More handpicked essays just for you.
Literary elements of one flying over the cuckoo's nest
Literary analysis one flew over the cuckoos nest
Literary analysis one flew over the cuckoos nest
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is as social commentary against mental institutions. Randle P. McMurphy acts as an agent against institutionalization throughout the novel. The novel tracks the events shared by Chief Bromden, a tall Native American man who pretends to be deaf and mute, Randle P. McMurphy and the patients within a psychiatric ward. Chief Bromden is deemed schizophrenic and is institutionalized for twenty years prior to McMurphy’s arrival. McMurphy instills hope and confidence into the patients which then allows the patients to truly re-evaluate their lives. Before McMurphy arrived, Bromden hides within a metaphorical fog along with the remaining patients. The fog provides the patients comfort and a place to hide …show more content…
When Bromden reflects on his past in his father’s tribe, he recalls a particular memory involving the sale of his father’s tribe land. Government workers paid a visit to Bromden’s house and demanded to meet with Bromden’s father, the Chieftain. After the men insult Bromden’s house, Bromden becomes upset and tell them off, but they disregarded every word he had said. “And I’m just about to go and tell them, how if they’ll come in…when I see that they don’t look like they’d heard me talk at all.” (Kesey). Furthermore, it is within Bromden’s childhood that he developed his low self-esteem. According to Bromden, his father “…fought it a long time till my mother made him too little to fight anymore and he gave up.” (Kesey) Witnessing the relationship between his mother and father results in Bromden believing that he is unable to rebel against women. Despite Bromden’s father being the chief of the tribe, his mother pressured his father so much so that Bromden’s father gave up his livelihood. These events manifested into Bromden’s present day inadequacy and lack of presence, and it is only until McMurphy lends an ear to Bromden that he is able to realize his own strength and voice, both physically and …show more content…
Bibbit’s childish demeanor can be attributed directly to his mother’s relationship with him. Instead of a typical mother son relationship, Bibbit’s mother treats him almost like a lover. Bromden overheard Bibbit and Bibbit’s mother conversation going as follows “’Sweetheart you still have scads of time for things like that. Your whole life is ahead of you’’Mother I’m th-th-thirty one years old!” (Kesey) Despite being in his thirty’s, Bibbit is unable to escape his mother’s love, and as a result Nurse Ratched uses it to her advantage. Furthermore, when Bibbit attempted to step into adulthood by proposing to a woman, he failed. Billy Bibbit says “And even when I proposed, I flubbed it. I said “Huh-honey will you muh-muh-muh-muh-muh…till the girl broke out laughing.”(Kesey). The combination of Bibbit’s failed marriage proposal and his mother’s suffocating love for him causes Bibbit to develop a childish attitude. He is unable to step into the world of adulthood without the fear of losing his mother’s love for him, a love which has babied him for over thirty years. When Bibbit was discovered by Nurse Ratched after sleeping with Candy, he feared that his mother may no longer love him, so he commits suicide. Stepping into adulthood would mean that he would no longer be the child that his mother loves so
Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, is a novel containing the theme of emotions being played with in order to confine and change people. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is about a mental institution where a Nurse named Miss Ratched has total control over its patients. She uses her knowledge of the patients to strike fear in their minds. Chief Bromden a chronic who suffers from schizophrenia and pretends to be deaf and mute narrates the novel. From his perspective we see the rise and fall of a newly admitted patient, RP McMurphy. McMurphy used his knowledge and courage to bring changes in the ward. During his time period in the ward he sought to end the reign of the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched, also to bring the patients back on their feet. McMurphy issue with the ward and the patients on the ward can be better understood when you look at this novel through a psychoanalytic lens. By applying Daniel Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence to McMurphy’s views, it is can be seen that his ideas can bring change in the patients and they can use their
The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey tells a story of Nurse Ratched, the head nurse of a mental institution, and the way her patients respond to her harsh treatment. The story is told from the perspective of a large, Native-American patient named Bromden; he immediately introduces Randle McMurphy, a recently admitted patient, who is disturbed by the controlling and abusive way Ratched runs her ward. Through these feelings, McMurphy makes it his goal to undermine Ratched’s authority, while convincing the other patients to do the same. McMurphy becomes a symbol of rebellion through talking behind Ratched’s back, illegally playing cards, calling for votes, and leaving the ward for a fishing trip. His shenanigans cause his identity to be completely stolen through a lobotomy that puts him in a vegetative state. Bromden sees McMurphy in this condition and decides that the patients need to remember him as a symbol of individuality, not as a husk of a man destroyed by the
The novel that Kesey wrote is focused on how Bromden’s past memories should not let him down, but to gather his strength and let go of the past to start anew. Kesey builds up the encouragement through the help on McMurphy in order for Bromden to face reality with the hallucinations, to Nurse Ratched’s authorities, and the use of symbolism.
