Click on "Literary Criticism & Theory Links" on the right hand margin of this blog until you find something to research that you 1) like and 2) enjoy. With 300+ words, summarize what you researched and apply your new knowledge to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The links will grant you insights into a way to interpret Kesey's novel. Make a connection from the theory to the novel. (If you need, you may look up other sites that provide critical theory on literature by websearching.)
Do not write in vague, fluffy, meaningless, empty ways. Use specific references and terms.
Do not write in vague, fluffy, meaningless, empty ways. Use specific references and terms.
93 comments:
Existentialism was the one that I enjoyed the most in Dr. Kristi Siegel’s paper. It sounds like one of the most absurd ways to analyze someone but it would be successful. To analyze one as if they were their own being from another planet is to analyze them as an individual. To me people judge to much about how u fit to them but if you judge them to how they fit comfortable to themselves then something more will come out of it. Someone might do something that they enjoy but you think is weird and its what they like not what you like. They are INDIVIDUALS! So treating them like they are an individual of their own species is a good way to think of them as just an individual. The word individual isn’t meant for judgement because an individual is one of a kind and that’s the way people should think of it. They aren’t intended by God to act the way you want them to they are intended to act in a way of their own.
Phenomenology is the one that I liked the most. It makes people realize that thinking consciously is a normal action and shouldn’t be feared. This theory suggests that you aren’t human if you don’t think subconsciously or consciously because it is part of our psyche to think on those levels in our mind. That’s why we were given the ability to think in such ways. This one is a lot like Fruedian lense in a sense that you have to bring into play the subconscious and not just act without deep thought about yourself in the action that will be taking place. Everyone thinks about themselves in their actions either subconsciously or consciously, its what makes us human. Thanks for reading me response and I can’t wait to read yours.
Clark 2
Fontenille 7
Postmodernism is a topic that I found very intriguing by Dr. Kristi Siegel after reading her informative writing contrasting postmodernism and modernism I could understand the values a little bit better that Ken Kessey was emphasizing so much in his brilliant novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. You could base the hole entire story on these theories alone, but granite off course Kessey has put a whole lot more into this story then just Postmodernism and modernism however this is a big one that a bunch of other hidden morals are based off in my opinion. Thus bringing me to what I am and have been saying. Modernism is everything going with the system it is nurse Ratchet it is the institution and it is everyone following the guidelines and rules set by these people or the system of combines surrounding us. It in general is conformity. Elitism goes with it, it is a Marxist example and it is how the system would look at you basically the system is everything as great as elitism and if you’re not at that standard they would frown upon you. Where as in postmodernism it’s free and relaxing or it is intended to be relaxing, and for the most part it is in this article Dr. Kristi Siegel uses words like Play, Chance, Paratactic, Anarchy, and fragmentation which it is and can be described in which is a huge basis and binary oppositions in this novel.
In this novel I think we can all tell which is Modernism and Postmodernism. Nurse Ratchet is the epitome of Modernism where as McMurphy is the leader of Postmodernism. The Nurse making or trying to make everyone abide and obey her where Mack is leading everyone into rebellion and also trying to make them laugh and let loose to overcome Modernism and the hole system. He is the roots of everyone he helps the other patients show their true colors and be themselves he created a domino effect that is very prevalent at the end of the novel. Even while and after the Nurse had beat him they still saw what he stood for and what he was trying to do and I like to think after a lot of them had checked themselves out of the ward they still carried on his legacy.
In Dr. Kristi Siegel Introduction to Modern Literary Theory, Psychoanalytic Criticism interested me the the most because no one really knows what you are thinking or subconsciously thinking but you. Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan looked beyond the surface of people and tried to see what they consisted of, they wanted to know what was under the surface. Freud's model of the psyche was placed in three sections the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is the unconscious part of the psyche that serves as the storehouse of our desires. In the novel One Flew of the Cuckoo's nest, McMurphy tries to satisfy his Id by going against Nurse Ratched wishes and help the other men on the ward overcome the Nurses power. Ego is the conscious part of the psyche that processes experiences and operates as a referee or mediator between the Id and superego. An example of this is when Chief uses the fog to hide. The fog acts to help him realize the past, and shows him experiences that he has come though and brings him flash backs so it doesn't happen again. The superego is is a moral judgment in light of social pressures. In the novel an example of a social pressure what everyone thinks of the people in the ward, when they go out on the fishing trip. The fishing trip is a way for the men to escape the ward for awhile but the judgments of the people outside is what keeps them in the ward.
Jacques Lacan has a different three views of the psychoanalytic view. Lacan views are imaginary, symbolic, and real. Imaginary is the verbal stage in which children develop a sense of separateness form their mother as well as other people and objects. Chief shows us this in the novel by how he pretends to be deaf, because no one paid any attention to him and ignored that he even exists. Symbolic is when the child enters into the talking stage. This is shown by Billy Babbit in the novel. Bill is so afraid of his peers and everyone for that matter that he stutters every time he talks, giving the reader an inference that he out of the cultural norm of everyone else. Real is the unattainable stage representing all that a person is not and does not have. Nurse Ratched his an example of this the tries to “help” the men to be all they can be, by conforming them but in reality she cant because she lacks being whole herself.
Dede 2
On Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website I found the archetypal lens to be the most intriguing. I believe this lens to be one of the most practical because knowing a historical reference in a book can determine whether you even understand the book itself. In Archetypal analysis one looks for recurring experiences and story formulas; it also says that every thought, dream, fantasy, and even religion are part of a collective unconscious shared by us all. This type of lens can be very revealing in literature, for example in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey has written multiple allusions to the bible whether subconscious or not. His first and one of the most deliberate allusions is a character named Ellis. From Chief’s point of view Ellis has his hands nailed to the wall, and this is an obvious allusion to Jesus Christ being crucified. He also uses many already used formulas in the book, the main one being the underdog coming back and beating the bad guy, and in this case McMurphy overcoming and hopefully beating Nurse Ratched. That formula is used in countless movie, books, and myths and to me it proves that the “collective unconscious” can be a plausible theory to why so many formulas are repeated in literature. Another big part of Archetypal criticism is symbolism, a big part of this symbolism is color. There are several obvious things we all think of when we see certain colors, a good use of color in literature is the Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, in the story a man barricades himself and guests into a castle built with seven colored rooms, and in order from east to west the rooms are blue which represents newborns, purple representing younger kids, green representing growth in life in the teens, orange represents strength at the peak of your life in the twenties to forties, white represents purity in the fifties , violet represents knowledge and memories at sixty plus years, and black represents death. In the story Poe uses the seven stages of life that were set up by Shakespeare in his story As You Like It, which also supports the theory of “collective unconscious.” He also sets up the rooms from east to west which is the same cycle the sun follows throughout the day, showing that morning is birth afternoon is midlife and nightfall is death, and the cycle continually repeats itself.
