Book Review: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest was published in 1962 and written by Ken Kesey. Kesey was inspired by his part time job, an ­­orderly in a Palo Alto Veterans’ hospital, and by a creative writing program at Stanford University. While writing the book, Kesey was experimenting with LSD, which made him hallucinate. These hallucinations influenced the narrator, Chief Bromden. (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kkesey.htm) One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is based around a theme of man versus the outside world, also known as society. Throughout the entire story, a character by the name of McMurphy attempts to overcome his surrounding environment. He checks into the institution to get out of work at a farm, but soon realizes his plan is not working out. He then attempts to break out, but returns within weeks in a coma because of a lobotomy. Chief Bromden smothers him with a pillow to put him out of his misery (Book).

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is very mind challenging. Sometimes I found myself lost, but most of the time I could keep on track. Kesey uses such description that made me feel as though I was there myself. The twist at the end with the Chief and McMurphy came to a sudden surprise to me, but being a strong believer in putting people and animals out of their misery it came as a good one.

The only part of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest I did not care for was the lobotomy scenes. I learned a great deal about them and I can officially say I am against them. I have such a strong feeling about this, and I feel as though it is murder of the human mind. However, I enjoyed this book so much, that I am eager to read it again and would suggest it to anyone.

References:
(2003). Ken (Elton) Kesey (1935-2001). Retrieved November 23, 2007 from http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kkesey.htm

Other Sources To Check Out:
http://www.amazon.com/One-Flew-Over-Cuckoos-Nest/dp/0451163966/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196048993&sr=8-2

http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/kesey.html

I'm sorry i'm not PERFECT..

For everyone who has complained about my posts...I'm sorry mine aren't perfect like yours...but i have more important things to be doing other than sitting on this website all day. Thanks for the comments, however i will not be doing anything to make this any better. You're just going to have to deal with it.

Sincerely,
Jarrid Kranz

p.s. Thank You Ellen :)

3. American History of other 'witch hunts'

http://history.hanover.edu/early/wh.html
http://www.dailyvanguard.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=c84a5a19-268f-49a9-86ba-cff42d8c1eff

This site gave me several different links to other witch hunts. I found atleast three links that were able to help me out.

The second website explains how a Palestinian woman was "hunted" because she stood up for her country by hanging a flag outside of her door at work. This was pretty interesting and very unfair.

2. The interrelation of McCarthyism, the Red Scare, Arthur Miller and The Crucible.

http://www.123helpme.com/assets/15307.html
http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/88240.html

I found this site also very helpful. It discusses how people were frightened by the Red Scare leading to communism just like the Salem trials. Everyone joined in to stop witchery.

For the second website, I found the parallels between the three ideas. This gives a short but to the point description of each and then how they are connected.

1. Why Arthur Miller Wrote The Crucible

Why Miller wrote The Crucible.
http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Lab/4191/MILLER/millers.html
I found this site very helpful. It talks about several reasons why he wrote The Crucible, including the fact that he was able to relate common instances to the fifties.

I discovered an even better website (the second link) to explain Miller's reasoning. The following is a quote from the webpage : "Few people reacted against McCarthyism in the fifties in the United States. Arthur Miller did by writing his play The Crucible in 1953. This paper answers the question: "Why did Arthur Miller write The Crucible?". It intends to give the necessary historical background to grasp the concept of McCarthyism."