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One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Essay

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The Origins of Madness in One Who Flew Off The Cuckoo's Nest

The book, One who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, is an eccentric story on the cruel treatment of patients within psychiatric wards in the 1960s. It is told from the narration of an indigenous man, named Chief Bromden, a character who is deeply conflicted and wounded inside, as he narrates the story of another patient McMurphy. McMurphy is not like Chief, nor any of the other patients for that matter, for he is a man who refuses to follow the wards rules and does whatever it takes in the book to strip the head nurse, Miss Ratched, of her power, in a fight for the patients, sovereignty within the ward. His rebellious attitude unfolds and the consequences begin unveiling …show more content…

For the character McMurphy for example, he was unable to find his place in society due to his criminal behaviour and actions, which made him be viewed as mad. Although he was only wrongly accused of his actions, such as seen with his conviction of statutory rape, and his rebellious nature made it a challenge for him to be accepted within his society . It can further be seen within the character Billy Bibbit, who price for being unable to live up to the expectations his mother put upon him, was his own life, and resulted in him having a hard time coping with all the unfortunate circumstances in his life. These unfortunately were brought upon by this pressure and rejection of those around him, that has not driven him mad, however has only pushed him to his limitations and caused others to only perceive he is truly mad. Lastly, this was seen within the character Chief Bromden, whose Native American background is repressed by society, thus causing the Chief a tremendous amount of pain, anger and grief, that made him be looked upon as crazy and pushed even further

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