One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Analysis

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is narrated by Chief Bromden, a half Indian war veteran who has been a patient in an Oregon psychiatric hospital for over ten years. He suffers from extreme paranoia and delusions, evident from the first few lines of the novel. Furthermore Chief is terrified of the “Combine” an aggregation that controls society and forces conformity, and he pretends to be deaf and dumb in attempt to not be noticed, despite the fact that he stands at six foot seven. At the Institution, the patients are placed into two groups: the acutes and the chronics. The acutes can be cured, the chronics cannot, and both groups are ruled over by head Nurse Ratched, who runs the ward with rigid, mechanical precision. The acutes partake in daily Group Meetings, where they are encouraged to attack one another where they are most vulnerable, leaving them all forced into submission. Those who do rebel are placed into electroshock therapy, or even given a lobotomy. …show more content…
McMurphy introduced himself as man who loved cards and women, and defines Nurse Ratched as a “ball-cutter” from his first Group Meeting. The other acutes try to explain that she is an all-powerful force, but McMurphy bets to break her in a week. The strife between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy is entertaining to the patients at first, but eventually McMurphy’s insubordination leads to rebellion within the actues. McMurphy’s bet is contingent on a failed vote to switch the television schedule to watch the World Series, despite the fact that it is on during the allotted time for chores. McMurphy stages a protest by sitting in front of a blank television screen rather than doing work, and one by one the other patients join him. Ratchet eventually looses her control and screams at