One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Isolation Analysis

Isolation, by prohibiting the development of an individual’s perception of reality, harms one’s ability to mediate emotions and distorts their view of rationality. The main disadvantage of isolation: the loss of expression with society. Interaction with others creates a sense of belonging, intimacy and support for an individual. Without the imperative social skills, one’s decisions would be inane, and they’d be incapable of expedient reasoning. Throughout Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, characters suffer different forms of isolation. An individual can suffer from both self-inflicted and forced isolation throughout time, however, social isolation is the most detrimental to an individual's awareness and interpretation of reality. Piggy is segregated from the island's inhabitants due to his matured and responsible nature. William Golding portrays Piggy’s forced isolation through the communication …show more content…
Ken Kesey narrates the patient’s reclusiveness by writing, “ [The Ordely’s] don't bother talking not talking out loud about their hate secrets when I'm nearby because they think I'm deaf and dumb. Everybody thinks so.”( Kesey 3). Because of the Ordely’s behavior, Bromden is almost depicted as non-existent. Chief’s illusion of reality is created by the ward and prevents him from having rational thoughts,shown through confusion of the fog and fearful flashbacks. At last, the presence of a dog outside the ward evoked Bromden's realization of the world's existence.McMurphy's Christ figure influences Bromden to flee for freedom and the destruction of the control panel symbolized the broken barrier between incarceration and independence. Chief Bromden’s isolation proved advantageous in the sense it assisted in the breakthrough of delusional reality. Unlike Piggy and Chief Bromden,Holden’s isolation is the act of his own