Over the Cuckoo's Nest

1099 Words5 Pages
Learning from the Birdies in the Cuckoo’s Nest The countercultural novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, which takes place in a mental ward in Oregon during the 1950’s, is about an observational, self-kept, deaf and dumb Native American named Chief Bromden who narrates the story from his neutral perspective, in order for the reader to distinguish between good and evil. This novel not only proved to be one of America’s most controversial, but bestselling novels. A series of chaotic events take place within the story, which in my opinion, is contributed by the fact that author Kesey wrote this novel during his LSD (drug experiment) trials at Stanford University. After its integration into lesson plans in public schools, this novel soon began to be challenged and/or banned left and right across the nation. ("Psychedelic 60s: Ken Kesey & the Merry Pranksters." (Psychedelic 60s). The story sets in with Chief Bromden observing while a new patient, Randle McMurphy, is admitted into the mental ward. McMurphy stirs up drama within the ward by introducing gambling, prostitution, and rebellion against the ruling Nurse Ratched. The chaos begins when McMurphy bets his inmates that he can drive the Big Nurse crazy without receiving lobotomy, shock therapy, or being locked up in solitude. McMurphy continuously belittles the Big Nurse unaware of the true power she possesses. After Nurse Ratched makes her control evident, McMurphy cowers down, but only for a short while. Shortly after things simmer down, McMurphy breaks into a drug cabinet, essentially spreading the blame between all the patients. Seriously agitated, the Big Nurse guilt trips one of the patients, Billy Bibbit, until he commits suicide. After this incident, McMurphy is blamed for the trouble, in which he retaliates by revealing Nurse Ratched’s breast, and even strangling her on an occasion.
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