Hidden Failures of Institutionalized Care in Kesey’s Novel

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One of the central themes in Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest, surrounds the ward institution’s hidden failure at performing its civic duty. An institution for the mentally insane is designed to help treat and cure people that are mentally wounded and are not able to function and adapt to the current society. Many patients are convicted to these institutions, but like a majority of the acutes in the novel, they are volunteering because they are aware of the fact that if they were living in the real world, they could not survive. Where the ward fails is with the strict rules and regulations that Nurse Ratched implements that have the appearance of being helpful to the patients, but are actually restricting them from fully healing.

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