Laughter In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Ken Kesey voices a wide array of his personal views and values through his novel ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. These concerns may have accumulated during his time working in a mental institution. It is in the orientation of the novel that these concerns are introduced. It could be argued that his main concerns were that of reality versus imagination, society robbing people of their individuality and the power of laughter. These values were very controversial at the time of the novel’s publishing and essentially what caused ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ success.

Kesey introduces the question ‘is this reality or imagination’ early on in the novel through Chief’s characterisation of being an unreliable narrator. After being detained
McMurphy is first introduced to the story as the patients are hearing his voice echo throughout the ward. What was strange about this particular event is that instead of seeing McMurphy “creep in the door and slide along the wall and stand scared”, McMurphy jests with the Black Boys. Joking and laughing was probably something the patients of the ward seldom hear. This establishes early on that McMurphy is not going to be an average patient, that he will be a catalyst for change in the ward. When the patients first see McMurphy, he greets the ward as a whole, then commences to laugh. “Nobody can tell exactly why he laughs, there’s nothing funny going on... it’s free and loud and it comes out of his wide grinning mouth… This sounds real. I realize all of a sudden it’s the first laugh I’ve heard in years.” It is after this event that the patients seem to, slowly but surely, become better. This is apparent through Chief’s quick transition from fractured thinking, to fluent readability. The effects of McMurphy’s light-heartedness is also seen through the other patients, such as the change from being too frightened to vote against the Nurse, to the majority ruling in the revote. Such drastic changes cause the reader to wonder if laughter truly is a cure, and how Kesey would know this. Given that Kesey spent time in a mental institution, one could assume that he either witnessed the positive effects laughter had on patients, or saw what a detrimental effect a lack of laughter could have. McMurphy immediately states what his intention will be in the ward, “to bring you birds fun an’ entertainment”. This aim is achieved within his first week of being admitted, which (coincidentally or not) is when the patients begin to make progress. Kesey values the power of laughter and it’s positive effects on