One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

What ideas about the individual’s relationship with authority does Kesey

explore in Part One of the novel? Discuss characterisation and point of view

as well as theme.

Ken Kesey explores various aspects of the individual’s relationship with authority in Part One of One

Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The individual’s submissiveness towards authority is represented

through the characterisation of the patients of the ward, before McMurphy’s arrival and also

during the contrast of McMurphy’s actions with the patients of the ward. On the other hand,

Kesey’s characterisation of McMurphy and his actions in the ward set out to promote the

individual’s resistance and defiance towards authority. Chief Bromden’s narration of the events of

the ward combined with his subconscious beliefs which are not realistically true symbolise the

losing of an individual’s individuality in the hospital, but also with McMurphy, the maintaining of a

person’s individuality.

Before McMurphy’s arrival into the ward, the many patients of the ward are characterised as

having no mind, which reflects the majority of individuals’ submissiveness to absolute authority.

Bromden describes a day as ‘Every morning we sit lined up on each side of the day room, mixing

jigsaw puzzles, listen for a key to hit the lock’. His description of everyday as being like this suggests

the boredom which encompasses all the individuals in the ward. This suggests that, under the

influence of authority, all the individuals within the ward have lost their ability to be an individual.

The ward being a microcosm of the world emphasises the idea that for most individuals, they all

submit to authority regardless of where it comes from. The juxtaposition and contrast of two of

Harding’s speeches to McMurphy during the group therapy sessions ‘You completely disregard,

completely overlook and disregard the fact that what the fellows were doing today was for my own

benefit?’ and ‘Our dear Miss Ratched? Our sweet smiling tender angel of mercy, Mother Ratched’

compared to Harding’s later change of words emphasises how much the individual is changed by

authority; they completely submit to it and even idealise it. Harding’s description of nurse Ratched

as both an ‘angel’ and ‘Mother Ratched’, both alluding to the idea of divinity and protection in

religion, highlights the extent to which an individual obeys authority.

Kesey’s characterisation of McMurphy and his actions present another side of an individual; its

ability to fight against authority. This combined with the Acutes’ siding with McMurphy after his

actions also show the idea that an individual needs support to be able to fight against authority. A

quality which Kesey highlights is McMurphy’s determination to do things, as opposed to the other

patients’ grim acceptance of things. This is most prominently shown in the scene where McMurphy

talks about escape and attempting the impossible by lifting the control panel. While the other

wards cynically insist that escape is not possible, McMurphy, even after failing, says ‘But I tried,

though. Goddammit, I sure as hell did that much, now, didn’t I?’. Through McMurphy’s words,

Kesey also shows the importance of the group of individuals in fighting authority in the later scenes

of the vote for television. Despite the technical loss of the patients in the vote, Nurse Ratched’s

neck is described as ‘red and swelling like she’ll blow apart any second’, which reflects that the

individual can disturb authority with being part of a group.

Kesey utilises Chief Bromden as his narrator to effectively suggest ideas through the Chief’s

‘delusional’ visions, which are often very symbolic of the events in the ward. His first hallucination

in the ward which he tells us of is the fog machine; he describes all the patients as being in the fog,

himself included, describing it as ‘so thick I might even be able to hide in it’ and ‘I can’t see six

inches in front of me through the fog’. The idea of fog is normally something which clouds vision

and hence symbolically represents the individual’s inability to see and respond to authority.

Bromden’s second meaning of the fog of something that can be hidden in is an idea which shows

an individual’s escape from reality; Bromden only visualizes the fog when he is undergoing a hard

time. This relates to the individuals being blinded and numbed by authority. During the vote for TV,

Bromden sees ‘that big red hand of McMurphy is reaching into the fog and dropping down and

dragging the men up by their hands’. Bromden’s vision this time is symbolic of the individual

helping other individuals in resisting authority.