Zody 1
While I was reading what Dr. Kristi Siegel had put on her website, I thought that Existentialism was my favorite one to read about. She basically said that everyone is born with nothing, and in the end we almost die with nothing, but what you do between life and death is your choice. You can choose to make it good, or bad. You can also choose to take a “leap of faith” by believing in God consciously. You can do anything you put your mind to, as long as you have your mind set on it; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Nobody in the world really has a set plan, they lay out their future by each choice that they make. We have some pretty bright people in our world, to just call it nothingness, so I disagree that people die with nothingness, I think that everybody dies with something, whether it be an inspiration to someone, or an invention; everybody makes an impact one way or another on this planet. Now to refer this back to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I think this comes into play when Mcmurphy comes to the ward because he had the decision to go work in a field, or to come to the ward, and he chose to come to the ward, to almost take the easy way out. I don't think that he lives his life to the fullest potential that he could. Where as Chief might live his life to the fullest in the fact that he tries to fool everyone into thinking that he has nothingness, but in reality he really does know stuff, and the people at the ward think that he knows way less that what he does. Chief has heard all of the meetings, and everyone thinks that he does not hear any of them. I think that he will use that to his advantage in the end of the book, to possibly take over Nurse Ratched. I think it is very cool how we can view things differently just by looking through different lenses, and by analyzing through different ways, it just makes everything more exciting.
Drexler 5
-I know we’ve already studied Marxism, but I found more information on it that got me very intrigued. In particular, the money and economic views of the Marxist theory are very important and serve as the rudimentary basis of how our capitalistic, materialistic country and world function. According to the Marxist theory, capitalism was set into motion when we started to understand the exchange value of labor. It states that a certain amount of labor is worth a certain amount of commodities. The link between labor and commodities, along with the introduction of money (which is the universal equivalent of commodities), laid the foundation for our modern way of life, capitalism. People do labor, to earn money, to buy commodities, to survive. With this concept comes capital, where one may earn money off buying commodities and selling them at a higher price. Capital is the reason white collar labor became possible, and is the reason our country is the way it is.
-It’s very fun and exciting to relate this theory to our novel. McMurphy has been conning and hustling all of the patients from their money by way of bets and gambling. He tricked them out of their commodities in the form of money for his own personal gain. The basis of Big Nurse’s second offensive against McMurphy is showing how he took advantage of the patients and took their money from them. Her intention is to make the patients disgusted by the way their hard work (labor) has gone to waste by the medium of McMurphy. Her attempt ultimately fails, as the patients (and also McMurphy!!) aren’t as materialistic as she hoped (or she is). In the end, the economics of the hospital prove less important than the personal thoughts and feelings of its inhabitants. It all makes sense if you look at it like a Marxist critic would!
-I used the second link for research, “Introductory Guide to Critical Theory.” The hour or two browsing through the site really helped me see the scientific side of English, which is what I assume this whole unit is for. I never liked English because it wasn’t scientific and exact enough, and now I see how it is somewhat scientific (although I still think it’s way too vague…).
-Also, during practice, we saw an old, poorly self-painted vehicle (Jeep) for sale for $450 in the lawn outside an apartment complex the other day with “Run’s” painted on the side window. I hope no one ever wastes their labor and money on this commodity.
-Hosman5
I found David Gauntlett's social theory of popular culture to be intriguing in how I can view pop stars, famous people, and even game show hosts to be more than the surface level of cool and awesome. Britney Spears was extremely popular before Lady Gaga, but who's to say that they were the best role models, not me. Britney's behavior reflects an irresponsible and narcissistic bEhavior that is flaunted and accepted by people who enjoy reading all of the latest trends and recent drama about her. This reminds me of Cheswick's behavior when McMurphy started acting out. Cheswick was trying to be more involved and stand up for himself when he saw McMurphy push his way around and take control. A lot of this drama and outlandish trends are spread about by the media, one of the largest influences in society. In reading more of Gauntlett's theories and links, I read about Heinz Kohut, whom created Self Psychology which is about anything that reinforces one self. To me media is part of this because it influences society to behave like the people they portray. People become backed by the creativity of popular people and take on impressions which warps lifestyles and appearances thinking it will make them better in society. Is this a new way to survive in society? In my opinion, yes. Just as Chief Bromden and Cheswick are influenced by the staff and McMurphy, but the side they choose for survival determined their fate and their sanity. Cheswick chose McMurphy and quickly learned that there is a lot to give up in order to obtain true sanity and escape the ward by death. Along with my research I found that I'm more capable in recognizing media further than the surface level, and that social theory can be quite fascinating in more than just one way. With theory there are no limits and possibility is always an option.
Frank 1
Sorry for possible misspelled words
Being able to define your own individuality is a difficult task for some people. Kristi Siegel’s theory of existentialism displays that perfectly. I enjoyed this piece the most because of the fact that it relates so closely to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. Existentialism, according to Siegel, is a philosophy that views each person as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe, and conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, value, or meaning. Each character throughout the novel displays this philosophy at some point and struggles with solutions to find themselves. Everyone comes from different situations, but it’s how those figures overcome it that makes them successful. Each person holds their own success and how they pursue that success is how they find themselves. In the novel, Chief was brought up in the Native American culture. This culture is stereotyped as being poverty stricken and low class. He did not receive the same opportunities that others might have, yet he had an advantage of his culture and his knowledge of his surroundings more than that of others. Chief did not pursue this advantage and allowed others to control his future. The constant neglect from the white culture affected Chief to the point where he completely cut himself off. He had the opportunity to speak-out and save his home but he chose to be thrown into that alien universe with no meaning. A conscious decision to find meaning creates success. Exiling oneself excludes that being from fully experiencing human joy. This is the epitome of Nurse Ratched’s care of the ward. In my opinion I think that Nurse Ratched was exiled or neglected as a young child and children are affected greatly by their environments at such a young age. Ratched has exiled herself to a point where she feels the need to continue that cycle to make others feel the same pain she has experienced. The patients are alienated in Nurse Ratched’s universe and in their own mental universe. The whole novel is the story of these men courageously discovering who they need to be. Existentialism can apply to anyone…but it doesn’t have to. Self-value is the most important trait one needs to have to be happy and successful in the future and only you can determine what that can be.
