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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: A Psychological Analysis

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In order to demonstrate the detrimental impact of societal institutions such as the mental hospital and the federal government on their subordinates, Ken Kesey captures the patients’ endeavor to become whole again as they temporarily escape the Combine’s clutches within his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. At the beginning of Part 3, it appears Nurse Ratchet’s regime is nearly toppled and that the machinery has lost its control. In fact, McMurphy even draws “[laughs] out of some Acute who’d been scared to grin since he was twelve” and forms a basketball team for the inmates (175). Moreover, Chief Bromden speaks for the first time in years and achieves an erection after his pivotal conversation. Clearly, Kesey indicates the decline of the matriarchy and as a result, portrays the patients as regaining their masculinity. Formerly, …show more content…

It is also important to note that Bromden is able to recall this significant childhood memory as it reveals his escape from the Fog. Later, as the men leave the hospital and embark on the fishing trip, their intense psychological conditioning dissipates, and they gradually recover, or revert, to unexpectedly conventional members of society. Significantly, Kesey depicts McMurphy as “[leading] the twelve… towards the ocean” and also as a “fisher of men”(203,198). Obviously, Kesey likens McMurphy to Jesus and the twelve disciples to implicate that McMurphy directs them on a righteous path towards salvation away from the malevolent hospital. Additionally, McMurphy heals the character George, who was previously overwhelmed by thoughts of being unclean, by granting him the powerful role of the ship’s captain. As George masterfully sails the ship through the storm, Kesey proves the men’s concealed competence and capability to readjust to

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