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest explores the dysfunctions and struggles of life for the patients in a matriarch ruled mental hospital. As told by a schizophrenic Native American named Chief Bromden, the novel focuses primarily on Randle McMurphy, a boisterous new patient introduced into the ward, and his constant war with the Big Nurse Ratched, the emasculating authoritarian ruler of the ward. Constricted by the austere ward policy and the callous Big Nurse, the patients are intimidated into passivity. Feeling less like patients and more like inmates of a prison, the men surrender themselves to a life of submissiveness-- until McMurphy arrives. With his defiant, fearless and humorous presence, he instills a certain sense of rebellion within all of the other patients. Before long, McMurphy has the majority of the Acutes on the ward following him and looking to him as though he is a hero. His reputation quickly escalates into something Christ-like as he challenges the nurse repeatedly, showing the other men through his battle and his humor that one must never be afraid to go against an authority that favors conformity and efficiency over individual people and their needs. McMurphy’s ruthless behavior and seemingly unwavering will to protest ward policy and exhaust Nurse Ratched’s placidity not only serves to inspire other characters in the novel, but also brings the Kesey’s central theme into focus: the struggle of the individual against the manipulation of authoritarian conformists. The asylum itself is but a microcosm of society in 1950’s America, therefore the patients represent the individuals within a conformist nation and the Big Nurse is a symbol of the authority and the force of the Combine she represents--all...
Chief Bromden, who is presumably deaf and dumb, narrates the story in third person. Mr. McMurphy enters the ward all smiles and hearty laughter as his own personal medicine. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a story about patients in a psychiatric hospital, who are under the power of Nurse Ratched. Mrs. Ratched has control over all the patients except for Mr. McMurphy, who uses laughter to fight her power. According to Chief Bromden, McMurphy "...knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy" (212). Laughter is McMurphy's medicine and tool to get him and the rest of the patients through their endless days at the hospital. The author's theme throughout the novel is that laughter is the best medicine, and he shows this through McMurphy's static character. The story is made up of series of conflicts between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. McMurphy becomes a hero, changing the lives of many of the inmates. In the end, though, he pays for his actions by suffering a lobotomy, which turned him into a vegetable. The story ends when Bromden smothers McMurphy with a pillow and escapes to freedom.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest takes place in a mental institution in the Pacific Northwest. The narrator of the novel is Chief Bromden, also known as Chief Broom, a catatonic half-Indian man whom everybody thinks is deaf and dumb. He often suffers from hallucinations in which he feels that the room is filled with fog. The institution is dominated by Nurse Ratched (Big Nurse), a cold, precise woman with calculated gestures and a calm, mechanical manner. When the story begins, a new patient, Randall Patrick McMurphy, arrives at the ward. He is a self-professed 'gambling fool' who has just come from a work farm at Pendleton. He introduces himself to the other men on the ward, including Dale Harding, the president of the patient's council, and Billy Bibbit, a thirty-year old man who stutters and appears very young. Nurse Ratched immediately pegs McMurphy as a manipulator.
Ken Kesey presents his masterpiece, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, with popular culture symbolism of the 1960s. This strategy helps paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind. Music and cartoons of the times are often referred to in the novel. These help to exaggerate the characters and the state of the mental institution.
