In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest And Panopticism

The advancement of technology over the last decade has been used to further security methods in society. Devices such as surveillance systems in stores have caught suspects and decreased crime, but only by a mere 0.05% (specifically in Chicago, which currently has 15,000 cameras throughout the city). So, does this implementation of surveillance really make people behave? The texts “Panopticism” by Michel Foucault and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey both focus on how to make people behave. Foucault's theory explains that if surveillance is used on people in seclusion, the authorities will claim ultimate control. Kesey’s novel challenges this theory once new ward member McMurphy is transferred in, as he provokes Nurse Ratched and
her authority. But, Kesey’s novel does not demonstrate the idea of “Panopticism” because it is evident there is not enough psychological control over the patients by Nurse Ratched in the ward.
In Michel Foucault’s essay “Panopticism,” he expresses an idea that people are always being watched by authorities in society, which can affect their conscious decisions in everyday life. This idea is based on a drawing of a prison by J. Bentham; the prison is set up in a circular building with isolated cells, while a central tower in the middle houses guards who are able to watch the prisoners’ every move. However, because of the set up-, inmates can never see the guards. This causes a psychological, rather than physical, effect on them. Foucault believes this concept can be applied to modern society, as people are watched by cameras, monitored by the government, and warned by menacing signs. By letting people in society know they are being watched, it can influence their behavior. Therefore, Foucault states that these techniques guarantee control. But, Foucault states that this authority does not have to be a specific figure in society; just the mere idea of “unverifiable” (320) authority gives them power.(ADD MORE)
Foucault believes that if people are unsure if they are being watched by authority, it will influence them to act accordingly, whereas the head nurse, Nurse Ratched, is seen all the time in the ward.
The idea in Panopticism is to convince society that their actions are monitored by others. Foucault’s point is that “power should be visible and unverifiable.Visible: the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. Unverifiable: the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so” (320). The Panopticon should make people believe they can never verify if someone is watching them, and so they portray themselves as authority wants. While this may contribute to most institutions involving surveillance systems in society, in Nurse Ratched’s ward she is not hidden from the patients. All day long, Nurse Ratched sits behind glass in her nurse’s station, observing the patients: “The Big Nurse looks out through her special glass, always polished till you can’t tell it’s there, and nods at what she sees” (29). The nurse is entirely visible through the glass to patients, and they understand they are being watched by her, and will be given repercussions if they choose to go against her. Further, they specifically know who is watching them. There is no confusion or curiosity as to who is observing; they know Nurse Ratched, understand her personality, and
realize they should not go against her. Foucault’s point that the central power is unverifiable and visible is not parallel to Kesey’s novel, as they do not have invisible power in their society.
Foucault emphasizes that one of the most important ways for this theory to play out is by isolating the people, but with Nurse Ratched’s idea of Therapeutic Community is in contrast to isolation.
In a Panopticon the people are not in contact with others, so they are unable to exchange ideas and thoughts, which could have resulted in questioning authority: “Each individual...is securely confined to a cell…[and] the side walls prevent him from coming into contact with his companions” (319). Foucault believes the people will be unable to plot an escape because they will not be in contact with others if kept in this isolation. Their lack of communication with others will stop their chances of questioning authority and planning a rebellion.. However, Nurse Ratched does not adhere to this since she let’s patients discourse in the day room every day. She does not try to block the patients’ contact with one another; she actually encourages them to talk in the Therapeutic Community, which is group therapy and used to help the “guy...learn to get along in a group before he’ll be able to function in a normal society” (44). Nurse Ratched believes that this socializing will help them function better in society, rather than isolating them from one another. However, she cannot maintain the kind of control Foucault describes with isolation, in fact, in one scene…(mcmurphy’s bet?) Overall, Foucault’s theory that people need to be isolated in the Panopticon does not play out in Kesey’s novel,
since communication makes up half of the patient’s life on the ward. Foucault expresses that the control over the people in the Panopticon is not forceful, but rather psychological, however, Nurse Ratched shows both forceful and psychological control during the novel. Foucault states that they are all controlled by authority, but in a psychological manner. Foucault believes “it is not necessary to use force” (323) since the people are already locked up in their cell and own mind. The idea of being isolated in a cell with unknown people watching over the prisoners can cause a sense of concern, which results in fear and the inability to fight back. While this control is psychological, Nurse Ratched’s power to bring patients to the Disturbed Ward, a surgical ward, or Shock Shop, electroshock therapy, when she pleases sustains her power in the ward over the patients and nurses. Bromden, a Chronic and narrator of the story, explains Nurse Ratched’s installment of fear into the Acute patients (patients that can be cured) that if they do not listen to her, she will put them onto the Chronics side (patients that cannot be fixed) with shock therapy or surgery : “The Big Nurse recognizes this fear and knows how to put it to use; she’ll point out to an Acute, whenever he goes into sulk, that you boys be good boys and cooperate with the staff policy which is engineered for your cure, or you’ll end up over on that side” (17). Foucault believes that physical force would not be an issue if people were brainwashed with a psychological force, but his theory is flawed since Nurse Ratched evidently also uses physical control over her patients. Nurse Ratched’s physical force instills a great amount of fear to the patients, since their lives are on the line if they do not not comply to all of her rules. Even though Nurse Ratched would have psychological control as Foucault states, she also hold a physical force toward the patients.
Foucault suggests that the Panopticon can be controlled by anyone, because the power is not to know who is controlling the people, but how they are able to psychologically control them, which is not illuminated in Kesey’s novel, since Nurse Ratched makes all of the decisions in the ward herself. Foucault states that “it doesn’t matter who exercises power. Any individual, taken almost at random, can operate this machine” (321), meaning that one who operates this machine will not abuse the power they are given. Nurse Ratched is the head nurse on the ward, and inevitably abuses her power over the patients every day. She controls their treatment (therapy or surgery), when they can watch the World Series, when to wake up and go to sleep, and everything a patient needs to do in a typical day. But, in order for this to run smoothly, she has to develop a plan, and a group of workers that will agree with all of her decisions:
Year by year she accumulates her ideal staff: doctors, all ages and types, comes and rise up in front of her with ideas of their own about the way a ward should be run, some with backbone enough to stand behind their ideas, and she fixes these doctors with dry-ice eyes dayin, day out, until they retreat with unnatural chills. “I tell you I don’t know what it is,” they tell the guy in charge of personnel. “since I started on that ward with that woman I feel like my veins are running ammonia. I shiver all the time, my kids won’t sit in my lap, my wife won’t sleep with me. I insist on a transfer--neurology bin, the alky tank, pediatrics, I just don’t care! (26)
Nurse Ratched keeps these medical practitioners under watch so she can eliminate the ones who do not fit her needs, and replace them with weaker, easily influenced people. Nurse Ratched wants to eliminate any and all people that can affect her establishment to further prosper. She does not take the time to hear her coworkers’ voice and opinion, because she believes the ward that she resides in is what her and only her will control. Nurse Ratched’s behavior does not coincide with Foucault’s theory that a Panopticon will not become a tyranny, since she avoids all costs of letting anyone else control the establishment.