'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest': analyse af temaer

The mental asylums in the 20th century revealed a little degree of civilization. These facilities witnessed much ineffective and cruel treatment of those who were hospitalized within them. Especially, American and European asylums were the first to practice these inhumane mental health treatments; from lobotomy and shock therapy to hydrotherapy and confinement. The fictional novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey investigates the interaction between a nurse and the patients at an insane asylum ward. It is an exploration of the relationship between a person who confines and those who are confined. Ultimately, it is a psychological exploration of the entire insane asylum system in America.

The inspiration for the novel came while working on the graveyard shift as an attendant at a mental institution. In addition to Kesey’s work, he also advocated for drug use as a way to celebrate individual freedom. He experienced with LSD and other psychedelics that made him sympathetic toward the patients. The novel describes the inside of a mental institution and how the patients are emasculated and mistreated by the terrifying Nurse Ratched, who will go to any length to control them. Kesey's use of writing is descriptive and colloquial and the first-person narration is an interesting and impressive part of the novel. The special thing about the secondary character Chief Bromden as a narrator is that he cannot speak, so instead he is observing and taking everything in: "McMurphy doesn't know it, but he's onto what I realized a long time back, that it's not just the Big Nurse by herself, but it's the whole Combine, the nation-wide Combine that's the really big force, and the nurse is just a high-ranking official among them." (p. 192) Here we see how rational and smart Chief is. He has theories and opinions and in making Chief an intelligent, calm, and sharp narrator, Kesey can depict the men and the asylum in an insightful, logical, and detailed way. Even though Chief suffers from schizophrenia and he has a conspiracy theory about the world being a machine called the Combine, he is very conscious of his surroundings. Chief is aware of the injustice and cruelty he and the other patients are suffering caused by Nurse Ratched.