Examples Of Injustice In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Addressing the Inhumane Treatment of Nonconformists

1950’s society is all about conformity. All differences should be shoved down, or corrected, and you should fit the cookie-cutter image of the “Perfect American.” Anyone who does not fit this mold is shunned, treated cruelly, and considered defective. The psych ward in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is full of people who don’t meet these expectations in one way or another. These people are treated as if they can not think for themselves, can not carry out simple tasks on their own, and are incapable of functioning independently. Ken Kesey’s novel should be regarded as a lesson, a reminder, for us to treat all people, like people.

The mentally ill are considered to be completely incompetent. However minor their ailment may be, they are treated as if they are suffering from a terrible disease that prevents them from thinking at all. Ken Kesey shows this as an orderly at the ward tells a patient that he can’t brush his teeth, because it is not 6:45 yet. “It’s ward policy, Mr. McMurphy, tha’s the reason.’ And when he sees that this last reason don’t

1950’s America is quite racist, and you can see that in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. An orderly, when referencing a Native American patient, says, “Inniuns ain’t able to write. What makes you think Inniuns able to read?” (Kesey 225). The way they talk about this patient of a different race is an exemplary example of how Indians were treated during this time. Everybody assumed that Indians were uneducated, illiterate, and dumb, when “In fact, one of my uncles became a real lawyer…” (Kesey 210). Had this patient been white, it would be unthinkable to assume that he was illiterate, but since he is Native American, they all presumed him to be dumb. They act as though your skin color is a determining factor in your intelligence level, and anyone who is Indian is inadequate, and unable to think for