ipl-logo

Machinery In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

822 Words4 Pages

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey illustrates in the book's final passage Chief Bromden’s escape into nature and freedom from his prior mechanical entrapment.
Kesey outlines in the novel the difference between the hospital, an automatic and controlling institute. To the outside countryside that Bromden observes as representative of freedom, which he breaks free into. This imagery of machinery vs. nature is carefully crafted by Kesey within diction and imagery of scenes and characters. Where this is most prominent however, are the scenes Bromden experiences solely at night. In the first Bromden experiences a dream where he is awake and can hear “the low whine of devices in the walls gets quieter and quieter, till it hums down to …show more content…

In the final scene Kesey ties up all themes to machinery and control within the hospital by having Bromden “carry the panel through the screen and window with a ripping crash” (271). The panel is a symbol in the book for control, barriers, and machinery. It holds McMurphy and Bromden back throughout the story because McMurphy is unable to move it in his bet with the other Acutes. Which follows him making Bromden more powerful until he himself can move the panel. Although McMurphy is past and Bromden has moved on from him, Bromden learns that he has the power to escape the hospital. To break free and to escape, running away into nature “taking huge strides as I ran, seeming to step and float a long ways before my next foot struck the earth. I felt like I was flying. Free” (272). Bromden directly connects himself striking the earth, nature, to being “free”. He has surpassed his beliefs and limitations that noone can beat society by overpowering the panel and using it to break out of the hospital. Including the fact that as he re-enters nature he says “I been away a long time,” a final message that he has returned to freedom by

Show More
Related

  • Essay On One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    454 Words  | 2 Pages

    In novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, a leader organizes a group of mental patients and rebels against the figurehead of the broken institutional system of the mental hospital. McMurphy pushes The institutions rules of order, bringing out the evil in the situation. Bromden, due to his bias narration, misconstrues Nurse Ratched as the antagonist where, in truth, she falsifies this by trying to maintain order and by ultimately seeking the best for her patients. Kesey chooses Bromden as the narrator, by doing this, he introduces an element of skepticism for the audience as Brombden opposes the institution.

    Read More

  • Ambiguous Character In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    830 Words  | 4 Pages

    After winning, , he offered Bromden a share of the money won, but Bromden refused. McMurphy betrayed him, because Bromden has always been on McMurphy’s side and been loyal, this time he couldn’t accept the fact that McMurphy is selfish. Although the patients realized (with Nurse Ratched’s guidance) that McMurphy is all about money, his actions in the future contradict their opinions on

    Read More

  • Sacrifice In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    759 Words  | 4 Pages

    How strong their beliefs are can be observed by how large their sacrifices are for their values. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, is a fictional novel about a man called Randle McMurphy who transfers from a prison work farm to an asylum after being thought of having psychopathic tendencies, and a tall Native American nicknamed, “Chief Bromden,” who becomes McMurphy’s friend in the ward. In the end of the novel, Chief Bromden kills Randel McMurphy after he is given a lobotomy. Chief Bromden’s sacrifice of Randel McMurphy’s life highlights his values in freedom and personal strength, as well as providing an image of an oppressive society that

    Read More

  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Mcmurphys Transformation

    1024 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ the main character and narrator, Chief Bromden, is noticeably stuck inside his own head as he acts deaf and dumb to escape the pressures of being a part of something. As the novel moves on, for someone who’s perception of living is to stay transparent and withdrawn totally inside himself the Chief takes a transformation from his delusional mind and gains strength physically and mentally, creating a journey towards freedom and finally, breaking free from the ward and from himself. Kesey uses the transformation to unravel a number of ideas about the importance of freedom and explores how the pressures of society can lead individuals to conform within themselves. The theories Chief believes

    Read More

  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Character Analysis

    993 Words  | 4 Pages

    The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey, presents the ideas about venerability and strength by using his characters and the way they interact with each other to establish whether they are a submissive or a dominant, tamed or leading, venerable or strong. Kesey uses strong personalities to show the drastic difference between someone who is vulnerable and someone who is strong. Nurse Ratchet is a perfect example of how Kasey presents the idea of strength over the venerability of others (the patients). Keys also exhibited vulnerability throughout characters such as Chief Bromden and his extensive habit of hiding himself in all means possible from Nurse Ratchet. Another idea presented by Kesey is a character’s false thought on what

