Review: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Posted: 22 May 2014, 19:44
I was assigned this is my literature class last month and just now finished it. This novel was very odd, but I can see why my teacher would have wanted me to read it. The book had some wonderful themes that make you just sit there and think, plus there so much symbolism going on in this book that a discussion on it could go on for hours.
(Spoilers)
This novels Protagonist and Main character are two different people. The protagonist is McMurphy and who the story is mainly about, but Chief is the one that we start and end with. McMurphy is the new guy on the mental ward, and he brings things to the oppressed that they forgot about, laughter, flirting, and singing whenever you please. He shows some of the guys that they aren't actually sick just oppressed, and when everything is said and done. Someone is a martyr and people are healed (mostly).
At times there were things in this novel that were hard to understand, like when Chief has his visions and hallucinations. Kesey doesn't make it obvious or gives any indication about whether they are real or not. So that made this book a slight turn off, because I kept expecting the book to end with none of this ever happening. That was a legitimate fear I had while reading.
I loved watching the healing process happen, so basically I loved the whole plot line of the book.
(Spoilers)
This novels Protagonist and Main character are two different people. The protagonist is McMurphy and who the story is mainly about, but Chief is the one that we start and end with. McMurphy is the new guy on the mental ward, and he brings things to the oppressed that they forgot about, laughter, flirting, and singing whenever you please. He shows some of the guys that they aren't actually sick just oppressed, and when everything is said and done. Someone is a martyr and people are healed (mostly).
At times there were things in this novel that were hard to understand, like when Chief has his visions and hallucinations. Kesey doesn't make it obvious or gives any indication about whether they are real or not. So that made this book a slight turn off, because I kept expecting the book to end with none of this ever happening. That was a legitimate fear I had while reading.
I loved watching the healing process happen, so basically I loved the whole plot line of the book.