Recurring Symbols in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) and V for Vendetta (2005)

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The use of recurring symbols in the unsettling text, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) and the influential film, V for Vendetta (2005) serves to reinforce an array of different concepts including; ideas are bulletproof and the idea of escaping danger. Symbols are (also) used as constant reminders of two imposing ideas in the two texts. The symbols used to represent the concept that ideas are bulletproof are the two protagonists in each text, V (Hugo Weaving) and McMurphy. In order to constantly remind the audience of a certain idea, James McTeigue uses the letter V in V for Vendetta and Ken Kesey uses the fog which constantly surrounds Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Finally, aspects of nature are used throughout both texts in order to symbolize the idea of emancipation from over-arching threats.

Mc Teigue and Kesey use the characters V and McMurphy as recurring symbols to convey the concept that ideas are bulletproof. The character V is both physically and mentally strong, “Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea... and ideas are bulletproof.”, the symbolic potential of V is made unquestionably aware to the audience, V is explicitly shown as the vessel of the idea. Similarly, Kesey uses McMurphy’s character as a symbol of the same concept, “that crummy sideshow fake lying there on the Gurney” Bromden is referring to McMurphy’s body, Scanlon calls it “fake” therefore denying the fact that McMurphy has passed. This shows that even though McMurphy is not physically present, his legacy still lives on in the patients’ minds. The idea which he represented of breaking free from the conforms of the corrupt authority at the hospital is stronger than him. Therefore, reinforcing...

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...cipation in a similar fashion to Bromden. Kesey parallels this fear with the symbol of the “black rock”, as during the exposition of the text the hospital is described by Bromden as “black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets”. In both texts nature symbols are used to represent a liberation from the main threats. These being, the Norsefire political party in V for Vendetta and Nurse Ratched’s abuse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Within their texts, McTeigue and Kesey use recurring symbols to show the three different concepts of; the strength of an idea surpassing it’s physical embodiment and becoming a detached entity that can survive on its own, a constant reminder representing inflicting ideas between the texts and the pivotal moment at which the central characters in each text are able to transcend the dominant and omnipresent perils.

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