Most affluent Americans like to feel philanthropic. Many of us privileged people enjoy this feeling because we feel like we are truly improving the world by giving to those “less fortunate.” Yet many “successful” Americans secretly look down on people who are “less fortunate,” calling them “lazy” or “selfish.” After all, why should we share? We have worked hard to achieve the status we have achieved. Why should we care about other people's children? Or why don't we care about these sad situations? Where do our notions of charity come from? One source might be a simple board game – a board game interestingly used by the great novelist Ken Kesey in The Hippie Bible that he wrote in 1962 to teach readers about how he viewed the American way of life. Kesey inserts the game of Monopoly as a central symbol in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because it signifies society and the corrupt desire for absolute power. Kesey strategically includes Monopoly in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, not to be overlooked by readers, but to illustrate society's greed. To start Monopoly, players must select a “banker”. Because the banker is responsible for paying the players every time they pass “Go” and also collecting the money when the players buy a property, house or hotel; the banker is very respected. Each player chooses a piece to represent themselves on the board. Then they are given $1,500 to supposedly start the game fairly, but in reality the banker has a slight advantage over the others because they start the game. When it's a player's chosen turn, they roll the dice, which is just a coincidence. Throughout the game, you purchase title deeds and houses or hotels to place on “your property” to gain control. If a...... middle of paper...... deliberately brutal, the game can become. Ken Kesey knew he would get his main idea of ​​the true distortion of society using the Monopoly symbol. Statistically, by gaining control and power, people feel hope, freedom, and more pleasure in their lives than without it. Without a sense of control, people become more susceptible to disorders and develop more stress in their lives. Unfortunately, there is only one “winner” with many “losers” in Monopoly and also in society. Works Cited Kesey, Ken. One of them flew over a cuckoo's nest. New York: Signet, 1962. Print. Landau, Sidney I., ed. The New Webster International Collegiate Dictionary. Naples: Trident International, 2002. Print. Larson, Reed. “IS THE FEELING “IN CONTROL” LINKED TO EVERYDAY HAPPINESS? Ammons scientific. AmSci. Internet. November 16. 2011. .