Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and the Movie
The film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, produced by Milos Forman, contains many similarities to the novel, however the differences are numerous to the extent that the story, written by Ken Kesey, is overlooked by anyone who only saw the film. Ken Kesey wrote the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, after experimenting with drugs and working on a psychiatric ward in 1960 and the novel was published in 1962. “Kesey became a night attendant on the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital psychiatric ward so that he could concentrate on his writing.” (Magill 1528) Kesey’s rebellious novel explores the world of mental patients struggling against authority and society through incredible imagery. He was able to describe this struggle because of his personal experiences. Kesey was “disturbed by the dehumanizing treatment of the patients” (Beetz 3089-3090), so he decided to write this novel about them. In his surrealistic life’s work, Ken Kesey has managed to capture both the gloomy asylum atmosphere and the mental patients’ demented attitudes. Kesey’s novel proclaims a classic struggle between good and evil or the hero and the villain. This contemporary classic was brought to life through the film version in 1975 and is considered “one of the greatest American films of all time” (Dirks 1). It was the first film to receive all the major Oscar awards. These included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. The same name as the novel was chosen so that it would appeal to contemporary audiences, which proved to be a big hit at the box office. “Its allegorical theme is set in the world of an authentic mental hospital, a place of rebellion by a wise-guy hero against institutional authority and attitudes.” (Dirks 1)
The initial difference between the novel and the film is the main character. In the novel, the story is told through the eyes of the narrator, Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden is the main character and “the most fully developed character in the novel.” (Beetz 3089) The Chief is a supposedly deaf-mute, half-breed Indian who is a very large and powerful man. He is a paranoid-schizophrenic who has been a Chronic patient on the ward for fifteen years. He is known as “Chief Broom,” because he is constantly pushing a broom around the ward. From the beginning, the reader...
... middle of paper ...
...o is stripped of his dignity, significance, and freedom.” (Magill 1531) The theme leads a person through a whole different world. A world where paranoia runs wild and chaos is second in command only to Nurse Ratched, or society and how powerful a single authority can be. Chapter by chapter and scene by scene, the plot unravels, separating truth and insanity to reveal an amazing war of the mind. The power of strict, systematic control, verses the power of rebellion is a strong issue of the 1960’s and this issue works well as the theme for the novel and film. A powerful story is told where everyone’s individualism is essential to life. A person must meet life on its own terms or lose their individuality, dignity, and freedom. Even though McMurphy died, his legend lives on. An individual can find criticism with the “nest” or psychiatric hospitals or an individual can see how all of us are trapped in a restrictive and maddening "nest” of our own making. Although there are similarities and differences between the novel and film, it is an enjoyable version of strange human interaction with a battle against authority. The story is universal and it can be found in all aspects of life.
In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest the struggle for power is conveyed in the passage using visual imagery, parallelism, and conflict between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched.
I hated Nurse Ratched before and I sure do now. Her sneaky little schemes to turn the patients on each other make’s me furious. I’m glad McMurphy broke down the window; it’ll remind the patients that her power is limited and changeable. Although, she made McMurphy stronger than ever, even with the countless electroshock treatments. Proving his desire to remain strong in the face of tyranny. “And he'd swell up, aware that every one of those faces on Disturbed had turned toward him and was waiting, and he'd tell the nurse he regretted that he had but one life to give for his country and she could kiss his rosy red ass before he'd give up the goddam ship. Yeh!” (Kesey, 187) I agree to some extent, that without her there wouldn’t be a book, she makes the book exciting even if her methods are all but pure. Her character stands as a symbol of the oppression woman received during that time and in a way, the society in which these characters live are flipped. While on the outside woman have no rights, in the ward they are the all mighty, all knowing, powerful, controllable force. So yah, we need Nurse Ratched but I still hate her. During the course of the short novel she destroyed three men, two of which died and the other was lobotomised. “What worries me, Billy," she said - I could hear the change in her voice - "is how your mother is going to take this.” (Kesey, 231) I can’t say I enjoyed Nurse Ratched being strangled by McMurphy, but I do think she deserved it. Although, it was the end to the battle since the Nurse had won the war. By infuriating McMurphy to that point and her ability to remain calm throughout it all, she proved that McMurphy’s action didn’t faze her. She proved that rebelling is feeblish and by lobot...
Comparison of Book and Film of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey There are differences and similarities in the book "One flew over the
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a film directed by Czech Milos Forman in 1975. Using potent elements of fiction--characters, conflict, and symbolism--Forman illustrates the counterculture of the 1960’s. This film depicts American society as an insane asylum that demands conformity from its citizens. The film begins with a conniving convict being assigned to the asylum. R. P. McMurphy is sent to the asylum to be evaluated by the doctors and to determine whether or not he is mentally ill. He is unaware that he will be supervised by an emasculating woman named Nurse Mildred Ratched who watches the patients’ every motion from her nurse’s station.
