Literature Essay: One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest by K Kesey

It is suggested that Ken Keseys One Flew oer the goofballs Nest contains examples of demeanour and attitudes displayed by characters in spite of appearance the clinical environ handst of the psychiatric ward which andt end be comp ard to behaviour found within modern-day Ameri life order of magnitude. These include examples of loss drawship and hierarchy within a class or caste system of rules, sexism and crime and penalisation.In the text, the theme of leadership is very bounteous and important to the story. Arguably it is more important theme of the book, than the issue of mental illness, which forms the setting and the core of the novel.The leader figure in the ward is enlarged Nurse, who has complete control over the ward. Any decisions that argon make over a affected role or with feigns the streak of the ward essential go through and through Big Nurse first. She is seen by the Chief as macrocosm almost mechanical in her approach to her running of the wardShes got that bag mount of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties today-wheels and gears, cogs habilimented to a hard glitter(10)The ward is run by her to a very strict passing(a) routine, which is almost fanatically neurotic in its precision and dedication. Chief describes Big Nurses devotion to her daily routineThe slightest thing messy or out of kilter in whatever way ties her into a little white knot of tight-smiled fury (27)When McMurphy enters the ward, the delicate equilibrium which the nurse has created is upset. This is because, equal the nurse, McMurphy is a natural leader-figure. He takes over the control of the ward by manipulating the patients seemingly for their own correct, but it may be argued that he gets a feeling a control from being a leader over a large group of people.This may be a feeling of control and indi toilettet which has previously been absent in his life for some reason.We atomic number 18 told, early in the book, of McMurphys admission pri ce to the ward doctor about his conviction for raping a fifteen year old girl, and his un pass oningness to jazz that he had committed a crimeSaid she was s neverthelessteen, Doc, and she was plenty willin so willin, in fact, I took to sowing my knee pants up (40)This could also be argued for Big Nurse What is her motive for her total dedication to the romp? It is contingent that she also relishes the feeling of control over the patients in her care which her job allows.She knows that she has absolute role over every patient in her care The power to change any of her patients lives forthwith wherever she might see fit.Such behaviour washbowl also be seen in contemporary society in an environment much(prenominal) as a schoolThe school is a good example because it has a central leader in the position of the head teacher. The head teacher has full responsibility over every individual within the school, and also sets the rules and regulations which everyone in that particular sc hool essential obey.If a member of the school burst outs any of the rules, the head teacher will decide an appropriate penalisation. mend the head teacher is answerable to the Governing Board of the school, they inactive have the most power and representation over the school.It butt joint also be shown within a large corporation with the position of a Managing Director. All other staff in the company are directly answerable to him. The Managing Director has the power to hire new staff, and also to make staff redundant. But, again, he is answerable to the owner of the company and perapproachure the shareholders so he mint never have total power in his positionThis can be contrasted with Big Nurse She is, in theory, answerable to the Management Board of the hospital, and even to the doctors who work on the ward. But she appears to have the most control over the daily running of the ward, as if she were senior to the doctors, even though, in fact, she is only a nurse. She see ms to have total and complete authority over every someone in the ward.The theme of leadership does not mirror the outside world very accurately, as in contemporary society a leader of a society or an organisation is almost eternally accountable to a person senior to him. This is not seen in the novel, as Big Nurse seems to be answerable to no one, in fact, it is arguable that everyone answers to her.A hierarchy or class system operates in spite of appearance the ward which can be distinctly seen throughout the course of the novel. Patients living within the ward are classed according to the state of their mental health or to the condition of which they suffer from. Chief describes the method of shrewd patients from one anotherAcross the room from the Acutes are the Chronics Not in the hospital, these, to get fixed, but to keep them walking the streets (17)Patients are divided into two categories of Acutes & ChronicsChronics are those patients who have a condition which is untr eatable, machines with flaws which cannot be repaired (17) and can only be controlled with medical methods. They will spend the rest of their lives wrong the ward of the hospital. Patients who are seen as being plausibly to recover from their illness, and will return to society.Acutes are those patients e.g. Harding, who are seen as being likely to recover from their illness, and will return to society.Chronics can either have full use of their bodies or can be again sub-categorised into Wheelers and Vegetables Those whose movement is impaired to such an extent, they can only move by being pushed around in wheelchairs. Vegetables are patients who, through excessive ECT violate Shop (18) or through the overperscription of tranquillising medicationsEllis is a chronic came in an Acute and got fouled up bad when they overloaded him in the Shock Shop (18)When McMurphy enters the ward, he assumes the role of a leader over all of his fellow patients in the ward. McMurphy has a strong, i ntelligent character and so he is able to manipulate others who are more vulnerable than he is. An example of his manipulation is when he shows some playing cards with pornographic photographs on them to CheswickI brought on my own deckFifty-two positions. Cheswick is pop-eyed alreadythose cards dont help his condition. (16)Personality types which can be seen in contemporary society can also be seen very clearly with regard to the characters in the ward settingMcMurphys character is a rebel character who hates authority and exacting figures. This is, perhaps, why he clashes so fiercely with Big Nurse.Chief is the veteran of the ward. He has been there the