Hey tribe, (or other random people on Tumblr)

So this is probably going to be my last "readingthework” blog post regarding One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but I still have a lot to say! In the end, I genuinely enjoyed my book, despite it being completely and utterly disturbing at times. As I’m moving forward with this project and am starting to look at some criticism surrounding OFOTCN, I thought I’d share with y’all some of the most exciting parts of the book/things I want to really look into.

1. Erasing masculinity. Something I found interesting within Kesey’s novel was the way he spoke about masculinity. He (Kesey) paints the head nurse as this overly overbearing, ball-cutting, and overall masculine character, making the other characters seem (and feel) inferior to her power.

2. Power complexes within society, aka what do we do to those who are different than us? (I touched on this in my last blog) but the question still stands. And the horrible tactics in order to “fix” these men may actually turn them more insane than when they entered the ward.

3. Find identity in a world trying to warp it. This is a weird one, but I found the Chief’s story very interesting. As you can see in my very first blogs, I had a difficult time trying to “figure out” the Chief, who narrates the story of OFOTCN. I know now that that is because the Chief has lost himself throughout his many years in the Ward. His last words (and also the last words of the novel) prove this - “I been away a long time.” The reader is left feeling hopeful that the Chief will begin to gather a sense of self again after escaping the psychiatric ward he was stuck in, which is an interesting move by Kesey to also end the novel this way as well. 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest opened my eyes to a puzzling but true phenomenon: how do people accept those who are different? Simple answer - they don’t. We force people with differences to conform to what the majority believes is acceptable. But what happens if there is resistance to that conformity? Take Randle P McMurphy, for instance.

McMurphy is a loud, brass, fiery redhead who is put in the psychiatric ward for rape. The moment he steps foot inside the ward, he has flipped it upside-down, From stirring up the Big Nurse, to organizing a fishing trip for the men in the ward, to even sneaking in prostitutes, McMurphy has never thought twice about pushing limits. The interesting thing, however, is not what McMurphy will do, but more so how he is treated once he begins pushing limitations of the ward. McMurphy is put through so many electroshock therapy sessions that it almost gets uncomfortable for the reader to sit and read through them. Why? Because the ward is trying to literally change McMurphy’s brainwaves in order to make him be more “normal” - not so brass and bold. When that doesn’t work and he “acts out” further, he is basically turned into a vegetable, as he is issued a lobotomy. That is so messed up! Kesey is using McMurphy in this instance as a metaphor for society to prove that people who are different than others in the way that they act are either forced to conform or is eliminated all together. 

The ending of the book the first time was quite nice but still a little sad. Mandella settles down on a planet far from earth to escape the alien world it has become to him after so long away from it. He has his wife to spend the rest of his wife with though. 

Ok haven’t been on tumblr in forever but I wanted to post about my final thoughts on my book, since I finally finished reading it. (Don’t judge me it was 600+ pages so it took me a bit). I wanted to post this when I was actually done with it and not shmoop it. So here goes.

The ending of the book is really sad. You actually hear what happens when Owen dies. The book has been building this up throughout its entirety. I gotta say though it was not amazing. He knew he would die saving Vietnamese orphans from a bomb, but you find out that it’s in an airport bathroom in Phoenix so not really in Vietnam. It’s still heroic and all, he saved a bunch of kids, but kinda anticlimatic. The part building up to the ending was just depressing. Johnny goes on to talk about Owen’s funeral and how he’s all depressed and angry with America. However, the ending did tie up some loose ends and we find out why certain things happened in the book. It’s further explained so at least that part is cleared up.

The last bit of the book also goes into life after Owen’s death. Johnny has two encounters where Owen has supposedly come back from the dead. This theme of resurrection is definitely brought up in the book several times. This part kinda confused me. It goes with our theme of religion and Owen being compared to Jesus, but I feel it’s unnecessary. Irving might have gone a bit too far with that one, kinda a stretch.

“I was trembling. My mother was a singer - in some joint! She was someone called ‘The Lady in Red’” (354)!