One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

A Bridge Made of Literature. What makes the novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," by Ken Kesey so influential and significant to our society is the fact that it carries a message about who we are as human beings. Since human nature rarely digresses over time, you see the reason why certain novels are so appealing to the senses; people can take it and in some way relate it to the present day. Two aspects of human nature that can be seen in Ken Kesey's novel are McCarthyism and The Hippie Movement. These two major incidents in time come from two completely different time periods. Although one was in the 1950's and the other in the 1960's, if one were to compare the ideologies and thought processes of those that existed in those time periods they would find contrasting standpoints. But both share a common link, Ken Kesey's novel.

McCarthyism, one of the two aspects, essentially exploited the fear of the general public during the 1950's over the, "Red Scare," which was the fear that the communist would attack and takeover the free world. To gain power Senator McCarthy took advantage of the peoples fear and then proclaimed a solution that he spearheaded making him seem like a savior of sorts. It was not until McCarthy overstepped the line and began to accuse the United States Army Signal Corps. of partaking in an espionage ring that he began to lose power (Appleton Public Library).

This is something the main antagonist, Nurse Ratched, personifies, McCarthyism. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the nurse uses scare tactics, slander, and force to undermine those that oppose her or just to gain more hold over her domain. One example of her manipulative ways of controlling the ward is the therapeutic session held in chapter 5 where Nurse Ratched says, "Perhaps, Doctor you should advise Mr. McMurry on the protocol of these Group Meetings"(Pg.46). It is here that the audience finds that Nurse Ratched controls the Doctor by being able to voice her orders directly and undermine McMurphy on purpose by pronouncing his name incorrectly all in one sentence. Prior to the charges that McCarthy brought forward he was just an insignificant senator of the Republican Party. Just like McCarthy, prior to her assignment at the psychiatric ward Nurse Ratched was a military nurse with no administrative power whatsoever. Both characters can be viewed as demagogues for their unending pursuit of power and how that power feeds on itself. This need to continue to gain more power and its addictive side effects show how detrimental this type of behavior is but what is most interesting is the fact that this is an example of the human factor. For clarification, communisms theory can work and is based off of an ideal where everything is shared but when the human factor is entered varying needs and emotion make the theory invalid and inapplicable thus whenever the human factor is present the theory or situation is going to fail in some aspect.

When ideals are forced on a group of people they can react in two ways. Either they submit and accept or they rebel and not in a small quiet way but a loud and big way. This rebellion can be seen when McMurphy says, "Hoo-weee! Man all I need now is a can of beer and a red hot," (127) which is a direct break of ward policy when paired with him pretending to watch the World Series. It is loud and not quiet much like the rebellion of the Hippie Movement which also practiced forms of civil disobedience in varying degrees. This scenario also brings up the second of the two aspects that can be found in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which is the rejection of oppressive ideals. In an attempt to reject the present ways hippies self consciously rejected conventional norms (Ward 323). This is how in their own way they rejected what society placed upon them. Just like any great movement, it starts with one person and grows into something more creating lasting effects sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always significant in some way, shape, or form. In Ken Kesey's story it started out with McMurphy standing up to Nurse Ratched who personified the governing body of the ward. In the 1970's the whole Hippie Movement started out with stressed out youths fed up with the way society was structured. These trends continue throughout history since they are integrated into human nature making Cuckoo's Nest so influential and long lasting since readers will always be able to relate to it.

Works Cited

"Joseph McCarthy." Appleton Public Library. April 21,2003. Appleton Library. 15 May 2007.

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 1963.

Ward, Kyle. History In the Making. New York: The New Press, 2006.