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Heather BrodiePd. 4 5/11/08Questioning Sanity, Conformity“Either conform and be released, or maintain your integrity and be kept in the ward.”(Faggen XVI). During his time working at the Menlo Park Veteran’s Hospital, this is the harshreality that Ken Kesey learned which served as one of the many motivations for writing one his best pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Taking place in 1950’s, this novel, when published in 1962, served as an inspiration to many, and continues to have people questioningauthority, and more importantly, questioning insanity to this very day.A lot changed during the 1950s and ‘60s for most Americans. People everywhere startedto break out of their shells as the culture around them began to flourish. Clothing style, music,and television took a turn for the better, while the nation’s younger generations began to speak out on behalf of what they believed in. However, not everything at the time was as perfect as theCleaver family made it out to be. America, in the depths of the Cold War, was facing moreconcerns than most could handle. From the war in Vietnam, to racial issues in the South, to thethreat of a nuclear war at any moment, many feared what our nation was coming to.For Ken Kesey, the 1950s were a time of coming out and discovering one’s self. Growingup in Eugene, Oregon, Kesey ended up attending the nearby University of Oregon. (FaggenXVII). After graduating in the mid-50s, he and his wife moved to California where he went on toattend Stanford University to study writing. During his second year at Stanford, one of Kesey’sneighbors, named Vik Lovell, introduced himself to Kesey and informed him about anopportunity that would have a lasting impact on Kesey’s life. Lovell, who was a psychologygraduate, told Kesey about experiments at a nearby hospital involving psychoactive drugs. Keseyapplied, was accepted, and began the experiments in the spring of 1960. (Faggen XVII). “Thedoctor deposited me in a little room on his ward, dealt me a couple of pills or a shot or a littleglass of bitter juice, and then locked the door. He checked back every forty minutes…took sometests…and left again.”(Kesey, Sketches). According to Kesey it was as effortless as that. Whenthe doctor was not there Kesey simply spent the time examining the inside of his head.During these government sponsored experiments, the CIA was hoping to develop a wayof using the mind-altering drugs as a method of mind control during the Cold War. (FaggenXIX). To Kesey however, it was something different. Rather than causing psychosis, as expected by the experimenters, only enlightenment and mind-expansion was experienced by most of theexperimentees. After much insight, Kesey became more interested than ever in the inner workings of the mental hospital. More importantly, he wondered about the boundaries set bysociety between the sane and insane. Like many others at the time, Kesey did not see what madethe “insane” different from everybody else.Throughout endless observations and short discussions with patients on the ward, he began to wonder, were these people really
 
so
different 
that they needed to be treated in a specialmanner? Or, were they only different in fact that society did not feel like dealing with them, and
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therefore took the easy way out by placing them in an institute and forgetting about them.Wanting to discover more about the matter, he began working at Menlo Park Veteran’s Hospitalnot long after the experiments were through. (Wilson 288). Becoming seemingly inspired at allthat was going on around him, Kesey began his novel.After the novel’s publication a couple years later, many argued that some of characters of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest arose from Kesey’s experiences with drugs. Whether Chief Bromden emerged from Kesey’s mind on mescaline, which is a mind-altering drug used by Native American shamans, or was spurred from an event Kesey witnessed as a child; an Indianleader sacrificing his life for the safety of his tribe, remains unknown. (Faggen XXII). Nevertheless, it
is
known that a majority of the novel’s characters are symbolic of theera’s culture and ethics. The title itself in a way evokes a hidden truth. One Flew Over theCuckoo’s Nest. The cuckoo bird, with its disputed morals, lays its eggs in other bird’s nests,knowing that when the baby cuckoo hatches, it will push out all of the other bird’s eggs, allowinghimself to have Mom bird’s full attention. (Faggen XXII). Whether this is an instinct or not, it isa classic model of insanity vs. sanity. What remains indistinct is how this case is any differentfrom a similar act in society, which would normally be looked down upon, rather than in naturewhere it is just a part of life.On the contrary, it is easy to say that “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is an optimaltitle for Kesey’s novel. McMurphy comes ranting and raging into the ward, a place where the patients have not heard a real laugh since admission. From this point, he continues to test thelimits until he is slowly but surely shot down. McMurphy, unwilling to conform to any rules or standards however does not symbolize a present day tyrant, or radical, but rather the typical heroarchetype. The hero complex, which consists of bravery, intelligence, and drive, does not fitMcMurphy