Donovan 7
I picked Existentialism by Dr. Kristi Siegel I picked this one because she is saying that we judge people for who they are being. Something that we think is weird and unaccepted by society is normal to that person and they shouldn’t be judged on how they act. We should instead try to see it from their view and maybe we are the weird ones by judging them. Everyone needs to have individuality otherwise everyone would be the same, which is what Nurse Ratched wants in her ward. She wants everyone to follow the rules exactly and not to act up and mess up with her system she has. When McMurphy comes however he totally makes her lose control and this messes with her system and she is not happy with it. She doesn’t want McMurphy to come in there and try to help the other guys find themselves and to stand up for themselves. She wants them to follow everything she says. Just because McMurphy is different and is going against the combine doesn’t make him weird. The nurse however feels that he is different and needs to be helped so she makes him have electroshock therapy to try and “help” him for his “illness.” It just shows that if you try and be different people will constantly put you down and never try to see things the way you do. Which really isn’t right because they could be a genuinely nice person and you wouldn’t think twice about them because they look, dress, talk, or hang out with people that you normally wouldn’t. She also says “man [woman] is condemned to be free.” In reality we really aren’t because some of us are afraid to be who we really are in fear of being judged by other people.
Zens 1
Existentialism is the one thing that stood out to me the most. To feel like I was put into an alien universe would probably make me seem insane to the people from that universe. This is how Chief probably feels being thrown into the institution. He's used to being with his tribe and being a free man in a sense. When he gets admitted into the ward he seems as an outcast to the other patients. He's much taller than the others and he doesn't talk and as far as the others know he also can't hear. Chief begins to feel meaningless. Each patient feels their own sense of existentialism, they were all born with nothing and will more than likely leave with nothing. What you make of your life in between birth and your death is your choice. You as an individual make your own fate by the choices you make when going through life. All the men in the ward do nothing all day and just follow what they are told to do everyday. It's pretty much like a broken record for them. Their life never moves on to the next song. When McMurphy arrives in the story the men suddenly come alive. McMurphy makes them feel wanted and he gives them the attention they have been living without. McMurphy helps the men reach out and take a stand against Nurse Ratched. They start to make choices for themselves. The lives of the men that choose to go on the fishing trip have moved to the next song, they mean something again. It helps the men see that they are important and that after all they aren't crazy. No matter who you are you shouldn't live life as if you have no purpose or reason to be there. You are important to someone.
Grimmius 1
While reading Dr. Kristi Siegel’s work I was most intrigued by her article on Existentialism. It states that “each person is viewed as an isolated being who is cast into and alien universe, and conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, value, or meaning.” I feel like I can relate to the way she is thinking in this article. Every single human being is different from the next. No two people are the same. Every single one of us possesses some sort of individuality that makes us who we are. Something that someone else does may seem “weird” to us because it’s not what we’re used to and we look at them as some sort of “alien” and stated in the quotations above. She also says how in the beginning we are born with nothing and in the end we die with almost nothing too. What you do between life and death is completely determined by you alone. Everything we do is a choice, consciously or subconsciously. Every decision we make gets us to the next point in our life whether it be good or bad. Life is like a book, you’re the author writing the story as you go and you don’t know how the end will turn out until you get there. Each person holds some value to the planet, even it’s the slightest possible thing. In relation to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” I feel like this article greatly relates to McMurphy and his presence at the ward. His choices made him end up at the ward; it was the choice he made. McMurphy thinks he’s made the best choice but maybe he didn’t. As the story goes on McMurphy is less and less respected, turning into nothingness as stated in Dr. Siegel’s article. The character that seems to have nothingness is the one that is something, Chief. He’s finally coming out and making a difference. He is someone that I believe will end his book in a great way. We could view all of the characters through this point of view and guess which ones will end up with nothingness and which ones will write a beautiful book. You never know what someone is capable of until you know them. We need to stop viewing people that aren’t like us as aliens, because they could be the ones that change your life.
Corcoran 5
Dr. Kristi Siegel’s, existentialism, stood out to me the most while reading through the main modern literacy theories. In my opinion, it relates to the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest the most. From reading about existentialism, it says that as each person brought into this world has no real meaning for life and has no idea what to do or expect of themselves. They have nothing to start out with, yet in the end, they still have nothing. How does that make sense? But, it says “In a world without sense, all choices are possible”. But that’s one of our biggest problems. Lastly, it states that "Man [woman] is condemned to be free”. All three explainations relate to the characters or their situations in the book. All the men in the ward are so conformed into thinking that they can’t make it “out there”, in the real world. Instead, they live out their days without any meaning or successes. Some even choose to be there voluntarily. They go in there, with nothing, hoping to get “better”, but that never happens. They spend every day and night doing the same things and eventually ending their lives still with nothing. They are supposed to be condemned to be free, yet they don’t want to be free. For example, Chief wants to stay in the fog because that’s where he feels safe. For most of the book, Chief stays hidden within his fog and pretends to be deaf and dumb. Once McMurphy arrives at the ward though, things start to change and Chief starts to do something with himself. He starts not only standing up for himself, but also standing up for McMurphy. Even after Miss Ratched tries to tell the men off by making it seem like McMurphy was in the selfishly to entertain himself and get money for the other men. Once McMurphy proves this wrong, Chief helps him fight off the two black boys. This shows that you can make something of yourself; you just need some help, a little push, and being able to believe in yourself.
Kruger 2
Existentialism is a philosophy that views each person as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe, and conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, value, or meaning. I believe that Existentialism is found everywhere into today’s society. Religion is a big aspect of Existentialism. According to Soren Kierkegaard we are gifted with the burden of freedom. This freedom doesn’t guarantee that we are right in what we do and saying this -- when it comes to religion -- we must take a “leap of faith” for what we believe in because we can’t be sure that it’s true. The poor use existentialism as an excuse for not to try to improve their life. Because their life is so hard, they rely on the theory that human life is absurd (has no inherent human value, truth, or meaning). I believe that in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Existentialism is undeniably a major part in the patients’ lives. Many of the chronic patients have nothing to live for; they are in the ward for LIFE. However, the acutes have hope and as soon as McMurphy arrived they had hope. For once in their time at the ward they smiled, they laughed, and they enjoyed themselves. One of the major terms used in Existentialism is Authenticity, which I compare to the word uniqueness. In this novel, Nurse Ratched kills the patient’s authenticity. She does not allow the spread of individual ideas or actions; not necessarily because she wants to kill it, but because society doesn’t allow for authenticity. Without uniqueness in the world, we are like robots. This is why Chief see’s the ward as robotic. However, McMurphy brings a sense of authenticity to the ward. When McMurphy gets in the shower fight and gets sent to the disturbed ward, he stands up for himself. He doesn’t do this because society deems he must, but because if he doesn’t he’s not doing what he wants to do.
