One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is movie directed by Milos Forman in 1975, that was adapted from a novel with the same title written by Ken Kesey in 1962. In the movie, Forman unfolds a tale of people with mental disabilities attempting to survive life in an Oregon based hospital’s psychiatric ward. On further examining the institutional practices of the ward through the lens of an unbiased bystander, we can see that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest portrays the adverse consequences of a conformist society by challenging the social construct of mental illness and sanity. This perspective is essential in understood.
It is interesting to note that Ken Kesey got inspiration for the story while working on a night shift at Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital
…show more content…
From his interaction with them, he concluded that he did not believe that these patients had mental conditions. As a result, analogous themes are seen in story that various instances. For example, in a scene, Mcmurphy says -“As near as I can tell you’re not any crazier than the average asshole on the street,” (Kesey 65). Even though viewers can interpret this statement as something blabbered by a mental patient, Candy Starr also makes a comment on Billy’s sanity -"All these things, Billy? Phrenic this and pahtic that? You don't look like you have all these things."(Kesey 260). These contradictory comments on the patients’ recorded mental health and reality clearly reveals the harsh reality of society’s attitude towards differently minded individuals in the 50’s. Even if readers of the book ignore Mcmurphy’s comments and pass him of as ‘insane’, ‘sane minded’ Candy Starr also had similar observations to make about the patients in the ward. Therefore, it is quite evident from the Mcmurphy and Candy’s remarks that in reality, mental disorders are not strictly disorders at all. They are merely unconventional forms of individual expression that make society feel uncomfortable. According to the book, such
Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, is a novel containing the theme of emotions being played with in order to confine and change people. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is about a mental institution where a Nurse named Miss Ratched has total control over its patients. She uses her knowledge of the patients to strike fear in their minds. Chief Bromden a chronic who suffers from schizophrenia and pretends to be deaf and mute narrates the novel. From his perspective we see the rise and fall of a newly admitted patient, RP McMurphy. McMurphy used his knowledge and courage to bring changes in the ward. During his time period in the ward he sought to end the reign of the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched, also to bring the patients back on their feet. McMurphy issue with the ward and the patients on the ward can be better understood when you look at this novel through a psychoanalytic lens. By applying Daniel Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence to McMurphy’s views, it is can be seen that his ideas can bring change in the patients and they can use their
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, is an unforgettable novel about the lifestyle and journeys of patients in a mental facility. Although all of the main characters contribute distinct attributes to the story, Chief Bromden contributes the most. The author speaks through Chief instilling his beliefs on his readers. In Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the narrator, Chief Bromden, portrays Kesey’s views on society and insanity by filling the role of the ego, showing that society’s expectations and pressures are the main cause of mental instability.
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest explores the dysfunctions and struggles of life for the patients in a matriarch ruled mental hospital. As told by a schizophrenic Native American named Chief Bromden, the novel focuses primarily on Randle McMurphy, a boisterous new patient introduced into the ward, and his constant war with the Big Nurse Ratched, the emasculating authoritarian ruler of the ward. Constricted by the austere ward policy and the callous Big Nurse, the patients are intimidated into passivity. Feeling less like patients and more like inmates of a prison, the men surrender themselves to a life of submissiveness-- until McMurphy arrives. With his defiant, fearless and humorous presence, he instills a certain sense of rebellion within all of the other patients. Before long, McMurphy has the majority of the Acutes on the ward following him and looking to him as though he is a hero. His reputation quickly escalates into something Christ-like as he challenges the nurse repeatedly, showing the other men through his battle and his humor that one must never be afraid to go against an authority that favors conformity and efficiency over individual people and their needs. McMurphy’s ruthless behavior and seemingly unwavering will to protest ward policy and exhaust Nurse Ratched’s placidity not only serves to inspire other characters in the novel, but also brings the Kesey’s central theme into focus: the struggle of the individual against the manipulation of authoritarian conformists. The asylum itself is but a microcosm of society in 1950’s America, therefore the patients represent the individuals within a conformist nation and the Big Nurse is a symbol of the authority and the force of the Combine she represents--all...
The film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, produced by Milos Forman, contains many similarities to the novel, however the differences are numerous to the extent that the story, written by Ken Kesey, is overlooked by anyone who only saw the film. Ken Kesey wrote the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, after experimenting with drugs and working on a psychiatric ward in 1960 and the novel was published in 1962. “Kesey became a night attendant on the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital psychiatric ward so that he could concentrate on his writing.” (Magill 1528) Kesey’s rebellious novel explores the world of mental patients struggling against authority and society through incredible imagery. He was able to describe this struggle because of his personal experiences. Kesey was “disturbed by the dehumanizing treatment of the patients” (Beetz 3089-3090), so he decided to write this novel about them. In his surrealistic life’s work, Ken Kesey has managed to capture both the gloomy asylum atmosphere and the mental patients’ demented attitudes. Kesey’s novel proclaims a classic struggle between good and evil or the hero and the villain. This contemporary classic was brought to life through the film version in 1975 and is considered “one of the greatest American films of all time” (Dirks 1). It was the first film to receive all the major Oscar awards. These included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. The same name as the novel was chosen so that it would appeal to contemporary audiences, which proved to be a big hit at the box office. “Its allegorical theme is set in the world of an authentic mental hospital, a place of rebellion by a wise-guy hero against institutional authority and attitudes.” (Dirks 1)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a film directed by Czech Milos Forman in 1975. Using potent elements of fiction--characters, conflict, and symbolism--Forman illustrates the counterculture of the 1960’s. This film depicts American society as an insane asylum that demands conformity from its citizens. The film begins with a conniving convict being assigned to the asylum. R. P. McMurphy is sent to the asylum to be evaluated by the doctors and to determine whether or not he is mentally ill. He is unaware that he will be supervised by an emasculating woman named Nurse Mildred Ratched who watches the patients’ every motion from her nurse’s station.