Ken Kesey and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. & nbsp; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with its meaningful message of individualism, was an extremely influential novel during the 1960's. In addition, its author, Ken Kesey, played a significant role in the development of the counterculture of the 60's. This included all people who did not conform to the. society's standards, experimented in drugs, and just lived their lives in an unconventional manner. Ken Kesey had many significant experiences that enabled him to create One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As a result of his entrance into the creative writing program at Stanford University in 1959 (Ken 1), Kesey moved to Perry Lane in Menlo Park. It was there that he and other writers first experimented with psychedelic drugs. After living at Perry Lane for a while. Kesey's friend, Vik Lovell, informed him about experiments at a local V.A. hospital in which volunteers were paid to take mind-altering drugs (Wolfe 321). Kesey's experiences at the hospital were his first step towards writing Cuckoo's.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, written by Ken Kesey in 1962, is a book about a lively con man that turns a mental institution upside down with his rambunctious antics and sporadic bouts with the head nurse. Throughout the book, this man shows the others in the institution how to stand up for themselves, to challenge conformity to society and to be who they want to be. It is basically a book of good versus evil, the good being the con man R.P. McMurphy, and the bad being the head nurse, Nurse Ratched. McMurphy revitalizes the hope of the patients, fights Nurse Ratched's stranglehold on the ward, and, in a way, represents the feelings of the author on society at the time.
When norms of society are unfair and seem set in stone, rebellion is bound to occur, ultimately bringing about change in the community. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest demonstrates the conflict of individuals who have to survive in an environment where they are pressured to cooperate. The hospital's atmosphere suppresses the patients' individuality through authority figures that mold the patients into their visions of perfection. The ward staff's ability to overpower the patients' free will is not questioned until a man named Randal McMurphy is committed to the mental institute. He rebels against what he perceives as a rigid, dehumanizing, and uncompassionate environment. His exposure of the flaws in the hospital's perfunctory rituals permits the other patients to form opinions and consequently their personalities surface. The patient's new behavior clashes with the medical personnel's main goal-to turn them into 'perfect' robots, creating havoc on the ward.
Violence and death surrounds everyone, from movies to books to news. These subjects are particularly prevalent in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Kesey's main goal for writing the novel was to show his readers the atrocities within mental health wards. However, he managed to have a greater impact in young adults' lives than ever imagined. Although there are instances of death and violence in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, it should be included in high school curriculum because exposure to these topics helps teenagers to properly deal with similar situations in their own lives.
McMurphy’s evident superiority among the other patients in the hospital immediately establishes his power and authority over the other patients. From the minute he enters the ward, Bromden notes his charismatic and overbearing personality as signs of his power. “Even though I can’t see him, I know he’s no ordinary admission. I don’t hear him slide scared along the wall… he sounds like he’s way above them… he sounds big” (15-16). Instantly, McMurphy radiates power and defiance that the other patients in the ward notably admire. He boldly challenges authority and battles conformity in the ward, determined to eradicate the authoritarian governance of the institution. He proves to be a symbol of defiance and gradually begins to beat out the authority in the ward.
One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a movie that portrays a life story of a criminal named McMurphy who is sent to a mental institution because he believes that he himself is insane. While McMurphy is in the mental ward, he encounters other patients and changes their perception of the “real” world. Before McMurphy came to the mental ward, it was a place filled with strict rules and orders that patients had to follow; these rules were created by the head nurse, Nurse Ratched. However, once McMurphy was in the ward, everything, including the atmosphere, changed. He was the first patient to disobey Nurse Ratched. Unlike other patients who continuously obeyed Nurse Ratched, McMurphy and another patient named Charlie Cheswick decided to rebel
Fred Wright, Lauren's instructor for EN 132 (Life, Language, Literature), comments, "English 132 is an introduction to English studies, in which students learn about various areas in the discipline from linguistics to the study of popular culture. For the literature and literary criticism section of the course, students read a canonical work of literature and what scholars have said about the work over the years. This year, students read One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, a classic of American literature which dates from the 1960s counterculture. Popularized in a film version starring Jack Nicholson, which the class also watched in order to discuss film studies and adaptation, the novel became notable for its sympathetic portrayal of the mentally ill. For an essay about the novel, students were asked to choose a critical approach (such as feminist, formalist, psychological, and so forth) and interpret the novel using that approach, while also considering how their interpretation fit into the ongoing scholarly dialogue about the work. Lauren chose the challenge of applying a Marxist approach to One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Not only did she learn about critical approaches and how to apply one to a text, she wrote an excellent essay, which will help other readers understand the text better. In fact, if John Clark Pratt or another editor ever want to update the 1996 Viking Critical Library edition of the novel, then he or she might want to include Lauren's essay in the next edition!"
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.
There were no heroes on the psychiatric ward until McMurphy's arrival. McMurphy gave the patients courage to stand against a truncated concept of masculinity, such as Nurse Ratched. For example, Harding states, "No ones ever dared to come out and say it before, but there is not a man among us that does not think it. That doesn't feel just as you do about her, and the whole business feels it somewhere down deep in his sacred little soul." McMurphy did not only understand his friends/patients, but understood the enemy who portrayed evil, spite, and hatred. McMurphy is the only one who can stand against the Big Nurse's oppressive supreme power. Chief explains this by stating, "To beat her you don't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as sson as you loose once, she's won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that." McMuprhy's struggle for hte patient's free will is a disruption to Nurse Ratched's social order. Though she holds down her guard she yet is incapable of controlling what McMurphy is incontrollable of , such as his friends well being, to the order of Nurse Ratched and the Combine.
In Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author refers to the many struggles people individually face in life. Through the conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy, the novel explores the themes of individuality and rebellion against conformity. With these themes, Kesey makes various points which help us understand which situations of repression can lead an individual to insanity. These points include: the effects of sexual repression, woman as castrators, and the pressures we face from society to conform. Through these points, Kesey encourages the reader to consider that people react differently in the face of repression, and makes the reader realize the value of alternative states of perception, rather than simply writing them off as "crazy."
Sutherland, Janet R. "A Defense of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NEst." English Journal 61.1 (1972): 28-31. JSTOR. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. .