Beukelman 2
While browsing through literary criticism and theory links, I found Postmodernism the most intriguing and relatable theory from Dr. Kristi Siegel. During research on other websites I uncovered there is much controversy in what exactly Postmodernism is. Professors are unsure of when one period ends and the other starts but on Siegel’s webpage she made an easy to comprehend T-chart comparing Modernism and Post-Modernism from Ihab Hassan ideas. Studying the chart helped me comprehend the differences between the two. Dr. Kristi Siegel says modernism is to hierarchy as post-modernism is to anarchy. According to Postmodernism critics McMurphy represents post-modernism and representing modernism is Nurse Ratched in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Nurse Ratched has complete and total power over the patients and workers in the ward. She controls everything and anything they do from when they eat to when they go to bed at night. It is all done under her ruling, until McMurphy comes into the picture. He throws a wrench into her master plan which a critic may say is to continue modernistic ways as long as she can. Unfortunately for her, he is there to have fun and play so it causes her to lose some of her strict ruling and power she had gained. In the novel this is the transition into post-modernism values. Since McMurphy enters the hospital rebelling against the elite Nurse Ratched, many of the patients follow his lead of wanting to make a change. She wants complete control over everyone in the ward or totalization. Even though she is slowly losing the power, she keeps striving for more of it. According to the patients, it was time for a change since the ward had been under her control for many years. The change was brought by the postmodernism symbol of the novel, McMurphy. By researching and using the Postmodernism theory to analyze the novel, I viewed Kesey’s novel in a different way then what I was becoming comfortable with.
Pollema 2
After reading through Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website, I found existentialism to be the most intriguing. I feel as though I can relate it to myself and to life in general. Siegel’s article states that everybody is “an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe.” This means everybody is their own person in a world full of judgmental people. She uses the word alien to stress that when people are different society looks at them as being aliens because they do not represent what is “normal”. When in reality nobody is the same, everybody is their own person; they are individuals. Her article also states that beings are born with nothing and die with nothing. This could be interpreted by saying humans are born without anything and if risks are not taken or if life is not lived to the fullest death will be the same as being born. As human beings existentialism encourages authentic choices. Authentic choices are made for the individual not for society. Choices are made for a reason whether it is realized or not they are not random. The choices made in one’s life are the exact guidelines to their ending fate. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy is making authentic choices because he goes against society’s norm and made the choice to do what he wanted to do. Even though this decision put him in the hospital under Nurse Ratched’s control, McMurphy continued to live his life to the fullest. McMurphy shines in this novel because he embraces that he is his own person and he makes the choices that better him. By doing this, he brought other patients out of society’s grip and made them into their own person. I think McMurphy affected Chief Bromden the most because he went from being nobody to being somebody. Chief was born without anything and now he is making authentic choices because he doesn’t want to die without anything to show from his life. He doesn’t want to die a “nobody”. This is a great example of how one person can have a huge impact on many people’s lives just by the choices made.
Tofteland 2
The lens I liked the most was by Dr. Kristi Siegel and the lens was Existentialism. Through that lens a person views themselves as an isolated person dropped into different planet. Someone who uses this lens to analysis an exhibit would also see the exhibit from where it has come from to where it will end. The world is also to be seen without having any sense. An Existentialism viewer will state that men/women are to be condemned free. To me this makes sense because as humans we are free to do as we please. We as humans though are also responsible for our actions, meaning we can do as we wish but, we will have consequences.
I can see this lens many times in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Chief tries to blend in by usually sweeping or mopping the halls just so he doesn’t stand out. In reality though chief stands out because he doesn’t say anything and pretends to be deaf. He does this so he can “view” each patient and get to know them without having to talk to them. Another character that would be good to use this lens on would be R.P. McMurphy. McMurphy comes into the ward and right away he is against the system because he feels he should be freer than what he is. McMurphy breaks the glass not once but twice and fights with or argues with nurse because he is trying to send a message that the world and the “the man” will not control him. To me the book also fights this lens because when chief starts rambling about his visions the book becomes very confusing and doesn’t make sense to me. Just like according to the lens the world will not make sense. I think this is a very useful lens that will come in handy when viewing different exhibits.
sundvold,pd.2
In Dr. Kristi Siegel’s web page, semiotics is the term I thought I would like to research because it sounded interesting and human signs and signals evidence themselves in everyday life. Semiotics, or Semiology, is defined as the study of signs. Semiology is easily applied to every human action, such as our bodily gestures, the clothes we wear, and the houses we live in. Actions and body language often convey meanings, therefore, people can be analyzed by the signs they display or put out. Semiology can also be applied to theatre, dance, painting, history, politics, and religion. Any action or signal may be interpreted differently by different people or may be interpreted universally. Signals may signify something different for someone or something else entirely to another. Linguistics, the study of verbal signs and structures, is one of the many branches of semiotics. Linguistics gives the basic terms and methods to study all the other branches of semiotics. Ferdinand de Saussure developed the principles of Semiology and how they applied to our language. Then Roland Barthes extended the ideas into all different kinds of messages. Now, when people rub their thumb and index finger together it symbolizes money. Semiology is very important, without symbols, it would be more difficult for people to connect or relate to things. I witnessed semiology quite often in the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. For example in this novel, the table of the electroshock station is in the shape of a cross. This is a sign that this book has Christianity ties in it. Another good example is Chief Bromden and his fog. Chief’s fog is a sign of his lack of confidence and a sign that he is scared. Some signals are interpreted differently when analyzing things in real life. Some signals are interpreted clearly such as when people are deaf, they have a whole language that is based on all kinds of different hand gestures that mean words and is universally understood. In either case Semiology is a critical communication in our society.
Eigenberg 5
While skimming through the topics placed before me in the blog, I came across one section that really jumped out at me. I saw the phrase “leap of faith” within one of the key term lists. The definition said something along the lines of Kierkegaard saying that religion involves many risks and uncertainties. Commitment to something like a religion is what he refers to as a leap of faith. Just before that phrase is the word authenticity. This is the difference between society pressuring a person to make a decision and a person’s moral beliefs. I immediately thought of McMurphy’s appearance at the ward. Chief Bromden uses fog to hide from reality and all of his fears. At one of the group meetings, McMurphy needed one more vote to have the majority. He went around the ward and was repeatedly denied. Chief was the last person who could swing the vote in his favor. Courage was conjured up from deep within Chief when he raised his hand to give McMurphy a substantial victory over the nurse. Chief took a leap of faith from the fog and landed firmly in McMurphy’s trust. This decision was stated in the book to be entirely Chief’s decision. The nurse and some of the patients were pressuring Chief to keep his hand down. Something inside of Chief wanted change or rebellion against Nurse Ratched and the ward. Either way, his individual commitment was the determining factor in the vote. Thus far in the book, Chief has taken Cheswick’s place as McMurphy’s right hand man. I noticed that fog was not mentioned after Bromden leapt from its protective presence. Chief made a commitment to McMurphy by raising his hand that faithful day in the ward. Since that day, Chief has been staying very close to McMurphy. Chief Bromden is so committed that he would fight alongside McMurphy to defend a fellow patient. Respect is given to the men that stand up for their fellow comrades in times of need. Sometimes a leap of faith is what people need to express their true colors.
