One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Due to college coming around the corner, I decided to choose a book, for this report, that would be linked to an interest of mine. I've always been fascinated by the inner workings of the brain and the environment around it, and what better of a book than Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Although I have been told that this book is a depressing novel(and a dry one at that), I have also been told that this book is one of the few I should read in my lifetime. The book is a fictional tale, loosely based on an experience Kesey had at a hospital in Eugene, Oregon. The entire book takes place in an asylum in Oregon, except for two chapters on an excursion to the docks, during the mid-fifties.

The story is told from the narrative of Chief Bromden, who has trained the entire faculty and inmates to believe he is deaf and dumb. Due to his "inability" to hear, many discussions between the nurses and aides are clearly observed by Bromden. After witnessing everything from the electroshock therapy and the lobotomies that have occurred over the past ten years, a new kind of inmate steps in with the ability to change the entire ward. Randal McMurphy, a red-haired nut-case, creates havoc in the ward, but utilizes it to free the inmates from the Catch-22 situation created by the cold-hearted Nurse Ratched.

The thing I liked about this book was that Ken Kesey does a great job of analyzing how the human mind works, and how society treats the individual. Kesey tries his hardest to show that a Catch-22 arises out of the parameters we call life: only a sane man would question authority and those who fight society are deemed insane. Though the book could be quite dry at times and superfluous (two chapters about a fishing trip for 50 pages?), the overall message of the passages and the intent of each character is well stated and designed. Kesey also does a good job of incorporating humor and sexuality into the novel.

My favorite character throughout the entire book was Bromden. Although he suffers from extreme schizophrenia and dementia, including hallucinations about fog machines in the hospital, he is the most accurate depiction of the hospital. His "deaf" ears happen to hear things that no other patient would, and he has witnessed every part of the ward, from the room where the staff has their meetings to the electroshock room. Kesey created a deep character, utilizing flashbacks at very appropriate times, to create the emotionally difficult Bromden, who, after suffering the loss of his tribe and watched his father turn into an alcoholic at the hands of his controlling white wife, is able to try and question authority without being as outspoken as McMurphy.

Ken Kesey is an interesting character. Throughout his years, he wrote many famous books, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Right Stuff. After graduating from University of Oregon with a degree in journalism, he volunteered for the CIA's "Project Multra," which resulted in Kesey's mass intake of psychedelic drugs, including LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and DMT. Kesey's involvement with the drugs led to a habit of throwing big parties known as "acid tests" and inviting (in the future) famous acts, like the Grateful Dead, to play with the drugs and entertain the drugged-out guests. Kesey was once arrested for drug-possession and faked his own suicide to avoid the police. After escaping from Mexico and returning to the open arms of the police he lived the rest of his life in seclusion. He died in November of 2001 from complications with surgery on the cancerous growth in his liver.