George Orwell s One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest

Grace Wang Period 3 Humanities V 4/17/2015 Defending Controversial Novels Essay Draft Kesey Flew East, His Critics Fly West: They’ve All Missed the Merit in the Cuckoo’s Nest â€Å"There s something about taking a plow and breaking new ground. It gives you energy† (Kesey qtd. in Sova 244). This energy, however, comes with a cost, as demonstrated by Kesey’s revolutionary novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the process of writing the book, Kesey embarked with ambitious goal of ultimately reshaping American society’s approach to established institutions. Never before had a major American work illustrated conformity in American medical consortiums in such a subversive manner, and even the â€Å"Seismic Sixties† during which Cuckoo’s Nest was published saw the novel’s acclaim balanced with pointed criticism. Today, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is taught nationwide, and each year millions of high school students submerse themselves in the story of Chief Bromden and Randle McMurphy. Both these men are patients at a mental ward in Oregon, Bromden being an Indian chief who is assumed deaf and dumb by the other patients and narrates the novel, and McMurphy being the coarse, rebellious, gambling man who comes to the ward with a marked intention of defying rules and establishing a dominant presence. Until McMurphy’s arrival Nurse Ratched runs the ward with precision and a subtle force, combining with the organization of the Combine to completely control the lives of the patients. TheShow MoreRelatedGeorge Orwell s 1984 And One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest1675 Words   |  7 Pagesbecause it relates to both 1984 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Fear is used in both of these stories to discipline the domestic population and ends up being effective. These two novels are ran by totalitarian like structures. The characters are under a certain person s rule, creating the totalitarian government. In these societies, fear is used to gain power in these governments. The manipulation of fear is used in both 1984 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in the manner of w hich the authoritariansRead More A Tale of Four Novels1596 Words   |  7 Pagesseeks to exterminate the bourgeoisie in order to gain freedom and get revenge at the same time. The central theme of man’s search for power is present in A Tale of Two Cities and is recurring in many works of literature including Hamlet, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and 1984. In A Tale of Two Cities the primary conflict is the revolution in which the proletariat aim to overthrow the bourgeoisie in an effort to gain freedom as they are oppressed and in a state of poverty. Dickens has previously stated