Murren 1
Researching the various topics I found Dr. Kristi Siegel’s, existentialism, to be the most intriguing and relatable. Existentialism is the idea that none when born into really has any real meaning of who they are or what is expected of them. When a child is born none knows what they will become and how they will impact in society. However, as the child begins to grow older they start to show more interest or talent in certain areas. Some people develop into being great artists or musicians, while others may become an outstanding athlete or exceptionally intelligent. Although this is often times influenced by parents and society it becomes what is expected of you. Children that are fortunate in musical and artistic talent are expected to use those talents to better society, same as great athletes should pursue a career to entertain, and the people with great intelligence should become the president, or find cures for deadly diseases. Existentialism relates to “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest,” because the patients never found a role that they were supposed to fill do to lack of discovering their talents throughout childhood and young adult life. Therefore, they may not be crazy but they never knew what was expected of them so they were put into an insane asylum because they are not functioning properly in society and are only taking up space. Also existentialism states that "Man [woman] is condemned to be free”. This statement contradicts the use of a mental hospital. If we should be free then it is not right that we are locking people up unwillingly for being different or as we call them, “crazy”. We are all individuals, so are we not all crazy? Just because we conform to the ways of society somehow allows to have freedom that the patients in “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest,” are not privileged to receive all for the reason that they didn’t fit into society as they were expected to.
Hoff 5
Upon reading about many different ways of analyzing exhibits, the Existentialism lens somehow intrigued me. Reading about this lens from Dr. Kristi Siegel, Wikipedia, and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; I learned that reading through this lens, everyone can be viewed as an isolated being on an unfamiliar planet. The being interprets the world as having no meaning or truth; this is the definition of Absurd, a key term for an existentialistic view. The individual viewing with this lens sees the exhibits life as beginning with nothing and ending with just that, nothing. As a regular church goer like me, I find this almost sad or lonesome that one could be so isolated with much uncertainty. On a lighter side, the individual has lots of freedom to think or act how they please because in this 'absurd' atmosphere, there are no set good or bad values. The values the individual goes by is that of which they grew up with, they are responsible for their own actions. This goes along with another key term for the existentialistic lens, authenticity. Authenticity is defined to make choices based on individual code of ethics, rather than societal pressures. With this new lens for me to analyze with, I can understand McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest better. Viewing with an existentialistic lens, one would view the character as coming into the world with nothing and ultimately returning with nothing. I believe McMurphy came from very little as a youngster and acts out badly in society because he knows he will leave with nothing. Unlike a person like me believing in an afterlife such as heaven, I got the impression that existentialistic characters do not believe in an afterlife. McMurphy has absolutely nothing to lose if he has just himself and his few if any values to live by (set forth ultimately by him) so he doesn't really care what kind of trouble he creates. This lens can help us analyze any character, helping discover why they act in the manner they do. Basically the individual acts how they feel is best for them, creating their own course of life.
Austin Carlson
While reading through Dr. Kristi Siegel’s Introduction to Modern Literary Theory, I noticed that a few of her approaches caught my attention. To me, however; Phenomenology and Hermeneutics stood out the most. Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology is a philosophical method that proposed “phenomenological reduction”, or “to establish certainty, then, we must first of all ignore, or 'put in brackets,' anything which is beyond our immediate experience: we must reduce the external world to the contents of our consciousness alone....Everything not 'immanent' to consciousness must be rigorously excluded: all realities must be treated as pure 'phenomena,' in terms of their appearances in our mind, and this is the only absolute data from which we can begin" as explained by Terry Eagleton. Phenomenological reduction states that everything that is not “immanent” to our consciousness should be excluded, and that all realities must be treated as a pure “phenomena”. Hermeneutics sees interpretation as a circular process whereby valid interpretation can be achieved by a sustained, mutually qualifying interplay between our progressive sense of the whole and our retrospective understanding of its component parts. Hermeneutics refers to the term dasein. Dasein is considered simply, “being there” or “being-in-the world”. While reading and analyzing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, one would assume that Chief Bromden lacks dasein when he “enters the fog from the combine”. When Bromden is in his “fog” he is no longer “a part of the world” in a sense. Bromden’s mind may be in a constant state of dasein as well, depending on how you look at it. Selden and Widdowson’s definition of dasein is that “our consciousness both projects the things of the world and at the same time is subjected to the world by the very nature of existence in the world”. Clearly, when Bromden is in his “fog” his mind is projecting its own images about what is happening in the ward, while he also believes what is happening in the ward is what happens in life outside of the Big Nurse’s ward. In order to see these two theories correctly, one would really have to analyze the novel deeply and intently, in order to understand what is truly going on.
Johnston 5
Dr. Kristi Siegel's article about existentialism stood out to me the most. Existentialism can be seen everyday in society as well as in "The Cuckoo's Nest". This idea explains that everyone is their own person and no one is exactly like someone else and we need to be accepted for this. When people do something or act in a certain way that we don't normally do ourselves, it is labeled as "weird" and they are wrongly judged because of it. This concept is seen in "The Cuckoo's Nest" with the patients on the ward. The patients are unique in their own ways but society (the Combine) sees them as being "broken" thus judges and looks down on them. The patients are so afraid of how society will treat them that they either consciously or subconsciously want to stay on the ward since it is safer than being in society. Existentialism also explains that people make their own choices, based on who they are, that determine their future situations. McMurphy made the choice to leave the work farm by joining the ward and ended up drastically changing the lives of the patients who live there by giving them confidence and making them feel "big" again. He even changes the lives of the staff; he puts Nurse Ratched in her place and gets Dr. Spivey to join the patients and be more involved with them. With his individuality, McMurphy breaks through the conformity that Ratched has forced onto the ward, changing it for the better. Every creature on Earth, no mater how small, is important and we shouldn't be judged just because we are different from each other.
