Electro Shock Therapy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Throughout One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the patients talked in fear of the “Shock Shop,” the nickname given to the Electro Shock Therapy machine. If a patient tries to rebel against the system at the hospital, they are sent to the “Shock Shop” where they are quickly fixed by the harsh device. The threat of the “Shock Shop” usually keeps the patients at bay, but every once in while someone is sent for Electro Shock Therapy. Nurse Ratched keeps order in the hospital by displaying these rebellious individuals where everyone can see the cruel effects of the “Shock Shop.” However, the “Shock Shop” and its victims symbolize something much greater than just a machine. In One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the Electro Shock Therapy machine is an allusion that relates to crucifixion. …show more content…
First, the shape of the device is similar to a cross, “You are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a crown of electric sparks in place of thorns” (Kesey 69). Harding describes the structure to be a cross, and even goes further into the allusion by talking about a crown of electric sparks, instead of a crown of thorns. For many in the hospital, the “Shock Shop” symbolizes the end of sanity and the transfer into a Chronic, or worse, a Vegetable. Going further into the allusion, Ellis, who was turned into a Vegetable by the EST machine, is left nailed to the wall for all the patients to see. The actual thought of the “Shock Shop” scares the patients enough; however the result of the Electro Shock Therapy is what really keeps the patients from rebelling against Nurse
The Tyranny Of Nurse Ratched By Randel Mcmurphy
523 Words | 3 PagesThis sense of justice causes McMurphy to put his own self-preservation at the bottom of his list of importance, as Kesey writes, “—light arcs across, stiffens him, bridges him up off the table till nothing is down but his wrists and ankles and out around that crimped black rubber hose a sound like hooeee! And he’s frosted over completely with sparks” (Pg. 245). McMurphy stood up for the wellbeing of George and his fellow patients, and ultimately paid the price of numerous electro-shock therapy sessions. McMurphy put his well-being behind that of those in the facility because he knew that without him, the patients would not have stood up for themselves. McMurphy’s influence through his search for justice prompted an overall positive change for the
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Insanity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1310 Words | 6 PagesA scene that reveals the truth behind wards fit for the insane. He shows that “the black boys in white suits’ (3) are in charge. This ward is much different than most in this time period. In 1962, the time the novel was published, females were always the nurses and the men were the doctors. It was almost taboo if you saw a female doctor.
Satire In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
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Insert Flap A And Throw-Away Rhetorical Analysis
650 Words | 3 PagesOlivia Seeney ENGL 305 The Art of the Essay 3/22/17 Insert Flap A and Throw Away Analysis The main point of this essay was to point out to the reader the ridiculous state of human nature when presented with a situation that is outside of our expertise. As we observe the narrator’s struggle to put together this cardboard toy, his use of both overstatement and understatement show the progression of his frustration with this task. One example of this ironic language can be found in the first sentence when the narrator states “I made a most interesting discovery: the shortest, cheapest, method of inducing a nervous breakdown ever perfected. (Perelman)”
Controlled Environment In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
725 Words | 3 PagesIn the drama film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, Patrick McMurphy was moved from a prison farm to a mental institution to get evaluated for his erratic behavior. Upon being transported to the institution, all his assumptions about his new home were completely wrong. The head nurse, Nurse Ratched, has the whole hospital under her control with little to no freedom for the patients. All the inmates at the institution go through rigorous training to become obedient to Nurse Ratched and her strict schedule and rules. The institution was a very controlled environment with the patients having no control over their own life’s while there.
Nurse Ratched In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo
447 Words | 2 PagesNurse Ratched’s desire for control, in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, allows her to manipulate the entire hospital ward into believing her work is for the betterment of the patients. Significantly, Nurse Ratched appears doll-like: hair in a tight bun, a neatly pressed uniform, and “too-red” lipstick (48). Traditionally, dolls, like other toys, are made to occupy the unruly minds of young children. By comparing Nurse Ratched to a child’s toy, Kesey implies she is a mere distraction to the patients from their mental impairments.
Examples Of Conformity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1124 Words | 5 PagesThe Beat Generation of the 1950’s and early 1960’s encouraged a new lifestyle for young Americans striving for individualism and freedom, which included rock and roll music, long hair, relaxed style attire, vegetarianism, and experimenting with drugs (“Beat Movement”). Many young Americans of this era wanted to experiment with new social and cultural concepts, rebelling against “normal” American life. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, portrays the gruesomeness of conformity through the lives of patients in one of the asylum’s wards. The novel shows how the patients are confined to strict rules and limited freedom because of Nurse Ratched’s power.
