One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Analysis

Isabelle Ghelerter
Zsolt Alapi
English 103
November 24th 2014

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

In his essay “The Individual and Society”, Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti argues that the nature of society is such that individuality is restricted through the adherence to conformity. He suggests that, as individuals are conditioned to become conventionally good and efficient citizens, they concurrently develop the ruthless tendency to force those individuals who do not fit this norm to also conform to the ideals they themselves have been taught to respect. Similarly, Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, also believes that socialization and adherence to conventionality hinders the development of individuality. Nevertheless,
It is first and foremost a place where people who deviate from the norms of society are sent to be molded into efficient and productive members of a given society. Harding describes being an outsider and being in the asylum as “the feeling that the great deadly, pointing forefinger of society is pointing at [him]- and the great voice of millions chanting, ‘Shame. Shame. Shame.’ It’s society’s way of dealing with someone who is different” (Kesey 257). Indeed, the power structure of the institution is repeatedly referred to as part of the “Combine”, which is the analogy used by the Chief to describe the machine-like nature of the system which governs the world. It effectively processes and programs individuals to repress any natural impulses and turns them into machines capable of conformity. For example, in the Chief’s dream, he is descending into the bowels of the hospital to the sound of the low mechanized hum of the Combine where he sees one of the patients, Blastic, being experimented on. When one of the workers cuts his front, there is no blood or innards as the Chief expected, but rather “a shower of rust and ashes, and now and again a piece of wire or glass” (81). Nurse Ratched herself represents the authority of the Combine’s inhumane system as she controls all the switches of the institution. She is, first of
Initially, the Chief is portrayed as a paranoid schizophrenic whose perception of the world in which he lives is a distorted and ruled by delusions and hallucinations. Throughout the story, he refers to “the fog”: “And the more I think about how nothing can be helped, the faster the fog rolls in. And I’m glad when it gets thick enough you’re lost in it and can let go, and be safe again” (101). The fog, though a hallucination for the Chief, is a very accurate metaphor for both the apparent hopelessness of rebellion in such an oppressive system, and the complacency of the citizens living in such a system. Indeed, conforming provides security and is easier than rebelling. Throughout the story, the Chief’s progression is clear, as he begins to use free will more and more, for example, when he raises his hand and votes for the screening of the World Series. For the first time, he is admitting and taking responsibility for his actions, recognizing that it is not a hallucination. However, it is only the ending of the novel that ultimately proves Kesey’s thesis that as long as one does not become dependent on the rebel figure, any citizen can regain their free will and individuality. When he kills McMurphy, it is an altruistic gesture