randal Patrick McMurphy battled Nurse Ratched right from the start. He was a leader among the other patients and brought new light to the ward. His fighting spirit, stubborn attitude, and ill temper, however, ultimately defeat him. These two novels were and still are very powerful and moving. Like all novels ever written, 1984 and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest both have their weaknesses. They are, however, well written, gripping, and overall good reads.

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