Who flew over the cuckoo's nest

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In 1935, Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado. His parents were Frederick Kesey and Geneva Smith. In 1946, the family moved to Springfield, Oregon. In Springfield, Ken Kesey became a champion wrestler in high school and in college. While he was at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism, Kesey explored drama. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, he perused the career of acting for a year, then he realized that it was not his calling. Therefore, Kesey began writing. In 1956, Ken Kesey married his high school sweetheart, Kaye Haxy. Short of money, Ken Kesey became involved in CIA- sponsored research study at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Menlo Park. He then took a job as an aide at the Veterans Administration Hospital. His experiences in the hospital influenced the writing of the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The studies he was involved in included the drugs LSD and Mescaline. In 1962, Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The novel explored the struggle in Kesey’s personal life and how he used drugs to escape and find personal liberation. Ken Kesey was arrested in 1965 for drug possession. He then spent five months in jail and the San Mateo County Sherriff’s Honor Camp. He was released in 1967 and he moved back to Oregon. The novel also explored the struggle between conformity and freedom. Kesey portrayed in the novel the conflict between individuality and the modern industrial society. Kesey published One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1962. The novel explores the transition period between the Beatniks of the late 1950s and the 1960s counterculture. The Beatniks were people who used poetry, fashion, and music to express their dissatisfaction with the society tha... ... middle of paper ... ...the brain and the back of the brain. Ken Kesey’s experimentation with LSD influenced the characters in the novel. He also experimented with Mescaline impacted the beginning of the novel. Ken Kesey was the father of a group called the Merry Pranksters. They experimented with acid tests and LSD. The use of the word therapeutic throughout the novel led to defiance against Nurse Ratched. Mc Murphy also created a weapon of the rebellion by introducing laughter to the patients in the ward when he arrived; which led to his unfortunate demise. The human brain, the most complex part of the body, has yet to be explored in depth by medical science. Even though medical science has been able to explain some deformities, the inner workings of the brain remain an unsolved mystery. “… One flew east, one flew west, One flew over the cuckoo’s nest,” (Children’s Folk Rhyme).

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