Josephson 1

Michael Josephson
Professor R. Kane
English 115 Friday 10AM
2 December, 2016
English 115 Essay #3
Kaysens experiences and encounters at McLean Hospital allow one to step in the shoes
of somebody who feels that what we see as different, as actually being normal. The world around
us is controlled by people we either agree with or people who we dont. In any situation;
whoever holds the power creates the definition of normality. So in essence the main distinction
between the sane and insane stems from the overall matter of who is in the position of power. In
Kaysens book Girl, Interrupted , we are given the opportunity to see what a mental institution is
like from the eyes of a patient.
Sanity is state of being and acting in a normal matter, often of an individual. Having the
ability to reason and the ability to deal with a broad range of issues is what we view as the
backbone of sanity. This typically means conforming to what society deems as normal.
Unfortunately, during the time that Kaysen was institutionalized at McLean Hospital, there was a
lack of respect for the common social rules of society. This included protests, free sex movement
and widespread use of drugs. While Kaysen did recognize those social rules and tended to obey
most of them, she still felt as if she did not fit societys mold of someone who would be deemed
sane. Sanity overall is a minimum requirement of mental stability established by people within a

Josephson 2
community due to the way they act, talk, or reason. When somebody is sane they are considered
responsible for their action, this is because they have the ability to think a decision through
before they act on it.
Insanity is the opposite of sanity, it is the state of condition in which someone is seen as
not capable of being and acting in a normal matter. In some cases, people do not have the ability
to reason and deal with certain issues that are above their own capacity. The difference between
Susanna and the multitudes of people who were acting out against the establishment in this
time period people like protestors were not considered medically insane. Insanity does not
prevent one from being rational or always forces certain phenotypes of actions, but can actually
be subtle and affect the common views of the critical thinking and logic that is common in the
surrounding society. Somebody who is considered insane may be able to take charge and
rationally make decisions, but in most cases are not capable of doing so. This therefore gives the
generalization that no insane person can really be held responsible for their actions because,
there is a belief that they cannot process their ideas to societys conformations. To be diagnosed
with insanity would mean that one is not able to meet a minimum requirement of mental stability
established by the surrounding community due to the way they act, talk, or reason.
Power is the authority known or unknown that can be used to influence the behavior and
actions of a society. We are all under the influence of some sort of authority which is actually a
power. This in case is actually what the community abides to, whether taboo or not. Whether it
is taxes, normal laws or being in the care of another person. In both One Flew over the Cuckoos
Nest and Girl, Interrupted we see there are certain figures who hold a power over other character.
The infamous Stanford Prison Experiment video on YouTube shows how college students (in the

Josephson 3
scenario of prison) are under the power of the other students who are regarded as guards. Power
can be subtle, but the influence it makes is guaranteed to be seen. In the Stanford Prison
experiment, prisoners retaliate against guards but ultimately fall short because their lack of
authority. Power can be regarded as subtle, in both of the mental institutions that we see in One
Flew over the Cuckoos Nest and McLean Hospital. Patients fall short of their care takers as well
Alice was marched past us between two nurses on her way to maximum security. (Keysan 112)
they are at the risk of making their own personal conditions worse if the institution believes they
should. It is a common idea that there is an authority and it is a chance to stand up to it, but one
still has the chance at failing.
I personally believe that Susanna was crazy before she entered McLean and for a short
while when she was staying there. This is because of the background that she gives us of her life
before entering the hospital. She was stressed out and wasnt of sound mind, resulting in her
attempt to harm herself by taking 50 aspirin pills. The facility took the overall stress of her life
away from her, which allowed her to heal. It took time, but even though she didnt express it as
extravagantly as before she was in McLean, it was still residing there. Recent finding show that
metacognitive control underlies the efficiency of information search across the life span and
across individuals. Additionally, children and adults might have different ways to operationalize
a querys informativeness (e.g., optimizing vs. satisficing), and this operationalization could be
influenced by the different costs (e.g., time and effort) incurred by children and adults when
implementing a given strategy, as well as by their motivation. (Developmental Psychology).
Kaysen had to go through a rite of passage that came at the cost of her freedom to get her mental
health care, and it both positively and negatively influenced her motivation for when she was
released. She was allowed to have the time and resources to help her overcome her issues, but

Josephson 4
she unfortunately became a little too dependent on the facility and its staff. As of right now she
seems to be doing very well for herself and obviously conforming to the rules of society seeing
she hasnt been taken back in to any mental health facility suck as McLean Hospital. She may
suffer from schizophrenia or other disorders on paper, but it may be insignificant because she has
learned to control it. From a non-medical perspective, it is much more a matter of opinion. The
same goes for the character McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest he may have had
a problem that I couldnt see, or it may be his motivation for power. According to recent studies
the ability to recognize moral situations and act appropriately is critical to ones survival in
social groups and may be essential for securing access to needed physical and psychological
resources afforded by group members (Journal of Experimental Psychology), so maybe when he
was defying Nurse Ratcheds orders he wasnt crazy, it was helping him be normal. Everybody
has their own idea of what crazy is. At the end of the day, the diagnosis only matters if it is
evident: if one feels fine and the diagnosis isnt affecting that persons character in any way, all
power too them.
I dont believe that Susanna was a reliable narrator, for a few reasons. One being that it
was a long time after she had left the facility when she decided to write down the events that she
remembered, some things may have gotten messed up or forgotten. Another reason is that there is
no chronological order. This really stood out, but at the same time she had a problem dealing
with the concept of time. It doesnt make sense that multiple records from different people are
time stamped for certain lengths but go against what she feels the time actually is. Another large
issue at hand is majority of the books is written in the present tense. Rather than reflecting,
majority of the time is acting as how she felt as a patient, not when she wrote the book. Since she

Josephson 5
felt a sort of conspiring against her at that time in her life, it adds an addition bias into her
writing.
I think that the major difference between Keysans story and the Cuckoos Nest film is
that Susanna is the observer telling us what she sees at McLean, where the film, we as an
audience decipher what he sees from the actions of the characters. I think that in a way every
patient between both plot lines suffer from similar issues and the experience that they have may
not be exactly the same.
In a world where we are influenced on what is considered insane or sane, we judge that
based off society. Even with the capabilities to do otherwise and choose for ourselves, we choose
to follow the power and act a certain level as a majority.

Josephson 6

Works Cited

BBC. Feature Film - The Stanford Prison Experiment (Documentary). YouTube, uploaded by
AnotherBoringWeek, 4 January 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LKzEqlPto
Gantman, Ana P. Exposure to Justice Diminishes Moral Perception. Journal of Experimental
Psychology, vol. 145, no. 12, September 2016, pp 1728-1739. Ebscohost, doi:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=9069a89a-e77a-4e60-bdda59546357fc28%40sessionmgr4006&vid=0&hid=4107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ
%3d%3d#AN=2016-57218-004&db=pdh,
Kaysen, Susanna. Girl, Interrupted
Vintage Books, 1993
Ruggeri, Azzurra. Sources of Developmental Change in the Efficiency of Information Search.
Developmental Psychology, vol. 52, no. 12, September 2016, pp 2159-2173. Ebscohost, doi:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=f85d060c-27ed-4791-a5f2f5e6929ed314%40sessionmgr4007&vid=0&hid=4107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ
%3d%3d#AN=2016-56613-009&db=pdh