A Comparison of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Dead Poet's Society

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Dead Poet's Society

As a human being we are constantly reminded in our life span to "Live our lives to the fullest". At lease once in your life i'm sure you've heard of the saying "seize the day". It means you should live your life to the best of your abilities. You should strive to learn new things and live a satisfying life so you have no regrets in life. Many romantics strongly believe in this theory. They feel that you should take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way and that there are so many good things in the world. Our society today is a very realistic one. People get up in the mornings and go through their daily routine. They wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed and do the same thing over and over in their lifetime that many feel they have wasted their lives. Only when one sees this pattern and wants to change it can they have a more fulfilling life. Society is responsible for putting this ideal lifestyle into effect and controlling our lives. In One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, by Ken Kesey, and the film Dead poets Society, there is a similarity in the main characters experiencing the realizations of society and its institutions, which are imposed by Nurse Ratchid and Mr. Noland. Nurse Ratchid and Mr. Noland are realists affected by society and therefore use conformity to their advantage of control. While the very romantic McMurphy and Mr. Keating rise up as leaders expressing individuality against conformity. The outspoken Bromden and Todd fight for freedom and responsibility ending in success as characters; all characters fighting against the institutions society has imposed.

When a person has to constantly make the rules something happens to them as a person. Nurse Ratchid is one who has been affected by society and has lost a part of herself. She hides all womanly aspects of her body because she has been lost in conformity. Because she treats them as machines she is compared to as a machine:

Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh- colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils-everything working together except the color on her lips and fingernails, and the size of her bosom.

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