One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest vs. the Breakfast Club

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey in 1962. This novel takes place in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. The Breakfast Club is a comedy-drama film written and directed by John Hughes in 1985. The story takes place in a high school as five teenagers spend a Saturday in detention together. While One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest takes place in a liberal era and The Breakfast Club takes place during a more conservative era, both convey the same message about living up to society’s expectations and dealing with the pressures of society. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest takes place in a mental ward in Oregon. This place is much like a microcosm, or a world in miniature. The authority figure, Nurse Ratched enforces rules and abuses her power. Randle McMurphy, a boisterous man with much self confidence and a humorous personality, otherwise known as the wise-guy hero, tries to reform the institution by rebelling against authority. While he tries to rebel against authority, his humorous personality also enlightens the patients and the ward in general. However, Nurse Ratched is not comfortable with this at all because she feels that McMurphy is a manipulator. Her controlling personality tends to clash with his easy going personality. As Nurse Ratched tries to enforce the rules, McMurphy is ready to rebel against them. Over the course of the novel, McMurphy turns the hospital ward into a place of rebellion. Throughout his short stay at the hospital, McMurphy forms close friendships with two patients at the ward: Billy Bibbit, a child like man with a speech impediment, whom Ratched turned into a suicidal mess, and Chief Bromden, who fools everyone into thinking he is deaf and dumb. Bromden often enters a “fog” in order to escape reality. However, Bromden states that it was not him that began acting deaf; it was society that
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