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. The author strongly believed that the patients were not insane. They were actually 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 uses symbolism aptly to portray the hospital as the microcosm of the society and leaves a mark on the mind of the avid reader. The setting of the novel, the hospital, is the dungeon from where escaping seems quite unachievable and the novel explores the human psyche and the overpowering influence of the society on the individual. “Ken Kesey's stream of consciousness description of patients in a mental institution questions the line between sanity and madness.” (Kappel 9)
The setting of this novel is this hospital which is situated somewhere in Oregon in the late 1950s or very early 60s. The memory of the war has remained afresh in the mind of the Chief and serves to provide the testimony of the time which is portrayed in this 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. She aptly utilizes the close quarters of the ward to make the patients remain docile. She even pits the patients among one another which enhance her omnipotence even more. Chief declares at the beginning, “It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.” (Kesey) The metaphorical hallucinations provide insights that reveal the intricacies of the hospital.
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. He even finds success in getting a new day room for all the Acutes away from the vigilant watch of Nurse Ratched. From going out with the Acutes and the Chief for fishing to transforming the ward into a party zone, 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. Thus, the people in the ward find a route for escaping from the fear of Nurse Ratched that looms over the milieu.
The reader comes to know of the fog which looms over the ward all the time. Chief goes on to claim that this fog is “made” by Nurse Ratched. Chief is schizophrenic and he gets to see certain things which do not exist in reality. Hence, one may opine that this fog may be medicinally induced. This fog is the haze that shrouds the mind of an individual. It keeps the patients of the ward from rebelling in unison against the autocracy of Nurse Ratched. This fog veils the reality from these people and keeps them satisfied in the dungeon that aims to impede the cognition and realization of anything real. Thus, they are thwarted by this baleful fog which blinds them to live in status quo. They can never escape from this realm of drudgery to improve their lives. Chief opines that the men find a hiding place behind this fog as it provides comfort.
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.
Quite similarly, in these meetings, Nurse Ratched reveals the weakness of a patient by striking him on that vulnerable point and all the other individuals follow her, thus “pecking” at that individual. Thus, a chain reaction entails with all the men being set against each other. They all feel vulnerable and can never unite to form resistance against the unreasonable governance of Nurse Ratched. Thus, emasculating the patients in the process, these meetings only serve the ambition of Nurse Ratched in the consolidation of her rule and authority. The patients fail to provide each other beneficial help. The societal overlords too act in this way as they ignite clashes and animosity among the general mass and jeopardize the path of unity against oppression and injustice.
In the course of the novel, McMurphy is explained by Harding how the world can be differentiated into the strong and the weak. The patients, the doctor are all weaklings and Nurse Ratched is the symbol of unparalleled strength.
Also, the world can be divided into the realm of the inside of this insane asylum whose walls impede the freedom of the weak patients and the Outside, the world that symbolizes freedom from the rules and regulations set by Nurse Ratched. The Outside seems to be like a concept, as one envisages it to be scary while the other feels that it is seductive. The dichotomy of the world is omniscient throughout the novel.
The asylum is the microcosm of the society. It is extremely difficult to escape the traps laid by the society and people fail to traverse to the realm of freedom which lies beyond. They are in continuous search for the Pandora’s Box and can only find the essence of paramount ecstasy beyond the boundaries of the social contract which binds the human mind and soul inside the superstructure. “Kesey, in short, has created a world that is convincing, alive, and glowing within its own boundaries and in terms of his own ground rules.” (Matuz 209)
The novel describes how Chief comes to notice that when the staff comes together during meetings, a green light comes out of the room where the meeting takes place. A green seepage covers everything after the meeting and Chief is left to clean that off. He believes that poison oozes out of the skin of the staff.
His mental illness of schizophrenia makes us comprehend that such instances do not occur in reality, although to him this is the literal truth. This seepage is actually symbolic of the spiritual residue which infects the ward that is ruled over by Nurse Ratched. The orderlies and the nurses all pose a venomous attitude toward the patients of the ward. This reinforces the fact that the asylum is actually a harmful place for all the patients rather than being a place where their minds would heal to render them good health. This is symbolic of the ravaging effects of the evils of the society. The society is meant to be a realm for nurturing the human mind to make it achieve maturity and freedom of thought. But, in reality is harsh and society imposes its rules and binds the mind in its shackles and thus does not let the flowering of the minds to find individualism.
Chief says that the nature of the asylum is like a machine and he uses the term ‘the Combine’ to describe it. The asylum system is symbolic of the system of the society which holds the people captive in its domain of constrictions. It is a system that governs the entire world. Chief is able to listen to the hum in the walls of the asylum. The inhuman system looms over the lives of all the people and in the novel Nurse Ratched is the representative authoritative figure of ‘the Combine’.
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) Nevertheless, 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
Kappel. Lawrence. Readings on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. San Diego: Greenhaven
Press, 2000. Print.
Matuz, Roger. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1991. Print.
Porter, M. Gilbert. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest: Rising to Heroism. New York: Twane
Publishers, 1989. Print.
