Examples Of Conformity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel that features Randle McMurphy as an unscrupulous anti-hero in a mental hospital ward. Harrison Bergeron is a short story that highlights the main character, Harrison Bergeron, as an anti-hero in a fully dystopian society. McMurphy can be classified as charismatic and charming at times, but is very rebellious and wants to suppress his arch nemesis, Nurse Ratched. Harrison Bergeron has an unmatched obsession for overthrowing the government which attempts to suppress individual talents and people’s unique abilities. Both Randle McMurphy and Harrison Bergeron are what are known as unscrupulous anti-heroes.

In this modern age of fluctuating self-esteem and an overwhelming desire for acceptance from the highly critical surrounding society, every person in some way, shape, or form seeks to embed themselves into a niche where they can find solace and a place of belonging. Society’s opinions of its members very often leave a lasting impact on a person, in which they internally impede their true selves as a result of society’s critique. One Flew Times the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey explores this phenomenon, where a group of mental health patients are continually handicapped and constrained by the controlling psychiatric hospital that surrounds them. Throughout the course of the novel, there is a main motif of what it means to be a rabbit versus a wolf.

The book written by Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, takes place in a mental hospital during the 1960’s where the nurse, Miss Ratched, is in charge. She treats her patients poorly and even goes as far as prescribing them with electroshock therapy and lobotomy. Because of this atmosphere on the ward, most patients live life in what the author describes as a fog. They do the same things everyday and aren’t really living, but are kinda just there. Eventually a man named McMurphy decides to do something about it despite the problems it causes for himself.

Peril of Conformity Society often portrays a certain stereotype that people tend to become in order to be accepted; presently conformity pushes people to their breaking point, supporting the idea that conformity can be a dangerous force. The 1950’s, when Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, were full of conformity, judgment and suspicion due to the United States being involved in the Cold War. Anyone who acted of out the “norm” was viewed with distrust. People began to question forces with great power, therefore questioning conformity.

Harding then states “perhaps the more insane a man is, the more powerful he could become” which supports Kesey’s suggestion. Many of the patients stay at the hospital voluntarily out of fear of the outside world and the

‘Challenging the status quo is not always a good idea.’ Discuss with reference to Ken Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’. Breaking conformity and the strict rules of an oppressive power does not always lead to freedom and liberation often ending instead in further suppression as displayed through Ken Kesey’s novel ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’. Kesey uses an extensive range of literary techniques to display the negative and harmful consequences of defiance against the conventions of a dominant society. Nurse Ratched has created her idea of a functional society and punishes patients when they do not fit this mold, stripping them of their individuality.

In the movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, we see various types of psychological events at work in the Oregon psychiatric hospital. We see phenomenons like attitudes, conformity, obedience and more in the actions of the patients and even nurses of this hospital. One of the biggest themes in this movie is that of conformity or even nonconformity, which is exemplified in the hot-headed lady's man, R.P. McMurphy. Through his interactions with the other patients, guards, and nurses, we see a change in everyone around him as well as some personal changes in Mac himself. I will plan to address these phenomenons and use examples from the movie.

In today’s society the general attitude towards an individual is conform or be an outcast. It is seen in schools where people who do not fit into specific cliques become outcasts, the weird people. It is seen in the work place as well. People have conformed to standards set by society simply because society has said to do so. Society asks people to change themselves to fit in.

Devin Lunsky Period 4 Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is about a criminal who is sent to a psych ward for an evaluation, but ends up developing strong and meaningful relationships with the men on the ward who turn him into a better person. One interesting part the book is that it has many different people. There are more than 30 people on the ward who develop the story. It can be hard to keep track of the different people, however, each person is used to highlight problems that Ken Kesey felt needed to be talked about such as racism, homophobia, sexism, and the treatment of mental health patients. R.P. McMurphy’s developing relationships in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with the numerous patients on the ward depicts the evolution of everyone’s identity to show how McMurphy changes the dynamic of the ward, which Ken Kesey uses to take a closer look at problems he sees in the world at the time.

The movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” gives an inside look into the life of a patient living in a mental institution; helping to give a new definition of mental illnesses. From a medical standpoint, determinants of mental illness are considered to be internal; physically and in the mind, while they are seen as external; in the environment or the person’s social situation, from a sociological perspective (Stockton, 2014). Additionally, the movie also explores the idea of power relations that exist between an authorized person (Nurse Ratched) and a patient and further looks into the punishment a deviant actor receives (ie. McMurphy contesting Nurse Ratched). One of the sociological themes that I have observed is conformity.

The Beat Generation of the 1950’s and early 1960’s encouraged a new lifestyle for young Americans striving for individualism and freedom, which included rock and roll music, long hair, relaxed style attire, vegetarianism, and experimenting with drugs (“Beat Movement”). Many young Americans of this era wanted to experiment with new social and cultural concepts, rebelling against “normal” American life. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, portrays the gruesomeness of conformity through the lives of patients in one of the asylum’s wards. The novel shows how the patients are confined to strict rules and limited freedom because of Nurse Ratched’s power.

As the men drive towards the ocean, they stop at a gas station so they can make the trek. The workers at the station immediately belittle the men as they are from the mental institution (therefore, they are insane). McMurphy leaves an argument with an attendant and runs to a store “to pick up some refreshments for the men” (202). He returns with alcohol and the men start drinking. After the confrontation, the service station workers comply with the requests of the

Forcing people to follow a societal norm is detrimental to the health of the mind and body. The struggle between conformers and non conformers creates a schism in society. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey asserts the overarching importance of individuality through the use of a conflict between the patients and the nurse as a microcosm of society. In the novel, the delusions of the narrator create a surreal world that reveals a strong message on the nature of conformity.

In the book “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” Ken Kesey shows that the “insanity” of the patients is really just normal insecurities and their label as insane by society is immoral. This appears in the book concerning Billy Bibbits problem with his mom, Harding's problems with his wife, and that the patients are in the ward

At the end, the protagonist is surgically operated to make him mentally deranged. The nurse and the department were certain that McMurphy was faking insanity, but they agreed that he was dangerous. The nurse, in spite of discharging him, kept him on the premises to undo the wave of excitement he brought to the asylum