There are three major themes in Ken Kesey's One
Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest:
Individual vs.
Society
Much of the plot revolves around
McMurphy's struggles against Nurse Ratched, who is dictatorial in her occupation. From
the time that he arrives, McMurphy challenges the "democracy" of her group therapy in
which she sadistically renders punishments later to those who speak out. For Kesey, the
society of the institution became a microcosm of contemporary society in which
conformity, too, was a means of upholding law and
order.
Sanity and
Insanity
In portraying the sane McMurphy's
conflicts in the Acute/Chronic Ward, Kesey questions what is truly
insane? When McMurphy asks some of the male patients why they have
self-committed, one of them, Billy Bibbit, replies that he does not have the "guts" to
get along in outside society. However, Nurse Ratched exacerbates Billy's condition by
demeaning him and undermining his confidence, rather than trying to build it. These
actions suggest that an authoritarian society wishes people to weakly conform and
dehumanize.
Sacrifice
McMurphy's
war against Nurse Ratched is lost as she has him lobotomized. However, his rebellion
against conformity inspires the other men. The Chief
narrates,
She
tried to get her ward back into shape, but it was difficult with McMurphy's presence
still tromping up and down the halls and laughing out loud in the meetings and singing
in the latrines. She couldn't rule with her old power any more, not by writing things
on pieces of paper. She was losing her patients one after the other. After hrding
signed out and was picked up by this wife, and George transferred to a different ward,
just three of us were left out of the group tht had been on the fishing crew, myself and
Martini and Scanlon.Recurring images of shock patients
and patients under seizure in positions of one who has been crucified reinforce this
theme.
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