(INSERT CATCHY THING) Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1962. The novel presented many hippie, counter culture ideas, such as society’s negative toll on an individual’s psyche, and that sanity and madness is more of a matter of who is and isn’t adjusted to society (Shechner, 2002). The novel also explores the deplorable conditions and treatments mental patients are subjected to, from electroshock therapy to lobotomies to physical and mental abuse, all from the perspective of a mental patient (Van Valkenburg, 2011). The exploration of such subjects was almost unheard of previously, so Kesey helped paved the way for a national discussion concerning mental hospitals and patient health. With the novel’s impact on society and Kesey’s
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The utilization of such motifs also supports that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a classic according to Sainte-Beuve’s definition, as the use of motifs allows for Kesey to express his point of view in a contemporary and stylistically unique manner. Before the events of the novel take place, Bromden spent years pretending to be a deaf and dumb individual. This façade allowed him to gain access to the confidential information shared at staff meetings, between patients, etc. Bromden also hides behind the “fog”, or psychosis he experiences, allowing him to feel safe behind the apparent fog that surrounds him. Bromden’s apparent invisibility while he hides behind the fog of psychosis first began in his childhood,
“Except the sun, on these three strangers, is all of a sudden way the hell brighter than usual and I can see the… seams where they're put together. And, almost, see the apparatus inside them take the words I just said and try to fit the words in here and there, this place and that, and when they find the words don't have any place ready-made where they'll fit, the machinery disposes of the words like they weren't even spoken” (Kesey, 1962, …show more content…
Even at a very young age, Bromden experiences being ignored while he attempts to speak to someone, leaving him feeling invisible. Kesey uses Bromden’s apparent invisibility to reinforce how society fails the individual, setting them up to be viewed as “sick”, when they are really like anyone else (for the most part). Within One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Kesey also utilizes the motif of laughter and its power as a survival tool, mainly with McMurphy. Before his introduction, hardly anyone, if anyone at all, laughed at the hospital. However, once he is present, he uses his genuine laugh to remove power from Nurse Ratched. The reintroduction of laughter to Bromden’s life also reminds him of when his father used his own laughter to remove power from the government officials that visited the tribe. His power if most clearly exemplified here, “While McMurphy laughs. Rocking farther and farther backward against the cabin top, spreading his laugh out across the water… Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy” (Kesey, 1962, 249-250). In this quote, Kesey emphasizes the power of laughter. Through Bromden, Kesey explains that McMurphy laughs to keep himself sane, because laughing at everything that hurts him takes some
The utilization of such motifs also supports that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a classic according to Sainte-Beuve’s definition, as the use of motifs allows for Kesey to express his point of view in a contemporary and stylistically unique manner. Before the events of the novel take place, Bromden spent years pretending to be a deaf and dumb individual. This façade allowed him to gain access to the confidential information shared at staff meetings, between patients, etc. Bromden also hides behind the “fog”, or psychosis he experiences, allowing him to feel safe behind the apparent fog that surrounds him. Bromden’s apparent invisibility while he hides behind the fog of psychosis first began in his childhood,
“Except the sun, on these three strangers, is all of a sudden way the hell brighter than usual and I can see the… seams where they're put together. And, almost, see the apparatus inside them take the words I just said and try to fit the words in here and there, this place and that, and when they find the words don't have any place ready-made where they'll fit, the machinery disposes of the words like they weren't even spoken” (Kesey, 1962, …show more content…
Even at a very young age, Bromden experiences being ignored while he attempts to speak to someone, leaving him feeling invisible. Kesey uses Bromden’s apparent invisibility to reinforce how society fails the individual, setting them up to be viewed as “sick”, when they are really like anyone else (for the most part). Within One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Kesey also utilizes the motif of laughter and its power as a survival tool, mainly with McMurphy. Before his introduction, hardly anyone, if anyone at all, laughed at the hospital. However, once he is present, he uses his genuine laugh to remove power from Nurse Ratched. The reintroduction of laughter to Bromden’s life also reminds him of when his father used his own laughter to remove power from the government officials that visited the tribe. His power if most clearly exemplified here, “While McMurphy laughs. Rocking farther and farther backward against the cabin top, spreading his laugh out across the water… Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy” (Kesey, 1962, 249-250). In this quote, Kesey emphasizes the power of laughter. Through Bromden, Kesey explains that McMurphy laughs to keep himself sane, because laughing at everything that hurts him takes some