Group Therapy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1476 Words | 6 PagesPublished in 1962, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest tells the story of Patrick McMurphy, a newly-admitted patient at a psychiatric hospital where individuals with various mental conditions are treated. Run primarily by Nurse Ratched, a demeaning autocrat who exhibits complete control over others, the patients are subjected to various forms of treatments and therapy with the intent of rehabilitation (Kesey 5). Most forms of treatment depicted in Kesey’s novel, such as group therapy, are an accurate representation of what typical psychiatric patients may encounter while under care at a mental facility. Yet others, particularly electroshock therapy and lobotomies, were quite controversial at the time of the novel’s publication. Such treatments were questioned for their effectiveness at improving patients’ condition – and while these procedures were still occasionally performed at the time, they often did not benefit the treated individual.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Freedom
1050 Words | 5 PagesIn addition, Ken Kesey uses the electroshock therapy table to serve as an example of the consequences that would occur if an individual were to rebel against the power of Nurse Ratched. It is associated with crucifixions similar to that of Jesus Christ in the Roman time period with “clasps on his wrists, ankles, clamping him into the shadow [and a] crown of silver thorns over the graphite at his temples” (283). Kesey references the crucifixion of Christ to characterize McMurphy as a Christ figure. He is being sacrificed in exchange for the patient’s freedom. In the hospital, Ellis, an acute, is an example of the consequences of not abiding by the hospital’s regulations that serve as a reminder for the rest of the ward members to conform to the rules inflicted by Ratched.
Mental Illness In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
673 Words | 3 PagesKen Kesey uses his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to describe the lives of patients in a mental institution, and their struggle to overcome the oppressive authority under which they are living. Told from the point of view of a supposedly mute schizophrenic, the novel also shines a light on the many disorders present in the patients, as well as how their illnesses affect their lives during a time when little known about these disorders, and when patients living with these illnesses were seen as an extreme threat. Chief Bromden, the narrator of the novel, has many mental illnesses, but he learns to accept himself and embrace his differences. Through the heroism introduced through Randle McMurphy, Chief becomes confident in himself, and is ultimately able to escape from the toxic environment Nurse Ratched has created on the ward. Chief has many disorders including schizophrenia, paranoia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and, in addition to these illnesses, he pretends to be deaf and dumb.
Authority In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1459 Words | 6 PagesDue to the structure in place by Nurse Ratched’s orders, all patients must participate in therapeutic meetings, where they have a group discussion with the nurse and Dr. Spivey. These discussions specifically target one patient where the others proceed to humiliate them. When Bromden narrates a meeting of this nature, Harding, another patient, is the one under harsh criticism, “The group is still tearing into Harding when when two o’clock rolls around” (Kesey 53). In the ward, the nurse has created an environment where the patients do not feel safe. She pits them against each other using methods such as the therapeutic meetings, which cause the patients to feel as though they cannot trust one another.
Examples Of Injustice In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1099 Words | 5 PagesIn One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the nurse exposes the patients to harsh procedures in hopes to either cure them of their illness or stop unwanted behavior. Harding explains one of the treatments the patients endure: “Electro-Shock Therapy. Those fortunate souls in there are being given a free trip to the moon. No, on second thought, it isn’t completely free. You pay for the service with brain cells instead of money.”
Shock Therapy Research Paper
303 Words | 2 PagesBernardo Creamer Mr. Holland Intro. to Psychology September 27 2015 Shock Therapy and LSD for Kids There have been dark periods for all of us. Psychology especially, has suffered a great deal of very dark, cruel periods. Either due to ignorance, common belief or many other vacuous reasons, psychology has been the root of an extremely high number of unethical, morally corrupt investigations and experiments.
Psychological Issues In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1010 Words | 5 PagesThe concept of social alienation and various methods of subduing patients like electric shocks and lobotomy were prevalent which further alienated the patients rather than curing them. The movie highlights the strong bond between the patients. The human condition of friendship and bonding is highlighted. During the last quarter of the movie, the protagonist McMurphy had a chance to escape the institution, but he hesitated and stayed to support his friend ‘Billy’. The strong bond that he created with the patients led him to risk his escape plan to stay behind for his friend (Kesey).
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