One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Review

“A success, they say, but I say he’s just another robot for the Combine and might be better off as a failure…”(17).

“But it's the truth even if it didn't happen” (Kesey 8). No single quote can encapsulate both the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the 1960s as well as this one does. It shows the unreliable narrator of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Due to his schizophrenia, Chief Bromden’s hallucinations make him unreliable, because he himself can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy for most of the novel. This quote, however, also applies to the 1960s. Each and every person in the 1960s were protesting for something, whether it was an unjust war across the ocean, attempting to fight the threat of growing Communism, or even fighting for their basic human rights. Because of this, every person had their own opinion of what the 1960s were. Just because each account is incredibly unique, and the viewpoints are diverse, each person’s story is true, even if it is riddled with biases and opinions.

Ken Kesey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, takes us through Mcmurphy’s experience in the state mental hospital, taking place in Oregon’s state hospital. Chief narrates through the story, he is half native american who acts like a deaf dumb chronic. In the beginning of the story Mcmurphy arrives at the hospital as transfer. On Mcmurphy’s first day there he finds out Harding is top dog and intends on changing that. Then, during the first group meeting he sees Nurse Ratched; who is head of the ward, puts all the men against each other. After the meeting he describes it all as a “pecking party”, so he then makes a bet with the boys that he can break Nurse Ratched without destroying himself. One morning he asked the nurse if she could turn

Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a creation of the socio-cultural context of his time. Social and cultural values, attitudes and beliefs informed his invited reading of his text.

As I have begun reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I made note of a few specific paragraphs that struck me as the most intriguing and significant. Among them was an episode that depicts Chief’s perusal of Mack Murphy’s hands. The decision to make this distinguishment was based on my belief in multifariousness and depth that the aforementioned scene contains. I presume that the “hand” episode compels the reader to reflect on several characters: Mack Murphy, Nurse Ratched, the patients and the Chief himself. First of all, Chief’s precise descriptions of Mack Murphy’s hands allow the reader to closely study the new patient, his background and way of life. The mentioned cauloses, scars and cuts speak to Mack Murphy’s coarseness; the smooth

Synopsis: When Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) gets transferred for evaluation from a prison farm to a mental institution, he assumes it will be a less restrictive environment. But the martinet Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) runs the psychiatric ward with an iron fist, keeping her patients cowed through abuse, medication and sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. The battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy and the inflexible Ratched soon affects all the ward's patients.

Representations of the abuse in psychiatry during this time of change including the use of ECT as a form of behavior management and punishment caused thinking to be changed. (McDonald and Walter, 2009). In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest the R.P is treated with ECT not out of necessity but rather to teach him a lesson for attempting to defy Nurse Ratched. The famous ECT scene is shown to be quite torturous to McMurphy as he has violent spasms, after the procedure is done he seems to be unaffected but only further empowered to challenge the Nurse. McMurphy foolishly underestimated Nurse Ratched and her cruelty. After his final outburst which involved him hijacking the nurses station and throwing a party in the ward and involving all his fellow

In today 's society, as well as in the past, men are typically placed in a position of power over women. Although gender equality is increasing, a more patriarchal society is considered to be the norm. However, in certain situations the gender roles that are played by men and women are reversed, and women hold most, if not all of the power. Such as in Ken Kesey 's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, in this instance the ward is a very obvious matriarchy, where women rule over men and attempt to metaphorically castrate them. Throughout the text there are many examples of women, Nurse Ratched in particular, attempting to emasculate the patients on the ward. The ward is an extreme matriarchy, and the men hold little to no power, whereas the women are able to control and manipulate them with ease because of the reversal of roles.

Undoubtedly, the “fishing trip” scene is one of the most significant episodes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Recognizing that and striving to effectively transform Kesey’s ideas, the movie version of the novel puts a great emphasis on this episode. However, while the book tells us about the fishing trip from the Chief’s perspective, the movie completely excludes this character from the scene. Some might argue that the creative choice of a movie director improved the episode, but I am prone to believe that it led to a great disregard of a crucial part of the novel, shifting the main focus of the original text in an entirely different direction. In my opinion, the choice to exclude the Chief from the fishing trip made the whole idea behind

This was the surgery that Jack Nicholson's character R.P.McMurphy in the 1975 film (spoiler-alert): One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest finally got as a reward for some of his misbehaviours!

The context of the novel is explored through the background of the author in order to understand the purpose of the text. Ken Kelsey is born in 1935, in La Junta, Colorado.(Biography) During his years at Stanford, he worked as a night attendant on the psychiatric ward of a hospital, where he witnessed the treatment of the inmates and the effects of the sterile structure on their identity and sanity. (NY Times) His experience at the hospital as a aid and as a voluntary experiment subject led to the birth of his 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest. (NY Times) Through the novel, he communicates his dissent against the post-war society that castrates men by sypressing their sexulity and sacrifices their spirit. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, he constructs a mental ward that held microcosmic resemblance to the post-war American society. He critiques power in American society through descriptions of the Combine and highlights the virtues of male strength and sexuality by placing them in opposition to the ruthless characteristics of females. Nurse Ratched, an oppressive female figure of power, emasculates her patients to empower herself. She represents Kesey 's fear of a feminizing society. Randall McMurphy’s struggle against Nurse Ratched and the system of the “combine” represents a struggle between gender for power. His culminating sacrifice for the group by attacking Nurse Ratched is analogous to a rape act, which links manhood with virility. The inconclusive

Our interest in film is largely stemmed from our interest in other people. Characters in film aim to represent the wide range of personality types and lives that may exist and expand beyond those as well. As such, it is no surprise that many times these representations flow into the abnormal. Not only do we have a substantial interest in specifically watching deviant behavior and expression through crime films, which have historically been some of the most successful (Cinemania, n.d.), but we have a great interest in representations of psychopathology generally.

The novel is set in the 1960’s inside a mental institution told by a patient, Big Chief Bromden and can be seen as a miniature mirror of society. The wards society is presented as a machine, called the Combine, that makes everyone conform to its strict rules and timetables. All individuality is taken away from the patients, and the happy feelings are frowned upon. In the ward, the leader of ‘society’ is the Big Nurse. She enforces order, efficiency and repression. She intends to cure them so that they can fit into the outside world and conform with all the rules that exist. If the patients refuse or resist to comply with her rules, they are abused by legitimate treatments that are supposed to be used only for curing mentally ill patients such as electro-shock therapy, lobotomy and spinal taps.

In the film the main character's Randal Mc. Murphy, then there are the Nurse Ratchet and all patients who are within the structure. The story is focuses on how you evolve emotions and behaviours of Randal during his stay in the clinic.

Joe transforms from a self-worthless struggling screenwriter looking to pay off his debts, to a well-tailored man indulging in the new opportunities that have bestowed upon him from his association with the former silent film star. When Joe feels the unwary itch to build his own original screenplay, he finds it problematic to break free from the shackles of Norma’s ever so tightening grip. Both Joe and Norma use one another for their own selfish needs. Joe craves the kind of fame that Norma had and lost. Despite both of their magnified egos, it is Norma and her upbringing in Hollywood that ultimately brings about not just her downfall but Joe’s as well. The once famous silent film star Norma basks in her glory days while the opportunistic Joe lives in the dream of his future fortunes. Slowly