Censorship In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

The Retainment of The Cuckoo’s Nest

Cencor ship has been a topic of discussion for an awfully long time, a part of this is what should be taught to our children. More recently, that discussion has brought the banning of certain books. In the 2022-23 school year 1,477 books have been banned in the United States. One of these books that is on the chopping block is Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Although some parents and scholars are overreacting to objectional material in schoolbooks and trying to get them banned, Cuckoo's Nest contains material such as symbolism, theme, and plot that is beneficial to teaching.

In Kesey’s novel a story is told of Chief Bromden's time spent in an American mental ward. At the beginning of the

An example of this is when the inmates get into a brawl with the black boys (the guards/workers are named this not because of their race). The specific black boys Chief Broadman and McMurphy are fighting were African American. McMurphy uses a derogatory word n****r (Kesey 273). However, this is historically accurate. In the 1950’s-60’s the civil rights movement was in full swing, and many white citizens were still extremely racist towards African American citizens. Also, it helps show how there is still racism today. A scene like this very well could have happened in the 1960’s as well as today. Another example of racism is against the Native American population. The entire staff of the hospital is talking about how dumb, def, and incapable Chief Brandman is while he is in the same room as them. This is important because a large majority of the Native American population knows that racism against their people is still as big of an issue today as it was in the 1960’s. Many are also upset that so much of the racism against other groups makes main media and is the bigger issue where actually all racism should be seen as the same huge problem (Zott). This book brings the racism to light so it cannot just be shoved into the corner and

“While the ward remains orderly and on schedule beneath the tyranny of Nurse Ratchet, the men are subdued and drugged beyond any human recognition. The patients are distinguished as either Acute or Chronic, depending on their severity, but within the ward at the very beginning of the novel, they are essentially equal in their actions and humanity” (Maupin-Thomas). This shows that Nurse Rachet is a dictator. The significance of this is in the 1950’s and 60’s is when the cold war was ramping back up. So, this book is a form of anti-Soviet Union propaganda, connecting tyrannical rule of the Soviet Union to nurse rachet. Another example of poor leadership is McMurphy, is essentially a child rapist, leading a bunch of crazy people. However, there is an important message in this that no matter what your circumstances you can be a great leader that has a huge effect on those around you, and in this case, it ends up being a beneficial effect that will save everyone in the