Stereotypes In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo

The Stereotypes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is not only filled with symbols and references, but with standardized mental pictures that are held in common by members of a group and that represent an oversimplified opinion, stereotypes . Some characters aren't even stereotypes, but they still get subjected to the racism and uncritical judgment that will forever remain pinned to their skin colour. Through his creative use of such characters and their interactions, Ken Kesey shows the reader the benefit of being aware of these things and how the stereotypical groups will remain in human culture.

The black boys. They look, speak and act like the generic sixties black man and are the most stereotypical characters in the book. They play their part and are treated as one would expect, stereotypes are simple. The black boys always do the same job every day, and every day they're subject to the same racist comments, Sam, Coon, it's always something. The only one who seems to really break the boundaries of stereotyping them would be the Big Nurse herself. She's the only main character who never uses any slang or slurs,
This stereotype is a strong display of the cultural influences on a stereotypical group, besides things like language. She always puts the men first, this is pure culture influence. It make's no difference if she's sick, what she ate or how old she is, she's had this taught to her as a part of her culture in her youth and it fits snuggly into place with the racial tag she's been dealt. The Chief was raised with his own culture, just like the little Japanese nurse and the novel has made it easy to see which of the stereotypical characters have had a strong cultural influence on