One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest Essay -- essays research papers

One Flew Over The Cuckoo&8217s NestThe significance of the title can be interpreted in this quote. The story is more or less a struggle in a psychiatric ward, where many &8220cuckoos reside, &8220Ting. Tingle, tingle, tremble toes, she&8217s a good fisherman, catches hens, puts &8216em in pens&8230 wire blier, limber lock, troika geese inna flock&8230 one flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo&8217s come on&8230 O-U-T spells out&8230 goose swoops down and plucks you out. This is where the title comes from, the cuckoo&8217s nest being the psychiatric ward and McMurphy being the goose who plucks &8220you out.The author of this book is Ken Kesey, also author of Demon Box and Sometimes a large(p) Notion. Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado. He graduated from the University of Oregon, and later studied a Stanford. Kesey was head of a group called The Merry Pranksters, who traveled around the body politic staging happenings. Kesey&8217s playful attitude is reflected in t he main character, McMurphy, who is very much pulling pranks in the psychiatric ward. The oppression of society is a big field in the novel. The narrator (Chief Bromden) often reflects on how the Combine is taking over. The Big Nurse is never happy unless there is complete order in her ward. She often holds group meetings, in which she belittles her patients to where they are merely rabbits, and not men. Often, when a patient would act inflammatory, she would place him in Disturbed. There was always the threat of Electro-shock therapy, and even lobotomy. The s money box way to get out of the ward was if you gave up your personality and conformed to her rules. Most of the patients who are in the ward were forced there because of the oppression they faced right(prenominal) of the hospital. Chief Bromden&8217s father was the chief of his village. The government was trying to push him off his land, and although he tried to maintain his way of life, his people were being bribed, and his wife would work on him too, until all he became was a drunk, inept man. Harding (another patient) committed himself because he couldn&8217t take society&8217s forefinger pointing at him, whilst millions chanted, &8220Shame, compassion, shame Even at the climax of the novel, McMurphy wasn&8217t acting on his own. &8220We could... ...night, have to crawl around on my hands and knees feeling underneath the springs till I find my gobs of gum stuck there. Nobody complains about the fog. I know why, now as bad as it is, you can slip back I it and fell safe. That&8217s what McMurphy can&8217t understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the abrupt where we&8217d be easy to get. &8211 Chief Bromden commenting on the fog. This quote illustrates the fog, which symbolizes confusion and naivete of the patients. Ignorance is bliss to these people and it&8217s hard for McMurphy to understand that.&8220Old Rawler. slim both his nuts off and bled to death, sitting right on the can in the latrine, half a dozen people with him didn&8217t know it till he fell off to the floor, dead. What makes people so impatient is what I can&8217t figure all the guy had to do was wait. &8211 Chief Bromden reflecting on the dead guy. This quote helps set the mood for the novel and many of the patients. They seem to possess a prison-like attitude, with scorn and cynicism. It also shows that the ward is not a keen place to live kind of depressing.