Jacqueline Hein Hein 1Fay20th Century Lit.May 2014Who is the cuckoo?The rules are good. Rules prevent bad people from doing incredibly horrible things. But sometimes it seems like the rules our society has set for us are only meant to suppress what shouldn't be suppressed. Rules that say “you have to look this way” or “act like this or you’re weird.” Creativity, individuality and freedom can be considered crazy. This conflict between normality and madness is explored in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Society is presented as a ruthless machine that forces everyone to conform to its narrow rules. With rules that deem people unworthy, all individuality is squeezed out of people and the natural, joyful expressions of life are suppressed. Ken Kesey asks his readers a question: are society's rules for us accompanied by malicious intent? In the hospital ward, where most of the book takes place, the representative of society is the Big Nurse, or Nurse Ratchet. At first glance, she appears to be just another honest person trying to help her patients, but upon closer inspection we can see the repression she represents. She embodies order, efficiency, repression and tyranny. She acts as the rules of our society do. You always have to “repair” those Hein 2s that don’t fit into your model. This becomes evident when Nurse's tactics are presented. Rather than seeking a cure for patients and offering them the assistance they need, the nurse responds by using invasive lobotomies, electroshock therapies, and group "therapy sessions" that resemble more of a " pecking party” to harm the masculinity of patients undergoing treatment. her (Kesey 27). As we saw during the therapy session with Harding, the nurse targeted his greatest insecurity...... middle of paper ......ion or out of fear, he has hallucinations that drift around the room. Although it can be scary at times, the leader considers the fog a safe place; he can hide there and ignore reality. Beyond what it means for this one character, the fog represents the state of mind that Ratched imposes on patients with her strict, mind-numbing routines and treatments. When McMurphy arrives, he brings a new perspective to the men and frees them from the fog. Overall, this novel aims to show us how society can restrict us without us knowing. If we allow it, we will become like the "mental" patients in Nurse Ratched's ward; ignorant conformists, who don't question the horrible way they are treated. So really, who are the crazy people? People who may act a little weird, or those who look at us all and judge who is fit enough to be accepted as normal.?