The Role Of Authority In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Mental illness is a crippling disposition that affects 42.5 million adults in the United States every year. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), this is approximately 18.5 percent of the adult population. These conditions can range from slight antisocial disorder to severe schizophrenia. Because these debilitating conditions affect cognitive thinking, people who suffer from mental illnesses exhibit seemingly abnormal behaviors that are different from societal norms. As a result, close relatives or authorities often send people suffering from mental conditions to mental hospitals, asylums, or psychiatric wards to heal. However, in the past, some of these patients suffered abuse under the hands of the authorities in the

He thought that he could finish his sentence by relaxing in a tranquil hospital setting. The plot of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest fluctuates between the individual and the role of authority during the 1960’s. This film questions the amount of power that the authorities have and highlights what happens when the authorities have too much power. In Dedria Bryfonski’s book, Mental Illness in Ken Kesey’s Over Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, she writes that “evil is not exercising free will and that evil is always the thing that seems to control” (Bryfonski 38). In the film, Nurse Ratched is an authoritative figure who is in charge of the ward that McMurphy is in and she has full control of all of the patients. She dictates when they take their medication, what they can and cannot do, and how they live their lives. This renders as an issue because she treats the patients like animals. She controls every aspect of their lives and they are not free to choose what they want to do. In the end, people who suffer from mental health illnesses are humans who appear to behave differently. They should not be subjected to this level of control. Mentally ill patients should also have a choice on how they want to live their lives. By doing what they enjoy, they can heal in a stress free environment and hopefully re-integrate

McMurphy is not actually mentally ill, but he puts on an act to avoid hard labor for the crime that he committed. This impels the question of the definition of mental illness. According to Corey Keyes article, “Mental Illness and/or Mental Health? Investigating Axioms of the Complete State Model of Health,” he explains how it is important to clearly explain the difference between mental illness and mental health, as they are not mutually interchangeable. Mental health is generally associated with emotional, psychological, and social well-being, while mental illness is related to having major depressive episodes, generalized anxiety, or panic disorders (Keyes 539). According to Keyes, some people assume that mental health is the opposite of mental illness. They believe that if someone is cured of their mental illness, then they will have their mental health back. However, this is not the case, as mental health does not necessitate that one is mentally well. It just correlates to how one feels emotionally. By carefully defining the two terms, people whose mental health is underway can also get the help that they need. Just because they are not suffering from a mental illness does not mean that they are exactly healthy, either. People who have mental health issues also need all the help that they can get. Relating