The One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Words: 1211
Pages: 5

The distinctive and enduring themes expressed by authors within their texts are developed through their condemnation of the society and thus, aim to appraise readers of the true nature of their own society. This is particularly true within “The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest” by Ken Kesey. In the book, satire and supplementary literary devices serves to encourage a heightened understanding of impermanent conventions of mainstream society and contemporary issues of Ken Kesey’s cultural context. Kesey’s discussion of these issues, including conformity, freedom, individuality and identity within society confronts reader’s understanding of the themes and morals explored in The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest and moreover alters the reader’s …show more content…
As a result, he is given access to many conversions, endowing him with a unique perspective as a narrator of the book. “I had to keep acting deaf if I wanted to hear it all” highlights the literary device of paradox which reinforces that “being cagey, helped [him] all these years.” His dehumanization is further developed through Nurse Ratched who runs the psychiatric ward, however McMurphy’s bold defiance of the hospital’s power structures serves as a catalyst for Bromden, awakening his own individuality and identity. Nevertheless as a result of losing his sanity and attacking Nurse Ratched, Mcmurphy is subjected to lobotomy. Irony is shown as it was Mcmurphy who brought Chief Bromden’s individuality and logic back and now he is subjected to the same illness that was fallaciously believed to plague the chief. By comparing and contrasting reality with suppositions about reality, the readers are provoked into thinking about the symbolic Christ-like figure of McMurphy and if his sacrifice …show more content…
Immediately, from the title of the novel “The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” it is foreshadowed that there will be an escape or a link to freedom illustrated by the cuckoo long been a symbol of new fate and conditions within the lives of humans. Foreshadowing is reinforced at the beginning of the novel, during the Chief’s narration, “It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen”. The chief’s narration implies that he is reflecting on past events, suggesting that he has attained his freedom. The literary use of foreshadowing not only piques a reader’s desire to continue the novel or creating suspense, but also makes readers contemplate about the significant incidents or events in the novel. Kesey uses mechanical imagery to represent modern society’s systematic, machine like repression of humanity’s urges and desires through symbols such as “The fog” and “The Combine”. The quote “you had a choice: you could either strain and look at things that appeared in front of you in the fog, painful as that might be, or you could relax and lose yourself” demonstrates that Bromden has mentally given up control to the hospital. However, as his self-awareness of the hospital grows, the surrounding fog dissipates and consequently he is free and able to