An individual’s sanity is sustained by his or her memories. Ken Kesey digs deep into this concept in his famous novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as he unravels the importance of memories in the shape of flashbacks which occur all throughout the novel. Although they can confuse the reader, Kesey brilliantly uses flashbacks to expose the significance of memories as they can be the one thing left to hold onto, and portray the origin of an individual’s personality.
When the characters in the story seem to struggle, the one thing that they can hold on to regardless of what occurs is their fond memories. The first flashback in the novel describes Chief’s effort to put his mind somewhere else due to the fear of being shaved by Nurse Ratched. …show more content…
Specifically, the reference to Maxwell Taber explains why Nurse Ratched does her work at the ward even though it is unclear who she really is. Regardless, Maxwell Taber was a patient who changed completely due to the ward and Nurse Ratched, but it is important because “A successful Dismissal like this brings joy to the Big Nurse’s heart and speaks good of her craft” (Kesey 41). It can be strongly inferred that the reason why she works as the nurse is because she loves to see how someone that is pushed out of society can be normal again because of her work. Thus, Kesey uses the flashback to express the personality of Nurse Ratched due to her love of successful dismissals. In spite of the Nurse’s past, a very specific moment of Chief’s childhood decides how he would act around people for the rest of his life. The flashback takes place when he was in the village and business men came in order to buy the land, but he tried to fight back by trying to make the men go away. After Chief mentions how cool his house is, “not one of the three acts like they heard a thing I said; in fact, they’re looking off from me like they’d as soon I wasn’t there at all” (Kesey 213). His efforts become worthless which make him question if he should even talk at all if he is going to be ignored this way. Hence, Kesey does a great job of introducing a main reason of why Chief pretends to be deaf with a flashback. In conclusion, the personalities of two of the main characters are illustrated by the author’s use of flashbacks in order to explain how the past greatly influenced
When the characters in the story seem to struggle, the one thing that they can hold on to regardless of what occurs is their fond memories. The first flashback in the novel describes Chief’s effort to put his mind somewhere else due to the fear of being shaved by Nurse Ratched. …show more content…
Specifically, the reference to Maxwell Taber explains why Nurse Ratched does her work at the ward even though it is unclear who she really is. Regardless, Maxwell Taber was a patient who changed completely due to the ward and Nurse Ratched, but it is important because “A successful Dismissal like this brings joy to the Big Nurse’s heart and speaks good of her craft” (Kesey 41). It can be strongly inferred that the reason why she works as the nurse is because she loves to see how someone that is pushed out of society can be normal again because of her work. Thus, Kesey uses the flashback to express the personality of Nurse Ratched due to her love of successful dismissals. In spite of the Nurse’s past, a very specific moment of Chief’s childhood decides how he would act around people for the rest of his life. The flashback takes place when he was in the village and business men came in order to buy the land, but he tried to fight back by trying to make the men go away. After Chief mentions how cool his house is, “not one of the three acts like they heard a thing I said; in fact, they’re looking off from me like they’d as soon I wasn’t there at all” (Kesey 213). His efforts become worthless which make him question if he should even talk at all if he is going to be ignored this way. Hence, Kesey does a great job of introducing a main reason of why Chief pretends to be deaf with a flashback. In conclusion, the personalities of two of the main characters are illustrated by the author’s use of flashbacks in order to explain how the past greatly influenced