One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a classic piece of literary fiction first published in 1962. Its controversial author, Ken Kesey, served as an experimental subject and aide in a hospital, an experience which particularly inspired the novel’s creation. Though he was born in La Junta, Colorado in 1935, Kesey moved to Palo Alto, California after a scholarship to a graduate writing program at Stanford University. It was here at Stanford that he volunteered for a U.S. Army experiment in which he was given mind-altering drugs to report on their effects, as well as served as an attendant in a psychiatric ward. Much like his books, some of which are banned in select schools, Kesey’s behavior was highly contentious, as he was a major proponent of psychedelic drug usage, a position that landed him in jail after being charged with drug possession, faking his own death, and fleeing the country. Upon his release, Kesey settled down and started a
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family on a farm in Oregon, but continued to publish short stories. Though he died on November 10, 2001 from liver cancer, his unconventionality lives on both through his literary works and his status as an icon of the “hippie” generation (“Ken Kesey” 1-2).
The novel takes place in an insane asylum in Oregon, following the admission of new patient Randle McMurphy, a confident and rebellious young convict, who becomes the story’s main protagonist.
McMurphy soon becomes acquainted to Chief Bromden, the hospital’s longest-dwelling patient who believes the world is one big “combine”, and everyone is just a part of the machine. This depressive outlook leads Chief to falsely assume the role of a man who is both blind and deaf, causing his peers and even superiors to speak freely around him and thus giving him access to the hospital’s utmost secrets. Both men operate under the rule of the hospital’s head nurse, Nurse Ratched. A woman with a thirst for power and an iron fist, Ratched tyrannically controls the lives of all patient residing under her care, ensuring her title as the novel’s antagonist. Though no specific time period is provided, the fact that Chief entered the hospital towards the end of World War II indicates that the story must take place some time between the 1950s and
1960s.
The storyline follows a series of antics pulled by McMurphy as an attempt to defy the law and order that Nurse Ratched has enforced over the entire hospital. There is a constantly shifting struggle for power as McMurphy’s attempts to antagonize Nurse Ratched and her attempts to subdue only further fuel each other's motives, and through an array of rambunctious stunts ranging from the creation of a gambling ring to the organization of a forbidden deep-sea fishing trip, McMurphy inspires the other patients to challenge authority and stand up to the domineering nurse Ratched and her set of dictatorial rules. In one particularly momentous act of provocation, McMurphy attempts to throw a gigantic hydrotherapy machine through the window, and upon being able to lift it, proclaims “But I tried, though, I sure as hell did that much, now, didn’t I?” (Kesey 98). It is these words that resonate with the other men in the ward and prompt them to attempt to seek liberation. The plot of the story has considerable significance in relation to the abuse of victims of institutionalization in the real world. This understanding is especially exemplified through Chief’s perspective of society as a machine that manipulates and processes individuals, with the novel serving as a critique of the usage of psychiatrics wards as a tool of oppression.
family on a farm in Oregon, but continued to publish short stories. Though he died on November 10, 2001 from liver cancer, his unconventionality lives on both through his literary works and his status as an icon of the “hippie” generation (“Ken Kesey” 1-2).
The novel takes place in an insane asylum in Oregon, following the admission of new patient Randle McMurphy, a confident and rebellious young convict, who becomes the story’s main protagonist.
McMurphy soon becomes acquainted to Chief Bromden, the hospital’s longest-dwelling patient who believes the world is one big “combine”, and everyone is just a part of the machine. This depressive outlook leads Chief to falsely assume the role of a man who is both blind and deaf, causing his peers and even superiors to speak freely around him and thus giving him access to the hospital’s utmost secrets. Both men operate under the rule of the hospital’s head nurse, Nurse Ratched. A woman with a thirst for power and an iron fist, Ratched tyrannically controls the lives of all patient residing under her care, ensuring her title as the novel’s antagonist. Though no specific time period is provided, the fact that Chief entered the hospital towards the end of World War II indicates that the story must take place some time between the 1950s and
1960s.
The storyline follows a series of antics pulled by McMurphy as an attempt to defy the law and order that Nurse Ratched has enforced over the entire hospital. There is a constantly shifting struggle for power as McMurphy’s attempts to antagonize Nurse Ratched and her attempts to subdue only further fuel each other's motives, and through an array of rambunctious stunts ranging from the creation of a gambling ring to the organization of a forbidden deep-sea fishing trip, McMurphy inspires the other patients to challenge authority and stand up to the domineering nurse Ratched and her set of dictatorial rules. In one particularly momentous act of provocation, McMurphy attempts to throw a gigantic hydrotherapy machine through the window, and upon being able to lift it, proclaims “But I tried, though, I sure as hell did that much, now, didn’t I?” (Kesey 98). It is these words that resonate with the other men in the ward and prompt them to attempt to seek liberation. The plot of the story has considerable significance in relation to the abuse of victims of institutionalization in the real world. This understanding is especially exemplified through Chief’s perspective of society as a machine that manipulates and processes individuals, with the novel serving as a critique of the usage of psychiatrics wards as a tool of oppression.