Kensey’s Mien Kamf

Ken Kesey’s Mein Kampf

“The nail that sticks up shall be hammered down” This is an old Japanese adage and wholly encompasses the struggle presented in Ken Kesey’s most influential novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Many critics cite its popularity due to the fact that it is conflict between the individual and society. Yet, closer reading reveals a unique story. It is not just a story of a man vs. society but rather an almost prophetic analogous story of Ken Kesey’s life. The author has cast himself as the main character in his greatest novel. The unruly Randle McMurphy is not just an emulation of his creator; it is Kesey.

A study of an author’s life is very useful in more fully understanding a novel, for it is often in reflection of their experiences that the work is written. This novel is very unique in that the author not only used his past experiences but also his intended future activities to compose this book. Throughout the novel, we are exposed to a variety of characters, but they can easily be divided into three different groups: the head nurse and her staff, the existing patients at the ward, and finally, undoubtedly the hero, Randle Patrick McMurphy. With insight into Kesey’s life each of these can be seen to have a direct correlation to Kesey’s contemporary society.

Nurse Ratchet is introduced to us by Chief Bromden. The description we are given sets the stage and atmosphere for the novel. “…she�s got that bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties today” (Kesey 10). The Chief also relates to us her largeness in power “and she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor so big I can smell the machinery inside” (Kesey 11). In fact, Chief spends a seemingly inordinate amount of time describing the Big Nurse. He explains to us the conditions under her rule. He tells of how she uses fog to confuse the patients and how she uses pills and other medical procedures to control her world. Kesey very thinly disguised his viewpoints of American government in the creation of Nurse Ratchet’s character. The U.S. had victoriously returned from WW II and the Federal Government was enacting a policy of expansion. It was very involved in not just the affairs of American citizens but also those abroad. The Government offered security and stability to its citizens and only asked for conformity and compliance in return. McCarthyism was still fresh in the memories of many and individual thought was often considered derisive to the state. At one point in the novel Chief mentions that the Nurse occasionally uses the fog outside of the ward. The American government at the time was very involved in international affairs and seemed to be able to control many foreign outcomes by cloaking its activities through the CIA (Weiner).

The “combine” is another obsession which the narrator is constantly wary of. This system which is so real to the Chief is easily identified in contemporary society as the unflinching existence of majority thought. Society at the time would suppress those that think or act differently and Kesey personified its agents in the staff at the mental hospital. Many individual thought was considered destructive and therefore strongly discouraged (Knowles &Yates).

The second group which Kesey depicts in his novel is that of the patients residing in the mental institute. They are neatly divided into to two categories: the Acutes and the Chronics. The Chronics are the patients that are beyond hope. They are considered lifeless and dead. Most have had lobotomies and they are very manageable in the Nurse’s eyes. The Acutes on the other hand need constant supervision and guiding. They often express themselves and their wants. As long as they follow the rules and do not protest too loudly their existence as an Acute is permissible. “She’s powerless unless you do something to honestly deserve the Disturbed Ward or EST” (Kesey 67). This categorization is again analogous to the situation in which Kesey found himself writing. A majority of citizens were manageable and their thoughts easily molded not just by the government but by acceptable society as a whole. However, there were those that did not conform and these like the novel were also put into two distinct groups: criminals and dissenters.

Chronics of the novel were viewed in the same way as criminals. All semblance of life was removed from them and their imprisonment of thought is similar to the shackles meant to restrain a criminal. The Acutes, on the other hand, represented an emerging group of people nationwide. This group in Kesey’s time was comprised of controversial writers, filmmakers, and university professors (Oland & Jollimer). In the novel Nurse Ratchet was quick to remind the Acutes that it was their minds