Examples Of Conformity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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Normality is, strictly speaking, no more than a set of standards for what is usual or typical. But what really is normal and who defines what this societal ideal of normality really is? And why do we, as human beings, really care whether or not we fit the archetype of what society tells us we should be? The concept of exploring mental health through the lens of normality and societal ideals interests me due to the complex nature of how the two interact, Being compelled to conform to society's idea of normality induces a loss of self-identity and suffocating pressure to adhere to predetermined expectations for how one should fit within society, leading to a conflict between one's internal expression of self-identity and outward conformity to …show more content…
The idea of a sense of self is to be able to not only understand but express every part of one’s identity. When even the most basic ability to have a sense of self is taken away, one is left with little more than an inward sense of questioning over who or what they truly are. This idea is characterized in Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the mental asylum where the novel takes place, patients are forced to conform to the will of their caretakers as they are essentially prisoners to them. Nurse Ratched, in every sense, attempts to squander any sort of self-identification in order to force conformity of the patients. A clear contrast to this suppression, however, is the characterization of McMurphy. A foil character by nature, McMurphy represents everything that the patients in the facility aren’t- confident, carefree, happy and capable of independent thought and emotion. McMurphy represents the person in a society who clearly deviates from the norm, showing little regard for how others view him or, in this case, the wrath of Nurse Ratched. McMurphy fails to outwardly conform to the desires of others, leading him to be the one character free of internal turmoil caused by their inward questioning of identity- the …show more content…
A sense of inherent differentness in childhood leads to a life where one has a lack of identity and is constantly in an internal struggle with their minds. Esther, from Plath’s The Bell Jar, is characterized largely by her experiences with severe depression, something she represents with the motif of a bell jar. Esther uses the bell jar largely as a metaphor for feelings of confinement and entrapment and for society at large. This bell jar initially descends upon Esther as a young woman as she struggles with the conflict between what she wants to become and what society tells her she should be but maintains hanging over her long after she is free from these expectations. Esther explains her fears, saying “how did I know that someday—at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere—the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn’t descend again?” (Plath). She has overcome her suicidal tendencies and she begins to connect with others and the world itself, but still feels the bell jar hovering above her, and worrying that it will descend once again. If one reads The Bell Jar as an autobiographical depiction of Plath’s life, Plath’s suicide in her early thirties confirms that the bell jar can descend again after Plath overcame a severe depressive
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