One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Literary Analysis

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was arguably one of author Ken Kesey’s finest works. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was published in 1962 by Ken Kesey with the guidance of Cowley (“Ken Kesey” 2014 “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” para. 4). This was a novel of great importance, it reflected the times and reflected what actions were taken throughout those times. Ken Kesey conducted a lot of research before writing his novel which allowed him to get a better grasp on what life was like in psych ward’s and institutions. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was based on actions that took place in real life psychiatric hospitals. This particular novel was set in an Oregon Psychiatric hospital. Ken Kesey was able to get …show more content…
Author Kesey can put symbolism in his novels and it can still be understood. Symbolism is a message from the writer to the reader in the hopes of representing things in a different form. An example is when the narrator speaks about “the fog” (Kesey 7). This fog represents and symbolizes the darkness of the ward itself, not physical darkness but spiritual darkness and evilness of the ward. However symbolism can sometimes be thought of as a hidden message that needs to be found. This can be true sometimes, however Kesey uses symbolism in a way that allows the reader to better understand the novel. The symbolism he uses connects with the characterizations and the imagery to better the understanding for the reader. Like when McMurphy states that the nurse is a “ball-cutter” (SparkNotes Editors). This saying symbolizes the nurse as being a very strict women and it symbolizes how the patients are controlled by the nurse. Symbolism is used to make connections between things that can be looked at in similar ways. The author does this, and does this quite well. There are many stories in which symbolism is hidden and the author wants to …show more content…
This statement symbolizes the patients as being the prey of the nurse and her staff, which makes the writing more enjoyable to read because it is making metaphors of the characters as well instead of using boring comparisons. Kesey uses symbolism in an easy to understand way which makes the reader feel better about understanding the novel. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel about patients in a psychiatric hospital. They go through many different hard obstacles because of the way they are treated at the hospital. The patients go through hard times in the hospital and they go through good times as well when they are forced to have fun with a new patient that arrives. The story is a really good story and it is quite easy to understand. Ken Kesey does a very good job by using literary devices to express his thoughts and opinions of the times. He expresses his P.O.V in the novel by using literary devices such as imagery, characterization, and symbolism which make his novel interesting and make the reader want to continue reading because of visual images that are portrayed in the mind of the readers as he/she reads the story. The author uses literary