manifestly, but throughout the novel as he lowers his shield and more is exposed, it isclear that he is looked up to by the other men of the ward. He is the guy that most of the men inthe ward wish they could be, and the guy that the people working in the ward fear. Nurse Ratched, the ward’s head nurse is also representative of many important conceptsof the time period. She herself personifies power and control in the ways that she handles mattersof the ward. (Wilson 292). With the exception of McMurphy, most of the patients in NurseRatched’s ward are afraid to stand up to her, even if it means being treated unfairly. Through her harsh ways, it is also true that she is an icon of governmental power during the era the novel waswritten. Although ward policy is similar to a democracy, in that all patients vote on major issues,with Nurse Ratched things were certainly more easily said than done. The patient can not choosewhat role they play in this democracy, and decisions can effortlessly be overthrown by theauthority figures. “How can you live in a democracy that expects you to participate, to hold anopinion, and to vote and thereby control and be responsible for your society- but at the same timeyou must surrender and follow the will of others…” (Palahniuk IX).These problems and more were most likely paralleled with the current issues our government was facing during the decades of the ‘50s and ‘60s. McCarthyism began to take over the nation, causing anti-communist hysterics. People left and right were accused of beingcommunists, some were even accused of being spies. At the same time, scientists were justcoming out with creations of nuclear weapons. Some were thrilled with the fact we had become a
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nuclear superpower, while others feared that our nation was not ready to handle such power.(Kallen 95). Racial problems and discrimination were finally beginning to ease as well, thesegregation of Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas, became one of the biggestmovements of the decade. With federal troops all round, the “Little Rock Nine” entered theschool building, after several unsuccessful attempts, another stepping stone placed in the road todesegregation. (Kallen 120-134). Another very important stepping stone during this time periodinvolving prejudice and discrimination was the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1955, inMontgomery, Alabama, an African- American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her  bus seat to a white man. Refusing to move to the back of the bus, Parks was arrested, but this didnot end the fight. Hundreds gathered to rally and protest, and refused to ride buses untilsegregation laws were passed. (Kallen 113). Finally, a great way to begin the ‘60s was the CubanMissile Crisis. After the Soviets placed dozens of nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off thecoast of Florida, many Americans feared we would be the targets of an up and coming nuclear war. Eventually, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles out of Cuba,giving the US a sigh of relief. (Rielly 19).Similar to the problems in society at the time, Kesey’s novel poses the same question between the sane and insane. Surely we are all equal, surely we are all the same. But, are wereally? What makes a patient sane, rather then insane? To Nurse Ratched, it merely depends onhow willing the patient is to adhere to the rules set by the leaders of the ward. Therefore, whatever Nurse Ratched says must be done. Ultimately, if any patient tries to challenge these rules,they will be kept longer, and they will most likely be punished. Whether this is symbolic of theAmerican legal system, or solely what Kesey witnessed while working at Menlo Park remainsargumentative.Aside from all of this, it is apparent that a vast number of the characters of One FlewOver the Cuckoo’s Nest were inspired by patients Kesey observed himself while working atMenlo Park. (Wilson 292). One patient Kesey knew, named Maternick, was obsessed withcleanliness, which inspired the creation of the character “George” who is paranoid about germshimself. Another patient Kesey met at Menlo Park, named Mellanson, inspired the formation of the character Colonel Matterson. The emotional attachment Kesey felt with these patients whilehe monitored them and jotted down notes was transferred into his writing by creating similar  patients, each with their own hardships, their own stories, and their own role in the importantlesson taking place.After the events of deinstitutionalization were just beginning to occur, a researcher namedDavid Rosenhan conducted a study wherein he and his fellow researchers decided to fakesymptoms of common mental disorders, such as the hallucinations and delusions of schizophrenics, in order to get admitted into psychiatric hospitals. Once they were admitted,Rosenhan and the others simply dropped all the symptoms. In the hospital in front of patients andstaff members alike, Rosenhan would act completely normal, but what he began to notice wasanytime he did something a little out of the ordinary, the nurse marked it down and considered ita symptom of Rosenhan’s labeled disorder.The reason for conducting this experiment was because of the massive influx of mentalhospital patients admitted during post-WWII through the Cold War era. Rosenhan began to
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