-Huntimer 2
My observations and understanding of Ken Kesey's novel _The Cuckoo's Nest_ were not merely formed on the basis of just literary theory. To understand the theory, and the essence of the novel itself, you must first understand the world as Mr. Kesey understood it. This can be achieved not only by observing the society he lived in, but can be experienced through various other literature and even lyrics that existed in his lifetime. For example, as I was researching the topic given to us I stumbled upon the lyrics of a very popular Beatles song from the era Kesey was writing the novel. They are as follows; "Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, You were only waiting for this moment to arise." In Kesey's novel, the patients represent the people rebelling against the system; the repressed, the ignored, the forsaken. Chief Bromden can be interpreted, in the end, to be the “vice-president” in a way. He assumes McMurphy’s responsibilities; though some may interpret the ending as running away from his responsibilities, I interpret it to be a Martin Luther King-esque thing to do. He has taken his broken wings and learnt to fly (His broken wings being his paranoid schizophrenia). The atmosphere of the Sixties had a massive effect on Kesey’s work, which is why _The Cuckoo’s Nest_ is presented as a work of art instead of just a thrown together pretty story. It is a book on social classes, hardship, dictatorship, pain, freedom and, ultimately, survival. Literary theory was created by people and, every day, is being affected by society and it’s ever changing beliefs. Kesey used his education to propel this work of art to levels beyond those expected. He uses his talents to demonstrate sociology and psychology to extents that dive so in depth into society, that, for the most part, the book is an almost exactly duplicate “mini-society.” By using the Marxist lens, we can dissect the book into classes and power struggle. With the feminist lens, we observe the flipped around gender roles. Through the Freudian lens, we delve into the minds of these “crazy” rebels and see a fear, yet persistence, that the true underbelly of the 1960s experienced as they fought for the beliefs we have now. Kesey carefully dissected society and presented it in such a way that we almost live the fight ourselves.
Stirrat 5
The article titled “Introduction to Modern Literary Theory” really seems to hit the right note for me as a literary theorist. I see a great deal of postcolonial influence being presented in many points throughout this book. Postcolonialism further reinforces its presence in such situations as when Chief Bromden’s tribe and father is bribed by the ‘white man’ to remove themselves from their land so the ‘white man’ can construct a dam in its place. However, it is great elements of Alterity with in Chief Bromden that also help to define the very direction of the storyline and plot development especially when, RPM has entered the hospital. The exemplary yet, odd development of Cuckoo’s Nest further unfurls itself as RPM goes about and essentially re-wires the brains of the patients to get them to understand and realize their true self-worth, identity, and personality. They don’t have to hybridize themselves with the hierarchal, nonsensical, bunk that is the social configuration of the hospital – as established by Nurse/Devil Ratched – these people have been made to believe that they were nothing more than a bunch of kooks living in someone else’s world. It’s as if the patients were in a bad Christmas cartoon where they were the toys and were banished to the land of the misfit toys either by themselves or by someone else. This imperialistic, nonsensical crap game that Nurse Ratched attempts to use to get RPM under control is nothing more than a maniacal crap-shoot to maintain her cruelly unusual leverage over the patients. More particularly towards the end of the book when she sends RPM to disturbed to start shootin’ fuses (Electro-Shock Therapy) with him on the fourth floor. However, it wasn’t until then that the great Alterity that had been Chief Bromden for two decades had finally broken down and enabled him to socially engage other people around him – most obviously and definitely the other patients after RPM.
Morrison 7
I found structuralism and semiotics the most interesting from Dr. Kristi Siegel. According to Dr. Siegel’s study, she has stated that structuralism is when a situation has no significance by itself. Structuralists believe that situations are determined by the other elements involved in said situation. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, each of the patients are different but even with all their differences they relate to one another in the ward system. Chief may not talk but his silence only has a significant meaning with the rest of the ward’s activities. A structuralist would say that Chief doesn’t talk because it helps demonstrate McMurphy’s character better than if Chief were to talk. McMurphy tries to include Chief even though he supposedly cannot hear. On a different note, semiotics is believing that all the actions and gestures we perform is a shared meaning to members of a certain culture. During the novel, the patients are in a mental institution because in America’s culture you place people with mental disabilities all in the same facility to be monitored. Other countries might not do this to their people who suffer with schizophrenia or another disease. Mental institutions are part of our culture and when you drive by one it is just known among the people you are with that the patients in that hospital are not able to function in society. Sign vs. Symbol is a great description to help better understand the concept of semiotics. Sign vs. Symbol means that signs is made up of two parts. One part is called a ‘signifier’, which is some sort of written or spoken remark. The other part is called a ‘signified’, which is the concept of the signifier. Basically this means something that happens is defined by a certain concept that people among that culture would understand but others might not. Sturcturalism and semiotics is helpful in understanding One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Christensen 2
What an interesting topic existentialism is! I’ll be honest, just reading Dr. Siegel’s theory was not enough. I had to do other research to understand this very complex topic. Basically, existentialism is saying that no one person in society is exactly the same. It is so true in the novel _One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest_ because even though they are all “lunatics” they are all extremely different. For instance, Chief and McMurphy are both different people, but in the same place for the same reason, they are both insane. It’s the differences between them that make the book gel. McMurphy is loud and obnoxious, Chief pretends to be deaf. McMurphy is a risk taker but Chief stays very much to himself.
Nurse Ratched sees these people as “broken” or not quite right. Nurse insists that they are and makes them feel out of place, and brainwashes them into thinking society will never accept them for who they are when the leave the institution. That is why the never leave. Do you think our good buddy Billy Bibbit wants to stay at the ward? Don’t you think Chief and Harding are sick and tired of all these rules? They weren’t, not until McMurphy came along. McMurphy made the people open there eyes and realize that they are normal and can make a difference in this society. Another good example is how he changed Ratched, uncovering her mask and showing that she is not a robot. Also, look at Dr. Spivey. He has completely gone off the deep end and joined McMurphy’s side because McMurphy showed him that he can have control and can have more say on what happens.
Finally, look at the impact that it had on good old Cheswick. McMurphy turned his back on him and Cheswick felt forced to end it all. He had to answer one of life’s toughest decisions, which can all be related back existentialism.