longest, since the mystify of World War II, with the exception of Big Nurse. He has the mutual respect of everyone in the ward.Billy Bibbit is unsteady and has a stutter. His name is ironic in that it resembles a stutter when said. His problems have probably been cause by his swaggering mother, who was very protective and spok e for him whenever possible.In a large group of individuals, these personalities are often seen A rebel character who goes against the system is almost always present in a class inside a school A veteran who has gained the respect of everyone in that particular grouping A person who is lacking in confidence, often reluctant to speak out.Today, in contemporary society, a class system is still very much a part of everyday life. People are classed on wealth, view and employment. Discrimination can also exist between classes lower classes finding higher(prenominal) classes snobbish and elitist higher classes perhaps seeing lower classes as common and uneducated.The book mirrors hierarchy in contemporary society very well, as it shows different personality types and differentiates between the different classes of people within it very clearly and accurately. However, it does not show discrimination between the different classes which exists today in contemporary society and is instead important to the structure of modern societies.The issues of Sexism and Sexuality are also raised within the book. Although they do not feature so prominently as the themes of Leadership and Hierarchy, they are nevertheless very important to the behaviour of the characters.Taking the theme of sexism in the text, women are placed into two distinct stereotypical types. They are envisioned as either whores, sluts or nymphomaniac wives or the book goes to the other extreme where women are held as fissiparous machines. This view is very important when referring to Big Nurse.The prostitutes that appear during McMurphys fishing trip are a good example of the first way the book describes women. They are shown as amoral, trivialising sex so that it is seen only as a meaningless business transaction. It is also made clear of the loss of McMurphys at the age of nineThe first girl ever drug me to bed wore that same dress. I was about tenTaught me how to love, bless her sweet ass (201)Rucklys wife is another example of this such view of women as adulteresses. Ruckly has had an unsuccessful lobotomy, making him rather mentally unstable. The text portrays him very sympathetically, so the lector empathises with his character from the outsetThey brought him back to the ward two weeks lateryou can see by his look how they burned him up in there (18)Ruckly had found out that his wife had been seeing other men Every time she is mentioned he remembers what she did to himMemory whispers someplace in that jumbled machineryHe turns red and veins wooden shoe upFffffffuck da wife Ffffffuck da wife (19)This is not the only unfavourable way women are portrayed in the novel. Big Nurse is shown as a hardened and rather sterile asexual character. A mistake was made in manufacturing, putting those big, womanly breasts on herand you can she how bitter she is for it (11)Whenever she is describe by Chief, her attributes are likened to a piece of machinery which is cold and unfeeling. It app ears that she is so dedicated to the ward that she is married to the job and sexual relationships have no place in her plan. It is arguable that this is why she becomes so wild when she discovers McMurphys relations with the prostitutes towards the end of the book.Today, in contemporary society, the view sometimes is still held that women inferior to men. They can be seen as incapable of carrying out work, and should stay at home to look after the children. Although the advent of feminism has almost vanquished these male chauvinist attitudes, women can still be stereotyped as above as whores or nymphomaniacs or, like Big Nurse frigid, asexual and cold. It can be seen, thus, the text of One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest shows sexism in contemporary society accurately.Finally, the issues of crime and punishment are raised throughout the book and are very important from the outset and ultimately to the finish of the story. The ward, like the society outside, is run on a system of sanct ions and rewards which are allocated according to a patients behaviour.Punishments may be issued, by Big Nurse, for unwillingness to co-operate with the daily routine or with the staff. Punishments include ECT , the removal of privileges such as cigarettes or more serious, repeat offenders as a concluding resort, a lobotomy. A patient could also be sent to Disturbed, in effect a hospital within a hospital where a patient could be sent to recover from an outburst and they will return to the ward when Big Nurse sees fit.A lobotomy is a surgical procedure in which the pre-frontal lobes of the brain are either removed or destroyed. This was thought to pacify aggressive patients, but in practise, it transformed them into inactive individualsThe installations they do these days are usually successfula success they affirmlike Ruckly fumbling and drooling all over his picture (18-19)Rewards were also issued to by the establishment of the ward Patients were fork up a ration of cigarettes every week, but this was stopped when McMurphy arrived in the ward as he used to win the others cigarettes from them in gambling card games.It is arguable that the security of the hospital could be seen as a reward. Patients, who through the result of their mental illness could not cope in the outside world and hire the constant daily routine to feel secure and safe.Contemporary society has a system of rules, laws and legislations which must be followed to be a member of that society. Society also has the power, like the ward to issue sanctions for those who break the rules.Although many countries have abolished the use of corporal or big(p) punishment for serious crimes, North the States is one such a country where, depending on the state, a person may face gravid punishment by lethal injection, electric chair or gas chamber. The ward applies corporal punishment in the form of the ECT and it may be argued that a lobotomy is a form of capital punishment because the patient has l ittle or no quality of life left after the procedure, so they might as well have been killed.Ken Keseys One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest mirrors, in the behaviour of its characters, contemporary society very accurately and can still be relied on, as a contemporary text, an accurate display of the treatment of patients within a mental hospital today.