One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a Review of Ken Kesey's Novel

The Mental Institution is devised of two groups of men: the acutes who can be cured and the Chronics who cannot be cured. Nurse Ratched rules over all of them and maintains the strictest control. Things in the institution run like clockwork; Bromden enjoys the peacefulness of the fog that surrounds him throughout most of the day. Group meetings go without a hitch and all is calm.

The day that Randle McMurphy is transferred in from the work farm things are different. Bromden notes that he is laughing, a sound that he has not heard in all of his time here. McMurphy come sin and introduces himself as a women-loving, gambler. It takes only one group meeting to set him in motion. When he tells the other men that Nurse Ratched is a ball-cutter they are all shocked and warn him that she is in complete control and no one can cross her. He makes a bet that he will get under her skin in one weeks time.

The story surrounds the conflicts between Nurse Ratched and Randal McMurphy but more so it shows the group morale change overnight. These men begin to believe in themselves and start to stand up for their beliefs. Bromden begins to talk and explains how the institution has made him small and weak. McMurphy starts to work with Bromden until he believes that he is getting bigger each day.

The fog and clouds that Bromden believes are sent out by machines in the vent play a major role in the story. Before McMurphy's arrival he is happy and content in the fog. Though he does not like that he cannot see anything outside of it, he feels comfort in the fog. Hea often notes that the fog comes less often now that McMurphy is here and eventually the fog seems to be gone for good. It appears to Bromden that McMurphy is making the fog stay away but in reality McMurphy is empowering all of the men to take their own power back. The fog is symbolizing Ratched's power over the men and McMurphy is taking that power away.

There is a theme similar to the for is Huxley's Brave New World. When reading Brave New World I was reminded of the fog when people took Soma frequently. It is easier to avoid reality than to deal with it but by not dealing with reality, we are forced to leave others in control. Nurse Ratched represents the single authority throughout the story and she intends to maintain that control.

The power struggle between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy ends by the two of them destroying each other. When McMurphy has suffered through shock treatments and finally has a lobotomy, Bromden feels forced to do something. Though not long before he was a powerless deaf-mute, he takes all the power into his hands. Bromden doesn't want to risk all the morale that the men have gained by seeing their leader in such a sad state. He takes his bed pillow and suffocates McMurphy. In a final gain of size and strength, Bromden breaks through the window to escape into the night.

Kesey, K. (1962). One flew over the cuckoo's nest. New York: Viking Press.is a satire is set among the patients of an all-male mental institution. Narrated by a large Indian, Chief Bromden, who is thought to be Deaf and mute, it offers a first-hand view of the daily happenings of the psych ward. Bromden suffers from delusion and hallucinations evident form the beginning of the book. Bromden is sure that there are things at work behind the scene watching their every move and working the machines, including the fog machine. Bromden can hear and speak fine but chooses not to, this allows him access to information from those around who do not know that he can hear them talking.