One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey - Book Report/Review Example

Name: University: Course: Tutor: Date: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey Kesey’s book “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is about men who have been confined in an insanity institution. They are mistreated and instead of getting better, they sometime get worse, are killed or turned into vegetables. Two patients react differently from a similar situation. Chief Bromden pretends to be deaf and dump as he hallucinates. He is the narrator who sees the society as a combine, a machine that sweeps and cleans everything that is on its way. The next character is McMurphy. In this essay we analyze how these two characters react to the system they find themselves in. The narration is by Chief Bromden who has been institutionalized for ten years, the longest period in the institution. Chief is a huge half Indian who is suffering from schizophrenia. He was institutionalized after his father, who had been a chief lost the tribes fishing grounds to the government. He pretends to be deaf and dump and even avoids meeting people’s eyes to avoid people from knowing that he is pretending. This pretending gives him an upper hand in dealing with other people within the institution who often ignore him and as such they talk about their secrets in his presence as they believe that he cannot hear. Chief suffers from paranoia and suffers from hallucinations and has foggy views. He prefers to be in the ‘fog’ because there he feels safe and while there, time does not exist. In his hallucinations he sees visions of a Combine, a machine which threatens to clear and clean whatever is in its path. This is how he views the society, as a machine where there are forces that are about to clean and clear it. He sees himself and everyone in the institution as a reluctant and broken part of the combine, which has the same goals as the combine goal, to clear and clean everything that’s on its way. He likens the combine with the sound of hydroelectric dam, which according to Kessey destroys both man and fish. The drugs that they take are forced to take often make them loose control, they are a control device. Within the institution, he is grouped as a chronic. Chief Bromden who has been nicknamed as Chief Broom views the society as a Combine, as a domineering force and he views the hospital as the place where those who are considered as unfit within the society are taken for repair. However they however do not get treated especially in this institution. Some patients went into the institution with minor illnesses and they got worse in the institution. They were discharged from the institution after they became totally docile. He gives the example of Ruckly, one of the patients who became a vegetable within the institution. The narration is based on a system where freedom is disallowed. There is no freedom of movement, speech and even no freedom of thinking. Nurse Ratched is the main authority in the institution. She is nicknamed as the Big Nurse. She uses intimidation and takes advantages of the patients’ weaknesses as the tool. She selects her aides according to their cruelty. When they go against the rules, the nurse uses electroshock therapy, a method which had already been discarded in medical practice (SparkNote, 2010). The treatments the patients receive are ineffective. The patients are grouped into Chronics and Acutes. The Chronics are the more seriously insane ones than the Acutes. The two groups are never mixed. McMurphy is an over confident and loud huge man who has been brought into the institution after he has been declared by the court as insane. Chief however confesses that he does not mind being declared insane “If it gets me outta of those damned pea fields, I’ll be what their little heart desires, be it psychopath or mad dog or werewolf because I don’t care if I never see another weeding hoe till my dying day”. He is also into gambling and the chief refers to him as a conman and as master of tricks. This is after Chief has noticed that he allows himself to win the card games from his opponents where he earns the cigarettes but later allows himself to lose so that his opponents earn them back. He is portrayed both as martyrdom of a sailor and at times as a cunning man. He declares that he went to the institution to create fun for the residents who were there already. Immediately after Murphy’s arrival, Chief recognizes that he is not any ordinary resident. Chief narrates the loudness at which Murphy arrives with, “Still though I can’t see him, I know he is no ordinary Admission” Chief says. McMurphy refers to Chief as a “sis-foot-eight sweeping machine, scared of its own shadow”. He is admitted and grouped as an Acute. He is however friendly to the other residents. He tries to make them comfortable immediately he arrives though he ends up making them uncomfortable. He responds to the system in the institution by being rebellious. He rebels against nurse Ratcher, an act that amuses his fellow residents, who can only smile because laughing is not condoned within the institution. He reprimands his fellow patients for being too conforming. He plays into the Nurse Ratched’s nerves up to a point where she losses her cool and reacts by being hysterical. He uses humor as he incites the other patients into defying with the nurses tyrannical rules as he becomes their unofficial leader. He tries to lift the control, thus challenging the system as he also organizes for the fishing trip after having the residents escaping from the institution. He later organizes a party. He is finally lobotomized and ends up being in a worse situation than these residents as he cannot move while the others can. Chief however succeeds in giving hope to some of the residents of the ward by befriending them. After the nurse’s hysterical experience, Chief’s foggy hallucinations subsided. When McMurphy is ‘punished’ by being assigned to washing the latrines, he retains his attempts to annoy her. At this moment, Chief declares that McMurphy has refused to be broken by the Combine. It is only after some times in the institution, he realizes that the Big nurse has the power to decide how long he stays in the institution and how he is treated and changes his attitude towards her. He becomes afraid for his fate for he had thought that he would be discharged after he had served his time term. He starts loosing his enthusiasm and “starts to take on that same haggard, puzzled look of pressure that face the floor has”. He blames his fellow patients for not having informed him that Ratched had powers to keep him in the institution but also had powers to use the outdated electroshock therapy. He is surprised to learn that only him and one other patient, Scanlon, is committed, and everyone else is the on voluntary basis. After sometime, he starts with his rebellion and even becomes more aggressive about it. He starts this aggressiveness by breaking the glass that separates the nurse from the patients. He later pretends that he had not seen the glass saying it was so clear that he had forgotten the glass existed. The nurse responds with patience as she decided to give McMurphy more time as “behind that cardboard, she was like a picture turned on the wall. She waited without a comment, while McMurphy continued to run around the halls,” Bromden narrates (Cooper, 2001). Shortly he leads the other patients on to the fishing trip. He leads them into learning how to regain their previously suppressed sexuality as he invites an attractive woman. From this trip we also learn of something in McMurphy’s past, that he had previous been intimidated by a woman. When they return to the institution after the fishing trip, everyone but him is excited about the trip. He admits his exhaustion. This rebellion after breaking the glass is for the benefit of the other patients. Whatever he does, it is supposed to benefit the other patients. He leads them to a trip to which he allows them to exercise their own individuality. He organizes a date for Billy, the shy thirty one year old virgin. Before the trip, McMurphy learnt that Chief Bromdem’s had not been deaf but had been pretending all along, but does not reveal this to anyone else. He promises to help make Chief to regain his big size. McMurphy’s conning tricks are revealed at the end of the book. He lets Chief lift the control panel, then bets on it, a bet he wins. Later, the two get into a fight with the aides in the defense of one of the patients. They are sent to Disturbed Ward and are later sent for treatment. McMurphy is not afraid but Chief Bromden is. After the treatment Chief Bromdem’s starts having memories of his childhood. The fog starts returning but this time he fights it and he succeeds. Later McMurphy tries to escape but fails. He attacks the nurse. The patients idolize him. McMurphy is lobotomized as a punishment for attacking Nurse Ratched. Chief Bromden kills McMurphy by suffocating him before he escapes. At first, Chief does not resist the controls but reacts by submissiveness and playing dump and deaf. He learns a lot from this pretence. His reaction had not been so different from the rest of the patients. It was until McMurphy came into the institute and his presence helped the patients realize that there was a world outside the ward. The writing in this book Kesey (87) portrays the picture that the patients’ insanity are in that situation because of the pressure from the society which was in such a way that these patients couldn’t cope with that pressure. Their situation is caused by others but not themselves. The book is not about madness or insanity that exists in this institution, but about lack of freedom, freedom to speak, freedom of movement and even freedom of thinking which is take away by the drugs that they are given. The residents within the wards are not there to be treated but to be removed and kept away from the society. Works Cited Cooper, Catherine. Ken Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. April 2001. August 23 2010 Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. New York: Penguin Classics. 1996. Print SparkNote. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-Ken Kesey. 2010. August 23 2010 Read More