Ken Kesey presents his masterpiece, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, with popular culture symbolism of the 1960s. This strategy helps paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind. Music and cartoons of the times are often referred to in the novel. These help to exaggerate the characters and the state of the mental institution.
In the 1960’s Ken Kesey, a student of the university of Oregon and Stanford University, became interested in alternative medicine and mental health after participating in a US Military psychedelic drug study. Kesey proceed to work for this same institution. For him it was important to take notes on the individuals in this ward, to draw them even! Kesey had an urge to get to know them, even to understand their story and this is precisely what lead him to his current perspective on society and the conformity which it expects of those who are a part of it. It is in this spirit which he wrote one flew over the Cuckoo’s nest and made a brilliant example of counter culture which to this day stands as a strong criticism to the way which mental health professions can become so corrupt and out of control.
When norms of society are unfair and seem set in stone, rebellion is bound to occur, ultimately bringing about change in the community. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest demonstrates the conflict of individuals who have to survive in an environment where they are pressured to cooperate. The hospital's atmosphere suppresses the patients' individuality through authority figures that mold the patients into their visions of perfection. The ward staff's ability to overpower the patients' free will is not questioned until a man named Randal McMurphy is committed to the mental institute. He rebels against what he perceives as a rigid, dehumanizing, and uncompassionate environment. His exposure of the flaws in the hospital's perfunctory rituals permits the other patients to form opinions and consequently their personalities surface. The patient's new behavior clashes with the medical personnel's main goal-to turn them into 'perfect' robots, creating havoc on the ward.
Author Ken Kesey effectively reflects on the social climate of the 1960s in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. By creating a fictitious mental institution, he creates an accurate and eye-opening mirror image of repressive modern day society. While it’s both a microcosm and exaggeration of modern day society, Kesey stresses society’s obsession with conformity, while demonstrating that those individuals who reject societal pressure and conformity are simply deemed insane. However, Kesey infuses the power of the individual in his portrayal of the charismatic outlaw Randall McMurphy, and proves that it only takes one to defeat the restrictions of a repressive society. McMurphy’s evident superiority among the other patients in the hospital immediately established his power and authority over the other patients.
Malin, Irving. “Ken Kesey: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Critique 5.2 (1962): 81-84. Rpt. in Kesey 440-444.
The author of One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest, allows the reader to explore different psychoanalytic issues in literature. The ability to use works literature to learn about real world conflicts allows us to use prior knowledge to interact with these problems in reality. Ken Kesey, the author of the above novel and Carl Jung, author of “The Archetype and the Collective Unconscious” wrote how the mind can be easily overtaken by many outside factors from the past or present. The novel takes place in an asylum that is aimed to contain individuals that have a mental issue or problem. The doctors and care takers are seen as tyrants and barriers that inhibit the patients to improve their health, while the patients are limited by their initial conditions
In the first half of the novel, Kesey uses a wonderful device to show oppression that makes the reader feel as if they themselves are going insane. Bromden describes it best. “She’s got the fog machine switched on…and the more I think about how nothing can be helped, the faster the fog rolls in,” (Kesey 101). This fog is not literally there, but instead appears when Kesey wants to create an atmosphere that is disparaging. This dark tone is also emphasized through Bromden’s nightmares. In one of the dreams, the hospital turns into a hot industrial factory where the noise of cold, hard, unyielding machinery is almost deafening, (78-82). During the dream, one of the old Chronics, Blastic, is Hung on a hook and sent away into the machines. The strange thing is that he actually does die. Bromden’s dream is actually a metaphor for the quick disposal of those who do not survive the nurse’s treatment. It is as if she does not want any evidence that her patients are not recovering. So, the effect the reader is left with is one representative of how unceremoniously a death is dealt with in the hospital.
In Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author refers to the many struggles people individually face in life. Through the conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy, the novel explores the themes of individuality and rebellion against conformity. With these themes, Kesey makes various points which help us understand which situations of repression can lead an individual to insanity. These points include: the effects of sexual repression, woman as castrators, and the pressures we face from society to conform. Through these points, Kesey encourages the reader to consider that people react differently in the face of repression, and makes the reader realize the value of alternative states of perception, rather than simply writing them off as "crazy."
Rules rule. Without things like stoplights and driving etiquette, we’d be one disaster-prone society. When we are in kindergarten, we learn how to color inside the lines and paint by the numbers, because we might be told that pretty pictures are those that are neat and tidy. We have terms like “good” and “sane” and “insane” because these words help us keep our lives organized and mess-free. No need to debate it or get into messy arguments. But One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest challenges all of that. It makes us look at who makes the rules. Now we want to know: who defines what behavior is "sane" or "insane"? McMurphy helps us realize just how arbitrary "sanity" can be, especially when the poster child of sanity happens to be the one and only Nurse Ratched. So just what does it mean to be "sane" or
Throughout the sixties , America- involved in the Cold War at this time- suffered from extreme fear of communism. This caused numerous severe changes in society ranging from corrupt political oppression, to the twisted treatment of the minority. Published in 1962, Ken Kesey ’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , manages to capture these changes in the variety of ways. Kesey’s novel incorporates some of the main issues that affected the United States during the early and mid 60s. The government had no limits and was cruel to those who did not fit into society, including the mentally ill. The wrongful treatment of the people caused an eruption of rebellion and protest- thus the Beatnik era was born. The novel, written during this movement, sheds light on Kesey’s personal opinion on this chaotic period in US history . The treatment of mentally ill patients, the oppressive government, and uprising in the 1960s inspired Kesey while writing his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.