Most look upon society as a liberating invention, freeing us from the chaos of our uncivilized past. However, it can also be viewed by some as a prison which enforces institutional conformity. Such people, such as Ken Kesey, condemned the way in which those who weren’t deemed as “normal” by society were often sentenced to be trapped under inhumane conditions. Although the primary conflict in Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is not one against entrapment, but rather one between untamed nature and domestication, the characters still struggle with how to retain their freedom while trapped in an inescapable prison. Although it does seem to be at first, the main battle that occurs in the novel is not a struggle against getting trapped and
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Unlike Nurse Ratched’s, McMurphy’s traps and tyrannical personality are natural. In fact, as the title suggests, he acts very much like a cuckoo does in nature. These odd birds tend to lay their eggs in others’ nests. When the young cuckoo hatches, it throws the original ‘homeowners’ and their eggs out onto the ground. In much the same way, McMurphy was thrust into a nest where he was not like the others, and wastes no time in taking over the role of ‘bull-goose looney’ and overthrowing the system which was in place before him. Additionally, McMurphy is nothing if not wild and unpredictable. Within 24 hours of entering the ward, he manages to get the consistently placid Nurse to become “white and warped with fury,” as seeing him walk around in nothing but a cap and a towel was far “more’n she can take” (99). However, she doesn’t get used to his crazy wildness. In fact, he was so unpredictable that he was still, much later, able to shock her into a fright yet again to where she was “sitting like a chalk statue… with her face shifting and jerking” (201). Nurse Ratched’s traps, on the other hand, were carried out with the intention to eliminate this unpredictability and suppress the free spirit of all her hostages. The primary function of one of her favorite methods, electro-shock therapy, is to make one more “inclined to be calmer and more peaceful” (190), overall subduing him. If that doesn’t …show more content…
However, he seems to question the validity of this statement, wondering aloud: “is nature, though, any different?” (Faggen, xxii). Thus, he too is led to the conclusion that in his novel, “Kesey battles against monotony and against those who attempt to schematize and subordinate the wildness and unpredictability of the human spirit” (Faggen, xxiii). More generally, he feels that the book is the product Kesey’s personal battles against his era’s attempts at “the reduction of human beings to types and machines” (Faggen, xvii). Today, we are no longer systematized into cogs and parts; we are instead reduced to accounts on a screen, with personalities that vanish and morph as quickly as a self-destruct timer on a picture. No nation-wide institution has to force us to give up our freedoms and rights, as we voluntarily surrender them in countless ‘terms of agreement,’ and submit ourselves to the desensitizing activities which has rendered society apathetic to any issue more serious than how liked our photos are. Given the message of his writings, Kesey would be horrified to see the systematic docility which the Combine uses to reign today, unless we can heed his warnings in
Unlike Nurse Ratched’s, McMurphy’s traps and tyrannical personality are natural. In fact, as the title suggests, he acts very much like a cuckoo does in nature. These odd birds tend to lay their eggs in others’ nests. When the young cuckoo hatches, it throws the original ‘homeowners’ and their eggs out onto the ground. In much the same way, McMurphy was thrust into a nest where he was not like the others, and wastes no time in taking over the role of ‘bull-goose looney’ and overthrowing the system which was in place before him. Additionally, McMurphy is nothing if not wild and unpredictable. Within 24 hours of entering the ward, he manages to get the consistently placid Nurse to become “white and warped with fury,” as seeing him walk around in nothing but a cap and a towel was far “more’n she can take” (99). However, she doesn’t get used to his crazy wildness. In fact, he was so unpredictable that he was still, much later, able to shock her into a fright yet again to where she was “sitting like a chalk statue… with her face shifting and jerking” (201). Nurse Ratched’s traps, on the other hand, were carried out with the intention to eliminate this unpredictability and suppress the free spirit of all her hostages. The primary function of one of her favorite methods, electro-shock therapy, is to make one more “inclined to be calmer and more peaceful” (190), overall subduing him. If that doesn’t …show more content…
However, he seems to question the validity of this statement, wondering aloud: “is nature, though, any different?” (Faggen, xxii). Thus, he too is led to the conclusion that in his novel, “Kesey battles against monotony and against those who attempt to schematize and subordinate the wildness and unpredictability of the human spirit” (Faggen, xxiii). More generally, he feels that the book is the product Kesey’s personal battles against his era’s attempts at “the reduction of human beings to types and machines” (Faggen, xvii). Today, we are no longer systematized into cogs and parts; we are instead reduced to accounts on a screen, with personalities that vanish and morph as quickly as a self-destruct timer on a picture. No nation-wide institution has to force us to give up our freedoms and rights, as we voluntarily surrender them in countless ‘terms of agreement,’ and submit ourselves to the desensitizing activities which has rendered society apathetic to any issue more serious than how liked our photos are. Given the message of his writings, Kesey would be horrified to see the systematic docility which the Combine uses to reign today, unless we can heed his warnings in