The patients are grouped into Chronics and Acutes. The Chronics are the more seriously insane ones than the Acutes. The two groups are never mixed. McMurphy is an over confident and loud huge man who has been brought into the institution after he has been declared by the court as insane. Chief however confesses that he does not mind being declared insane “If it gets me outta of those damned pea fields, I’ll be what their little heart desires, be it psychopath or mad dog or werewolf because I don’t care if I never see another weeding hoe till my dying day”.

He is also into gambling and the chief refers to him as a conman and as master of tricks. This is after Chief has noticed that he allows himself to win the card games from his opponents where he earns the cigarettes but later allows himself to lose so that his opponents earn them back. He is portrayed both as martyrdom of a sailor and at times as a cunning man. He declares that he went to the institution to create fun for the residents who were there already. Immediately after Murphy’s arrival, Chief recognizes that he is not any ordinary resident.

Chief narrates the loudness at which Murphy arrives with, “Still though I can’t see him, I know he is no ordinary Admission” Chief says. McMurphy refers to Chief as a “sis-foot-eight sweeping machine, scared of its own shadow”. He is admitted and grouped as an Acute. He is however friendly to the other residents. He tries to make them comfortable immediately he arrives though he ends up making them uncomfortable. He responds to the system in the institution by being rebellious. He rebels against nurse Ratcher, an act that amuses his fellow residents, who can only smile because laughing is not condoned within the institution.

He reprimands his fellow patients for being too conforming. He plays into the Nurse Ratched’s nerves up to a point where she losses her cool and reacts by being hysterical. He uses humor as he incites the other patients into defying with the nurses tyrannical rules as he becomes their unofficial leader. He tries to lift the control, thus challenging the system as he also organizes for the fishing trip after having the residents escaping from the institution. He later organizes a party. He is finally lobotomized and ends up being in a worse situation than these residents as he cannot move while the others can.

Chief however succeeds in giving hope to some of the residents of the ward by befriending them. After the nurse’s hysterical experience, Chief’s foggy hallucinations subsided. When McMurphy is ‘punished’ by being assigned to washing the latrines, he retains his attempts to annoy her. At this moment, Chief declares that McMurphy has refused to be broken by the Combine. It is only after some times in the institution, he realizes that the Big nurse has the power to decide how long he stays in the institution and how he is treated and changes his attitude towards her.

He becomes afraid for his fate for he had thought that he would be discharged after he had served his time term. He starts loosing his enthusiasm and “starts to take on that same haggard, puzzled look of pressure that face the floor has”. He blames his fellow patients for not having informed him that Ratched had powers to keep him in the institution but also had powers to use the outdated electroshock therapy. He is surprised to learn that only him and one other patient, Scanlon, is committed, and everyone else is the on voluntary basis.

After sometime, he starts with his rebellion and even becomes more aggressive about it. He starts this aggressiveness by breaking the glass that separates the nurse from the patients. He later pretends that he had not seen the glass saying it was so clear that he had forgotten the glass existed. The nurse responds with patience as she decided to give McMurphy more time as “behind that cardboard, she was like a picture turned on the wall. She waited without a comment, while McMurphy continued to run around the halls,” Bromden narrates (Cooper, 2001).

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