Flew Over the Cuckoo\'s Nest

¶ … FLEW OVER the CUCKOO'S NEST

The book One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey provides a vivid but very depressing account of mental illness, especially the way mental illness was treated in the time period of the book (written in 1962). The narrator is clearly the most important character in the novel. He is a very large man called "Chief" because of his Native American heritage. He pretends to be deaf and mute throughout his entire life in the mental institution, a ruse that he adopted as a way of avoiding any hassles or problems, especially with the staff. The depth of his thoughts and observations presents a vivid contrast with his external persona in the novel. Chief explains that there are three types of patients in the facility: the "acutes," the "chronics," and the "vegetables."

Chief is especially struck by the character of Randle McMurphy, a criminal convict who is also feigning mental illness. In his case, the metal institution is an easier way of doing time than incarceration in a penal institution where he would have had to work as part of his penal sentence. However, McMurphy does not realize that the staff has the authority to retain him longer than his original criminal sentence and he only finds this out very late in the story after he has already antagonized the staff and broken institutional rules repeatedly and with impunity as thought there would be no consequences to him.

Chief is amused by McMurphy but he also reveals that he admires him for his courage and indomitable spirit that also reminds him of his father. Like McMurphy, Chief's father stood up against the authorities on principles of fairness and right and wrong. Despite the fact that Chief is a towering man, he reveals that he feels like a small person and that it is McMurphy who makes him feel bigger again.

McMurphy's most heated conflicts are with the character of Nurse Ratched who is regarded by Chief as the Big Nurse. His position as a janitor (as well as his pretending to be deaf and mute, of course) enable him to eavesdrop on the staff meetings without arousing their suspicions. It is through this opportunity that the novelist reveals the extent to which Nurse Ratchet actually dominates the rest of the staff as much as she dominates the daily lives of the patients. In some ways, she represents the hypocrisy of mental institutions, especially in that day and age. Specifically, the outward appearance of the institution and of all of its employees (including the nurses) is perfectly clean and sanitary and (as represented by the white uniforms), innocence. Nurse Ratched, in particular, is polite and proper to a fault and obviously masking the true dark nature of her character. In reality, Ratchet is cold-hearted person who deliberately enforces arbitrary decisions and rules even though she has the authority to make relatively meaningless and harmless adjustments that would improve the daily life and circumstances of her patients.