One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest “If it feels good, do it. » This is a quote that many people in the 1960s lived by and tried to use in their daily lives. It was a time of rebellion and change in the United States. Many young citizens turned against their parents' way of life and decided that things needed to change. They felt intense rage over the Vietnam War and that’s when the rebellion began. Many young people turned to radical politics, wore hippie clothing, used drugs, and had extremely liberal sexual attitudes. They believed “the man,” or the government wanted to overthrow them and try to silence their opinions. During this time, the government also placed people who had crazy opinions in mental hospitals. They used strange and damaging forms of treatment on these patients, such as frontal lobotomy and electroshock therapy. It was a time of change in the United States and you can see Ken Kesey's perspective through his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Ken Kesey, “The Intrepid Traveler” The late author Ken Kesey was born September 17, 1935. and died November 10, 2001. He is the author of numerous works, including Zoo, Caverns and the most popular Flight Over 'a cuckoo's nest. He is an author recognized internationally and across generations. He began writing his now famous novel in the early 1960s after an experience that year. He worked nights at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Menlo Park, Virginia. He had the opportunity to speak with some of the patients and began to form his own opinions about them. He didn't believe they were crazy, but rather that they were expelled from society because they didn't fit conventional ideas of how people were s...... middle of paper .. .... the institution gives the reader confidence in its reliability and thinks that he knows exactly what he is talking about. It is safe to say that the 1960s were a time of strong rebellion, change and forgetting of psychiatric services. Anything considered “different” or “strange” was overlooked and swept under the rug. This is why television shows such as Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie were so popular because they dissuaded people from the unhealthy truths of society, as they still do today. Ken Kesey took the path less traveled and exposed the world to what was really going on. The deplorable conditions of mental institutions, teenagers who wanted to rebel against the government, and conformity that just needed to be broken. That's why critics around the world agree that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of the most real, provocative and thought-provoking novels written in the last century...