Rokeh 7
I believe that the Existentialism Theory by Dr. Kristi Siegel makes the most sense to compare to the exhibit. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel about men living in an isolated institution, and all having their own truth to them. This theory is saying that people are tossed into an alien universe where no one has any value, or meaning to them. At the ward, all the men are treated like they can't survive out in society. They are told what is wrong with them and that is how it is. The men have no say on what characteristics they possess. Chief makes everyone believe that he is deaf and dumb so people leave him alone. When really he is a strong, smart, and kind man. Someone might take advantage to this so he just sticks to himself and pretends he has no value, or meaning. Then you have the "combine" that is trying to make the men more normal, well as what normal is to Nurse Ratched that is. The patients subconciously and conciously want to stay in the ward, because they do not feel like they could survive out in the world. Nurse Ratched, I believe, knows this and uses it to make sure the patients stay. She points out there problems and they think to themselves they won't get better. Also in the article Dr. Kristi Siegel explains how a world without sense, all choices are possible. This relates to how everything going on in the ward might not have sense, but the men still have choices. The men do not have to conform to a perfect person like the staff is trying to accomplish. They need to choose to be themselves instead of listening to Nurse Ratched and the aides. They all have the choice to make sense and be who they want to be.
Olson 2
I believe that the Existentialism Theory by Dr. Kristi Siegel makes the most sense to compare to the exhibit. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel about men living in an isolated institution, and all having their own truth to them. This theory is saying that people are tossed into an alien universe where no one has any value, or meaning to them. At the ward, all the men are treated like they can't survive out in society. They are told what is wrong with them and that is how it is. The men have no say on what characteristics they possess. Chief makes everyone believe that he is deaf and dumb so people leave him alone. When really he is a strong, smart, and kind man. Someone might take advantage to this so he just sticks to himself and pretends he has no value, or meaning. Then you have the "combine" that is trying to make the men more normal, well as what normal is to Nurse Ratched that is. The patients subconciously and conciously want to stay in the ward, because they do not feel like they could survive out in the world. Nurse Ratched, I believe, knows this and uses it to make sure the patients stay. She points out there problems and they think to themselves they won't get better. Also in the article Dr. Kristi Siegel explains how a world without sense, all choices are possible. This relates to how everything going on in the ward might not have sense, but the men still have choices. The men do not have to conform to a perfect person like the staff is trying to accomplish. They need to choose to be themselves instead of listening to Nurse Ratched and the aides. They all have the choice to make sense and be who they want to be.
Olson 2
I believe that the Existentialism Theory by Dr. Kristi Siegel makes the most sense to compare to the exhibit. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel about men living in an isolated institution, and all having their own truth to them. This theory is saying that people are tossed into an alien universe where no one has any value, or meaning to them. At the ward, all the men are treated like they can't survive out in society. They are told what is wrong with them and that is how it is. The men have no say on what characteristics they possess. Chief makes everyone believe that he is deaf and dumb so people leave him alone. When really he is a strong, smart, and kind man. Someone might take advantage to this so he just sticks to himself and pretends he has no value, or meaning. Then you have the "combine" that is trying to make the men more normal, well as what normal is to Nurse Ratched that is. The patients subconciously and conciously want to stay in the ward, because they do not feel like they could survive out in the world. Nurse Ratched, I believe, knows this and uses it to make sure the patients stay. She points out there problems and they think to themselves they won't get better. Also in the article Dr. Kristi Siegel explains how a world without sense, all choices are possible. This relates to how everything going on in the ward might not have sense, but the men still have choices. The men do not have to conform to a perfect person like the staff is trying to accomplish. They need to choose to be themselves instead of listening to Nurse Ratched and the aides. They all have the choice to make sense and be who they want to be.
Olson 2
I was most fascinated by the theory of existentialism. Existentialism deals with finding the meaning or purpose of one’s life. I feel that this relates very closely to the novel. All the patients are in the ward because they were not accepted by society and now are considered crazy. Nurse Ratched controls them and makes them all feel like nothing. The patients do not know what their purpose is in life because what they thought was right landed them in a mental institution. According to Wikipedia, “ Søren Kierkegaard, posthumously regarded as the father of existentialism, maintained that the individual has the sole responsibility for giving one's own life meaning and with living life passionately and sincerely, in spite of many obstacles and distractions.” Nurse Ratched has removed all passion and sincerity out of the patients’ lives and has turned them into machines. They operate like clocks and follow everything she orders. Then McMurphy shows up and leads the rebellion. I feel that McMurphy is trying to help the patients and show them that they do have a purpose. He wants them to know that there is more to life outside of the ward and that it is a good life. He wants the patients to have feelings again and love life. Everyone has a purpose in life, even the ones that society says aren’t normal. McMurphy wants the patients to go back to reality to find their purpose and live their lives “passionately and sincerely, in spite of many obstacles and distractions,” just like Kierkegaard says.
Wickett 5
Within all of the topics on Dr. Kristi Siegel’s page, structuralism and semiotics were one of the more challenging topics. Through my research I grasped a little better understanding in them both. Structuralism, a European phenomenon, basically means everything around us is a sign or means something, but separately it is nothing without the rest of the structure. Also that structure can be understood by taking a look at the culture in which it lies. Semiology is closely related to structuralism in meaning all of our actions and everything we do is determined by the environment and culture we are apart of. When viewing things through semiology and structuralism you find meaning and how it is a sign, or symbolizes something. Signs are divided into two aspects: the signifier and signified. Signifier is when you can see, hear, feel, smell or taste and interpret it. Something is signified after it has been repeated over and over and we begin to recognize it. The signified is then always added up to the signifier. Something that means something in our culture may mean something totally different somewhere else. For example in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I found a lot of things to make sense when applying a structuralism and semiotic lens to the novel. For instance, the ball that was thrown through the glass window of the nurse’s station would probably not signify male testicles if it was just in a random environment. But because a basketball (also a very manly sport) was thrown through the window in a “Sexless” ward we can find a deeper meaning to it. McMurphy is in a ward filled with mental patients, and because he is in that environment the staff automatically believes he is one too. However, you can view many other things with structuralism and semiotics to learn more.
Nelson 7
Psychoanalytic Criticism is a topic that I found interesting by Dr. Kristi Siegel. It really connects to the Freudian Critical Lens. Psychoanalytic Criticism studies the writer's psyche, the creative process of the literature, psychological types and principles present within the work, or the effects upon the reader. When looking at "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest", by Ken Kesey, you could say it affects how the reader looks at society. This novel shows how society "cages up" outsiders or people that are different. From this novel you can also get an idea of how Ken Kesey's life was. It is possible that in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" that R.P. McMurphy is supposed to be Kesey. The key terms in this passage also incorperate to the novel, such as "Unconscious". Just like how it is unconscious that people with schizophrenia have hallucinations. The Id, Ego, and Superego are strongly expressed too, McMurphy is satifying his Id by trying to best Nurse Ratched. He is doing the opposite of conforming.
