Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over The CuckooÆs Nest, spent time working in a mental institutions in the days when what are now considered primitive and even abusive methods of treatment were in favor. However, where many saw only madness, Kesey saw a certain poetry and humanity in the lives of those confined within its walls. KeseyÆs novel revolves around a host of memorable characters, whose insanity at times seems more like rebellion to authority than clinically diagnosed mental illness. The theme of the novel illustrates that individual freedom is often in conflict with authority, and should one rebel against authority there is often a significant price paid.
KeseyÆs novel is populated by a variety of characters with various degrees of what might be considered ôabnormalö behavior. There is the narrator of the book, a silent, dignified, towering Indian named ôChiefö Bromden. Among the other characters are: A virginal, stuttering, paranoid boy-child named Billy Bibbit; an insecure and neurotic Charlie Cheswick, who lacks any degree of self-confidence; a sadistic and trouble-making Taber; an ineffectual, over-analytical man suffering a breakdown from his wifeÆs infidelity, Dale Harding. One of the characters that are most emblematic of KeseyÆs central theme is McMurphy, who is perceived as antisocial and institutionalized after an arrest for sleeping with a minor. McMurphy and head nurse Ratched participate in a battle of authority. He thwarts her authority every chance he gets, easily manipulating the others into following his lead. McMurphy, like Kesey, sees the poetic humanity in the other patients, but he despises Nurse RatchedÆs inhumane and rigid control of them. Ratched attempts to strip all identity and dignity from the others, but McMurphy instigates them to violate her authority. He has no illusions about her, and she views his behavior and what it inspires in the others as a complete threat to her au...