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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: Novel Analysis

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For the AP novel evaluation, I chose One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. The book was written in the 1960s, which is important because the time period heavily influenced the theme of the novel. Kesey's life and struggle with drugs and incarceration is prominent. The novel is opened with immediate politically incorrect racial references. Kesey uses varations on drugs, sex, and violence to unravel the path for the plot. With the setting being in a psychiatric ward in Oregon, I can just imagine the lack of sanity and the aroma of paranoia that float around the asylum. Kesey, during the time period of the novel, was working a shift at a mental facility in California. Therefore, the novel is just a reflection of his experience. I take into assumption that he conversed with the patients and witnessed the ways of the institution. The title of this work, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is very significant. The title comes from …show more content…

Chief Bromden is the main character of the novel. As he is narrating, he is narrating his jourey to sanity. Chief is smart and observant. He kows how to read people in a way that is similar to Nurse Ratched. Towards the falling action of the book, McMurphy is a vegetable and Chief suffocates him so he can die with dignity rather than to be a symbol of Nurse Ratched's power. Randle McMurphy is belligerent and expresses himself as he pleases. He is tryig to manipulate the system and lift the heavy hand of oppression. Throughout the novel, McMurphy attempts to gain back the individualism that Nurse ratched has stripped them of. Chief Bromden believes that McMurphy is " a giant who [came] from the sky to save us fromt he combime." Nurse Ratched is the woman in control at the mental institute who is oppressive and dehumanizing. She has absolute control over everyone. In a way, Ratched knows the patients better than they know themselves and she uses that to her

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