Why Is One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Be Banned

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Thesis: Although parents may want to ban the novel from Capital High School’s eleventh grade curriculum due to it’s cruel imagery, Kesey’s wonderfully handcrafted writing will unveil to students. Summary: In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he explores the paradoxes of society through the eyes of half-native American narrator Chief Bromden, who struggles with schizophrenia. The story follows protagonist Randle Patrick McMurphy in a psychic ward as his chaotic nature threatens to overthrow head nurse Ratched’s dictatorial rule. While his tricks to rile up the nurse start out as jokes, their conflict introduces weaknesses in the nurses’ mechanical system and escalates to a power struggle between the two. Inspiring other patients …show more content…

The narrator, a biracial native american man, feeds into stereotypes by claiming that he acts deaf and dumb because “people...started acting like [he] was too dumb to hear or see or say anything at all” (Kesey 178). This argument, though, assumes Natives are not ignored today. According to Hatfield, this kind of stereotyping still happens in advertising, from racist mascots like the Rednecks to product mascots like Natural Foods (Hatfield). Moreover, Chief symbolically represents 24.3% of natives in poverty today who often go unheard and unseen (U.S Census Bureau). Another example of generalization is the way the ward aids slather food into the disabled patient’s mouths (Kesey 152). Parents can agree they wouldn’t want their children viewing the mistreatment of the disabled, however, Kesey exposes the unfortunate reality that people with mental health diagnoses and disabilities often view their diagnosis as something that restrains them and are often mistreated in private (Wong). Overall, while Kesey uses much objectionable material, it is with the intent of speaking on societal issues many students need to learn …show more content…

For instance, after realizing that McMurphy was giving into Mrs. Ratched’s system, patient Cheswick commits suicide, graphically describing his death (Kesey 151). It must be clear, however, that Kesey isn’t glorifying suicide. SECONDARY SOURCE -. Another example is when protagonist McMurphy rips open the front of Nurse Ratched’s uniform and strangles her, explicitly describing her body and assault (Kesey 267). While nevertheless terrifying, this scene is important for the book DFGDFBF. In the end, Chief Bromden explicitly suffocates the main protagonist (Kesey 270). While violent, however, his death symbolically represents freedom from Mrs. Ratched’s rule after he loses his ability to survive on his own. Students gain insight into what measures people are willing to take to obtain freedom, which could someday be them in the

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