    Read More

  • Why Is Chief Bromden Weak

    574 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chief Bromden, nicknamed “Chief Broom” because the aides make him sweep the halls, narrates One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Although he says that he is telling the story about “the hospital, and her, and the guys—and about McMurphy,” he is also telling the story of his own journey toward sanity. When the novel begins, Bromden is paranoid, bullied, and surrounded much of the time by a hallucinated fog that represents both his medicated state and his desire to hide from reality. Moreover, he believes that he is extremely weak, even though he used to be immensely strong; because he believes it, he is extremely weak. By the end of the novel, the fog has cleared, and Bromden has recovered the personal strength to euthanize McMurphy, escape from the hospital, and record his account of the events.

    Read More

  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Insanity Essay

    755 Words  | 4 Pages

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, considers the qualities in which society determines sanity. The label of insanity is given when someone is different from the perceived norm. Conversely, a person is perceived as sane when their behavior is consistent with the beliefs of the majority. Although the characters of this novel are patients of a mental institution, they all show qualities of sanity. The book is narrated by Chief Brodmen, an observant chronic psychiatric patient, who many believe to be deaf and dumb.

    Read More

  • The Combine In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    907 Words  | 4 Pages

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest theme essay Tristan Andrews In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the biggest enemy in the book is the "Combine." The Combine is the oppressive force that keeps society intact and send them to the hospital ward to be "fixed. " The whole book has a major emphasis on the combine and how it oppresses individuals into comforting to a mundane mechanized structure of life. It also tries to lesson the value of an individual person, trying to fix their personality to the way society wants it be, not who the person really is.

    Read More

  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Psychological Analysis

    1329 Words  | 6 Pages

    The novel ends with Bromden lifting the control panel out of the ground and throwing it out the window in order to break it. This gives Bromden a chance to escape the ward and live a regular life, free of the Big Nurse and all of her rules.

    Read More

  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Invisibility Analysis

    970 Words  | 4 Pages

    Once McMurphy helped him realize that, he became a new, confident, man. Bromden no longer had to hide because he thought he was insignificant. He could now be anyone

    Read More

  • One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Analysis

    1144 Words  | 5 Pages

    Additionally, his ability to have full awareness triggers the newfound sense of confidence in himself that he uses to finally escape from the ward. One night when Bromden is lying awake in the ward, he describes, “I was seeing lots of things different. I figured the fog machine had broke down in the walls when they turned it up too high for that meeting on Friday... For the first time in years I was seeing people with none of that black outline they used to have, and one night I was even able to see out the window” (Kesey 162).

    Read More

  • Mental Illness In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    673 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ken 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.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis of 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest'

    1389 Words  | 6 Pages

    Moral Lense Literary Analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest The 1950s, the context of which One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a novel by Ken Kesey, was written, was called the Era of Conformity. During this time, the American social atmosphere was quiet conformed, in that everyone was expected to follow the same, fixed format of behavior in society, and the ones who stand out of being not the same would likely be “beaten down” by the social norms. In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey argues that it is immoral for society to simply push its beliefs onto the people who are deemed different, as it is unfair and could lead to destructive results. First of all, it is unjust for people who are deemed unalike from others in society to be forced into the preset way of conduct because human tend to have dissimilar nature.

    Read More

  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Analysis Essay

    1288 Words  | 6 Pages

    His rebellious and free mind makes the patients open their eyes and see how the have been suppressed. His appearance is a breath of fresh air and a look into the outside world for the patients. This clearly weakens Nurse Ratched’s powers, and she sees him as a large threat. One way or another, McMurphy tends to instigate changes of scenery. He manages to move everyone away from her music and watchful eye into the old tube room.

    Read More

  • Psychological Issues In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    1010 Words  | 5 Pages

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, prompts very important aspect of the human condition. In the movie, the protagonist, Mac McMurphy, is deemed dangerous, so the mental institute tries to suppress him (Kesey). The film highlights various aspects of human conditions like psychology, sociology and philosophy. The mental institute tries to suppress the mentally challenged people rather than to try to communicate with them.

    Read More

More about Machinery In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Open Document