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  • Essay / Kesey's take on the dichotomy of society in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'

    In a perfect world, every man, woman and child are slightly unique but more or less exactly the same. to each other. However, we do not live in a perfect world, we live in a world with many imperfections. Imperfections are looked down upon and significant steps are taken to “correct” them. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, written by Ken Kesey, people with these "imperfections" are sent to a medical ward and are absent from society because they are different. For the service to eliminate differences between patients, deception and misdirection are used as elements of influence. However, Kesey is not subtle in the way he presents the room's motivations and hides the influential effects in the fog and machine motifs. The fog motif serves to force patients to adapt to society, while the machinery motif aims to transform and "fix" patients so that they fit in and do not stand out. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayFog is the phenomenon that gives one a mental sanctuary where one can escape from the world. In the novel, the fog was used by patients as a refuge from the cruelty of the ward. For example, on several occasions, Chief Bromden moves away from reality due to his fear of acting against the neighborhood's policies or because of the pain caused by the neighborhood's "treatments." The novel itself begins as the Chief indulges in the fog to numb the pain caused by the three assistants and Nurse Ratched. Not only the chief, but also all the other patients use the fog as a refuge because they “can slip into it and feel safe” (Kesey 123). Additionally, the fog keeps patients in a stunned state, which benefits the department. The fog satisfies patients, thus reducing the risk of rebellion against the service, or symbolically against society. Additionally, when McMurphy arrives in the ward, he brings all the patients out of the fog and shows the patients that reality is much safer than the twisted consciousness maintained by the fog. As the surrounding fog clears, Bromden and the other patients begin to realize that the hospital treats patients inhumanely and they become more self-aware. By means of the mechanical motif, Kesey exposes how society manipulates its actions “to do what [society] thinks.” [s] [he or she] should do” (Kesey 210). In the novel, Nurse Ratched and the aides personify the mechanism for achieving normalcy throughout the ward. However, normality has been achieved through harsh and extreme measures. For example, two patients, Chief Bromden and Randle McMurphy, are sent to receive several sessions of electroshock therapy that can have fatal consequences because these patients defended another service member who refused to be rubbed with a manner ratified by the room. Another situation in which electric shock therapy is used as a means of suppression is when a patient named Maxwell Taber asks for information about the medication he is prescribed. The electric shock sessions had such an impact on him that once finished, he became completely docile and was quickly dismissed from the ward to acclaim from Nurse Ratched herself. To the list of disciplinary measures imposed on Nurse Ratched is added lobotomy. McMurphy's lobotomy procedure was successful because he.