The very fact that the story takes place in a mental institution is in itself a commentary on society. In the hospital, it becomes very evident that a great deal of oppression takes place. Although a considerable amount of abuse is in the physical form, most of it manifests itself in subtle psychological torture. The abuse that specifically takes place is the suppression of individualism. One cannot help but notice the same suppression of individualism that ex

Kesey also uses satire to bring relevance and meaning to his setting. On the way to the ocean for the fishing excursion, they pass by a neighborhood, “…the houses looked so much alike that, time and time again, the kids went home by mistake to different houses and different families. Nobody ever noticed. The only one they noticed was the little kid at the end of the whip. He’d always be so scuffed and bruised that he’d show up out of place wherever he went” (204). Kesey mocks society once again as a group of mindless beings who are content on living their lives in a fog of control and indistinguishability. The bruised and beaten child represents all of the people that wander to far from society’s norms. The child is all of the patients that have been herded into the insane asylums.

Bromden, as the son of an Indian chief, is a combination of pure, natural individuality and a spirit almost completely corrupted by the mechanized society. This is evident in that early in his life he had free will, and can describe going hunting in the woods with his father. He can also recall how they used to spear salmon in a river near the tribe’s home. The government, however, eventually succeeds in paying off the tribe so their fishing area can be converted into a giant hydroelectric dam. The tribe members are pushed forth into the technological workforce, where they become “hypnotized by routine,” like the “half-life things” that Bromden witnesses coming out of the train while he is on fishing excursions. In the novel's present time, Bromden winds up in a paranoid state; a human whose mind has been overrun with machines, whose ability to think and reason have been repressed and destroyed. The paranoia and hallucinations he suffers from centers on hidden machines in the hospital that physically and psychologically control the patients. This can be read as metaphors for the dehumanization he has experienced in his life. Bromden's realizations that the hospital treats human beings in an inhumane fashion, and of his ever-growing self-awareness, occur as the surrounding fog begins to disappear. One autumn night, the Chief wakes up and slips to the window. He peers out and the reader is allowed the clearest view of theme in the novel. “…The moon glistened around [the dog] on the wet grass, and when he ran he left tracks like dabs of dark paint spattered across the blue

Some topics in this essay:
Nurse Ratched, Randall McMurphy, Finally McMurphy's, Ken Kesey, Gospels McMurphy, Jesus McMurphy's, , Chief Bromden, leaves reader, suppression individualism, lead goose, psychological torture, randall mcmurphy, exists society, chief bromden, nurse ratched,