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
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where he spent time talking to patients under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs.
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
thoughts also developed in Chief’s mind when he once thought to himself - ‘it wasn't me that started acting deaf; it was people that first started acting like I was too dumb to hear or see or say anything at all. (Kesey 179). When adapting from film to text, the voice and thoughts of Chief were completely lost and hence these insights can only be found in the original text. Chief thought to himself in the above lines why he pretended to be deaf and dumb in the first place and soon realised that he, himself was never the reason. Society started assumed that he lacked communication skills and assumed he was deaf and dumb. Them ignoring him from daily conversations lead to him pretending to be deaf and dumb. Because of his disabilities and schizophrenia, he was sent to the ‘Combine factory’. These circumstances make it even more apparent that rather than accept individuality, society had put these individuals into quarantine because they did not fit the conventional idea of how people were supposed to behave. For one instance, let us assume that the patients are indeed mentally ill and needed treatment. The Combine's solution to mental illness, as stated by the Chief was to force isolation upon patients, sedate them, conduct group therapy sessions where patients would squabble with each other, and in cases of non-conforming patients, provide Electric Shock Therapy and lobotomy. Due to these bizarre practices, it could be argued that unquestionable sane ward supervisor Nurse Ratched also displayed behavior that was distinctly deranged. Her obsession with order, for example, extends far beyond the needs of the patients of the ward. Ironically, although the fishing trip that Murphy planned was illegal and disorderly to say the least, it positively affected the participants’ well-being. The nurse also played blared classical music in the ward as a mood altering mechanism. She could directly control the patients by developing emotions such as tranquility, frustration and intimidation with the push of one button.
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...
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.
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.
(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.
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.
Ken Kesey in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest question a lot of things that you think almost everyday. With this famous portrait of a mental institute its rebellious patients and domineering caretakers counter-culture icon Kesey is doing a whole lot more than just spinning a great yarn. He is asking us to stop and consider how what we call "normal" is forced upon each and every one of us. Stepping out of line, going against the grain, swimming upstream whatever your metaphor, there is a steep price to pay for that kind of behavior. The novel tells McMurphys tale, along with the tales of other inmates who suffer under the yoke of the authoritarian Nurse Ratched it is the story of any person who has felt suffocated and confined by our
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.
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."
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.
Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a story about a band of patients in a mental ward who struggle to find their identity and get away from the wretched Nurse. As audiences read about the tale, many common events and items seen throughout the story actually represent symbols for the bigger themes of the story. Symbols like the fishing trip, Nurse, and electroshock therapy all emphasize the bigger themes of the story.
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.
Malin, Irving. “Ken Kesey: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Critique 5.2 (1962): 81-84. Rpt. in Kesey 440-444.
Carl attempts to explain why a person acts a certain way and why they react to certain situations. Nurse Ratched, in the novel by Kesey, can be analyzed using the concepts of the unconscious mind and different Archetypes. Ken Kesey and Carl Jung both illustrate how the several psychoanalytic theories are portrayed in literature and in reality.