...e land to the white people is tied into the female role theme in the story. His mother's emasculation of his father made him smaller not literally but psychologically weakening him enough to sell the land and become victim to the combine: This excerpt best represents Keseys use of combining themes, and especially represent the story of the native Americans. Kesey combined The role of women, conformity, and the civilization of the native American throughout the novel. Kesey expertly weaves several very strong stories and themes in to the American myth of Randel McMurphy. He does so in a way that makes a particularly strong statement about American culture. Kesey makes a significant argument about the mechanical regularity supported by Western Civilization. By using Chief Bromden as the Narrator Kesey pulls the reader right in to the middle of the story and also The Great Conversation by using the only character that can shed light on all of the dominant themes present in the novel. Kesey's work takes on a shape outside of the mental hospital which for most readers is hard to relate with, and uses the insane to challenge some very real aspects and arguments present in today's world.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a compelling tale that brings a warning of the results of an overly conformist and repressive institution. As the narrator of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Chief Bromden, a paranoid half- Native American Indian man, has managed to go unnoticed for ten years by pretending to be deaf and dumb as a patient at an Oregon mental asylum. While he towers at six feet seven inches tall, he has fear and paranoia that stem from what he refers to as The Combine: an assemblage whose goal is to force society into a conformist mold that fits civilization to its benefit. Nurse Ratched, a manipulative and impassive former army nurse, dominates the ward full of men, who are either deemed as Acute (curable), or Chronic (incurable). A new, criminally “insane” patient named Randle McMurphy, who was transferred from the Pendleton Work Farm, eventually despoils the institution’s mechanical and monotonous schedule through his gambling, womanizing, and rollicking behavior.
Many critics say the novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, R.P. McMurphy is the protagonist who created suspense but I believe Chief Bromden, a “deaf” patient, is the hero who gained the ability to step out of his comfort zone and escape the mental institute. After meeting Mac, Chief’s daily routine had changed due to observing Mac and gaining determination. Although Chief faced many obstacles, using what Mac taught him helped him overcome them.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey in 1962. This novel is based on the experience Ken Kesey had during his time working in a mental institution as an orderly. Ken Kesey’s novel is a powerful critique of early 1960’s American society. The three main techniques that Kesey uses to create the Tragic form. In this novel Kesey has used the three main technique to create an inevitable conflict and outcomes that is similar to tragedy. The three main literary techniques that Ken Kesey uses are narrative structure, foreshadowing and symbolism. In this essay I will explore how Kesey uses these three techniques to form the Tragic form and shows how McMurphy gets lobotomized in the end but still wins the war against the Big Nurse.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey begins with a short introduction by the narrator, Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden is a half Indian Chronic at the ward. Chronics are patients that have been in the ward for so long that people assume that they will never check out. During the time that Bromden was there, he acted as a dumb deaf mute without being caught by anyone. Though his condition does not seem as bad as some of the other Chronics—some were vegetables—it was evident that Bromden had problems with hallucinations and delusions from the final line of the first chapter, “But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.”
Chief Bromden is a six foot seven tall Native American (half) who feels very small and weak even though by physical description, he is very big and strong. Chief does not have enough self-confidence and he is not independent. That is what makes him so small and weak. When Randle McMurphy, the new inmate in the asylum comes in, Chief is reminded of what his father used to be: strong, independent, confident and big. "He talks a little the way papa used to, voice loud and full of hell " (16) McMurphy helps Chief gains back his self-confidence and teaches him to be independent.
The background of Chief Bromden’s life makes him a likely target for mental illness. Conflict that Chief’s father faced also negatively impacted Chief. His father was Chief Tee Ah Millatoona of the Umpqua tribe and his mother was a white woman. Chief’s father took his mother’s last name, “Her name is Bromden. He took her name” (214). This suggests her domination in the relationship, but it is made clear that her extreme belittling had negative psychological effects: “It wasn't just her that made him little. Everybody worked on him because he was big, and wouldn't give in, and did as he pleased... He fought it a long time until my mother made him too little to fight anymore and he gave up" (220). Just like his father, Chief was a big man crushed into a tiny man by the pressures of society. Chief grew up living a normal life, without schizophrenia, on the Columbia Gorge in an Umpqua village led by his father. The first memorable trigger of Chief’s schizophrenia came when government officials were inspecting his vil...
Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a story about a band of patients in a mental ward who struggle to find their identity and get away from the wretched Nurse. As audiences read about the tale, many common events and items seen throughout the story actually represent symbols for the bigger themes of the story. Symbols like the fishing trip, Nurse, and electroshock therapy all emphasize the bigger themes of the story. The biggest theme of the story is oppression. Throughout the course of the story, patients are suppressed and fight to find who they really are.