Book Review of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey was a stalwart American author whose novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, remains as one of the most noted literary works of the past century. The author was deeply influenced by the time he spent with the patients at the Menlo Park Veteran’s Hospital whom he saw as misfits into the conventional structure of the society. These individuals were hence ostracized and left in the dungeon of the asylum from where they could pose no hindrance to the normative functions of the society. The author portrays the hospital as the microcosm of the society and leaves a mark on the mind of the avid reader.
In the novel, the world of the hospital is shrouded with routine work, disciplines and stringent regulations. Nurse Ratched is the epitome of supremacy in the ward and it is her setting which exudes that aura of power, though McMurphy endeavors to point out her vulnerability by exposing her bare chest. She is the paramount figure of authority in her ward and exercises unquestioned strength. Her authority is only reiterated by her ability to ascertain the fates of the patients. She decides on the medicine and treatments, and even the implementation of lobotomies on the individuals.
The power of this lady remains in keeping the Outside world away from the walls of the ward. McMurphy uses the change of setting to undermine her supremacy in the chronology of events. He becomes the entity from the outside world’s vigor and exuberance and symbolizes freedom. As such, he is a huge threat for Nurse Ratched. McMurphy continually endeavors to transform the scenery. McMurphy challenges the structure of the hospital’s functioning and invigorates the hearts of the patients with zeal and dream of freedom from the brutal clutches of the drudgeries and regulations of the ward. The cruelties of the societal structure aim to neutralize any such threat. However, the human heart still pines for liberation from the dungeon we are put into by the society.
The society aims at keeping the mass in a state of passivity so that they may give in to the constrictions and the normative order that has been set by the societal structure. The people thus would remain in the sphere of comfort devoid of the knowledge of the realm of freedom of their cognitive processes. The society conditions the human mind to stay subordinate to the power that is exercised upon the mass. The fog is the symbolic portraiture of this conditioning which threatens the liberation of the human mind. The dichotomy of the world is omniscient throughout the novel. Chief says that the nature of the asylum is like a machine and he uses the term ‘the Combine’ to describe it.
Thus, the author portrays the societal structure and the ominous forces that aim to get the better of the human minds. He writes, “And, almost, see the apparatus inside them take the words I just said and try to fit the words in here and there, this place and that, and when they find the words don’t have any place ready-made where they’ll fit, the machinery disposes of the words like they weren’t even spoken.” (Kesey) However, the escape of Chief at the end of the novel symbolizes the unflinching zeal of the human heart in the face of innumerable impediments that aim to constrict the human soul. The bondages which entrap the human mind are expressed by Ken Kesey in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The society is critiqued, the enslavement of the human mind is explored and the dream of freedom is nurtured in the novel through the ‘insane’ characters which dwell in the asylum away from the world of reality and freedom.
Works Cited
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: The Viking Press, 1962. Print.
