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Oppression in Cuckoos Nest

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frank C, Survey of Literature and Comp. – Block 5 May 10, 2011 An Omnipresent Oppression Oppression is an omnipresent force which has fed on ignorance and hatred and affected the lives of the less fortunate and powerless. Through literature people are able to express their feelings and attitudes regarding an amalgam of elements. An example of this exists in the two texts, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and “The Life Your Save May Be Your Own;” in both texts we see a clear correlation between the plot events in the stories and the events that took place in American History to oppress women and Native Americans. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” are similar due to the fact that they …show more content…

Nurse Ratched forced the patients to conform to her guidelines, such as when Chief was forced to sweep rather than live freely as he pleased. Chief like Lucynell in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” does not have a voice to express his feelings or thoughts. This lack off voice can be compared to the Native Americans who were made by the federal government to give up their traditions of hunting and gathering and forced to farm. Both the government and Nurse Ratched did not allow for any intervening, and they forced upon their subjects a certain lifestyle. During the early twentieth century women did not control their own lives, it was controlled by society and they were expected to conform to society and follow its laws and patterns. In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” Women were denied access to public power and the idea of women in the early 1900s was a perfect wife and mother, thus leaving their lives to be run by men (Bruccoli 324). Women of this time were voiceless, and this lack of voice is display in the story because Lucynell literally was a mute, and could not speak. Lucynell’s lack of a voice metaphorically represents the women who had no voice in the early twentieth century whereas Mr.Shiftlet does have a voice; he represents the men during the

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