MPeterson pd.2
As I was researching I came across Dr. Kristi Siegel’s Existentialism theory. I found this theory to be the most interesting and relate the most to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This theory explains how a human being can be place in an alien universe and have no personality or meaning whatsoever. This relates to the men in the novel. They are in an isolated ward and the nurses and workers around them make them feel as if they don’t mean much at all. Day after day, they go through the same routine. The patients are convinced they can’t make it in the outside world so they stay in the ward. They aren’t comfortable any other way since they have been in the institution for so long. They have no life to look forward to when they are there. It shows the meaningless human aspect of this theory. Siegel uses the term, authenticity, which means people make choices based on themselves and not their peers. In the novel the patients really have no choice of being authentic; they are all forced to follow Ratched’s rules or have consequences. For example, when R. P. McMurphy doesn’t follow Nurse Ratched’s instructions during the shower scene, he is sent up to the Disturbed ward. McMurphy is a character that fights against the rules and ways of the ward. He is the most authentic person in the novel. He does things his way and he doesn’t take “no” for an answer. He sticks up for the other patients in the ward and they start to feel like they mean something. Chief on the other hand, just goes with the flow of everything around him. As he pretends to be deaf and dumb he loses his individuality and uniqueness. Towards the end of the novel Chief starts to become himself and not follow all the rules just like McMurphy has throughout.
Hovde 2
I thought that the Existentialism article was most interesting. While reading Doctor Kristi Siegel's article on Existentialism I believe it most describes “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” the best because the novel is talking about people being in an isolated area who according to Chief are captured this universe were everything is out to get them. Where existentialism is talking about being captured to this universe were absolutely no one has meaning to life. In the ward the patients are set to believe that they can not survive in life because their minds have been taught in this “universe” that the outside world is scary. In other words Nurse Ratched is the one who puts it in their mind and does not want them to leave. She wants to keep them and torture them. They are also told what their problem is and there is absolutely now way to fix their problems. Chief has everyone to believe he is deaf and dumb but in reality he is this smart, intelligent, and very strong. The staff take a advantage of this agents him so chief stays in his little box were he is comfortable. The article talks about how the world has no sense, all the choices are possible. All the men do not have that certain someone to guide them threw life. The y need to be able to figure things out on their own instead of having someone else do it for them. That is why I found the Existentialism article the most interesting.
brannan 7
I found that Psychoanalytic Criticism was the most enjoyable for me to analyze and apply to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Psychoanalytic criticism portrays to the writers imagination and symbolic principles in their writing. While researching this type of criticism, I realized that Kesey is extremely good at applying this kind of criticism into his writing. He uses his extraordinary imagination in his writing by writing stuff that any person would think is just random, but it would take a scholar to analyze that it has a meaning in his writing.
Psychoanalytic Criticism also portrays how the writing can show the ego and superego of one or many characters. The book is filled with ego and superego situations, for example, the whole time McMurphy disrupting the ward and Miss Ratched; Miss Ratched has a choice of getting her revenge of McMurphy (ego), or just sitting there smiling at him, waiting to for a good opportunity to get back at him without a commotion. Psychoanalytic Criticism also deals with symbolic features and imagination. Ken Kesey has to have quite the imagination to be able to write this book. This book is just full of incredible imagination. A great example of Kesey’s imagination is when he describes Chief seeing Nurse Ratched as a Combine. The film industry isn’t able to use that as a scene because they aren’t capable of that animation for the way Kesey wrote it. This book is also a great book of symbolic features. Kesey uses Chief’s schizophrenia as a gift, not an actual illness as any person would be able to analyze. He also uses the electroshock therapy chair has a symbol of the cross, where that represents Jesus being crucified on the cross. Overall, Ken Kesey is a magnificent author that uses many different types of Criticism, not just the one I picked, but all of the other criticism the rest of my class members researched and blogged about.
J. Nelson 7
In Dr. Kristi Siegel: Introduction to Modern Literary Theory, I found that the most interesting and connected to One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was the Existentialism. I liked reading that it’s about human beings who are cast into an alien universe. In the Cuckoo’s Nest, Chief feels like they’re all in a combine and being treated like robots. Existentialism also talked about atheism, as far as I know the author of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, is an atheist even though there are many parts that refer to bible stories or verses. They also talk about how a person’s life has no meaning or value, which also relates to the Cuckoo’s Nest because Nurse Ratched has no kind feelings for the patients and all of the patients are trapped in the ward. One word they used in the Key Terms was Authenticity. Authenticity means making choices by yourself and not making choices because that’s what everyone else is doing. At first all the patients in the book were being inauthentic and doing everything Nurse Ratched said because they didn’t want to get in trouble and thought it would get them out of there faster, but since McMurphy showed up he made them change and now they’re starting to make their own choices and being authentic. I also liked how they used “Leap of Faith.” All of the patients stick together and have faith that they can get out of the ward. McMurphy also had faith in Chief that he could talk, laugh, and become stronger mentally. Now Chief has shown the other patients that he can talk and he’s not just a deaf and dumb Native American. This article was very interesting and related to the book a ton. Everything I was reading about existentialism reminded me of the novel.
Meyer 2
I chose to study Archetypal/Myth Criticism which is based on the works of C. G. Jung. This type of criticism focuses on genre, individual plot patterns in literature as archetypes. Archetypes are like motifs; they vary but still have the same pattern. Jung thought of archetypes as “primordial images” repeated experiences in our ancient ancestors lives passed down and stored in our “collective unconscious.” Collective unconscious is a term referring a set of memories buried underneath a person’s conscious mind. There are six terms, including collective unconscious and archetype that are quite unique to this type of critical theory. Anima is a term for the inner feminism in a male’s personality, or the way a man views a woman. I think this term is relevant to the character Dale Harding. He does a lot of things that can be considered manly but is quite feminine. Animus is a term for the masculine side of a woman. Nurse Ratched is a good subject to use for this. Ratched tries to hide her feminism, i.e. her breasts, and wants to be in control. Persona is another term unique to Archetypal criticism. Person is the parts of an individual’s personality that they present to the world. All of the characters in the novel have many qualities that make them individuals that they try to hide from the rest of the ward. The patients are afraid that if they were to let these traits show another patient would write about them in the log book, and they would become subject to public judgment at the meetings. The Shadow refers to darker elements of the mind, and are hidden either deliberately or unconsciously. McMurphy however does not hide his shadow. He openly admits to having had relations with woman much younger than he. Also he likes to brag about his stubbornness, his knack for gambling, and his hot headedness.
Minihan pd. 1
As I was going through Kristi Siegel's article, the one that really stood out to me the most was the Psychoanalytic Criticism. Psychoanalytic Criticism focuses on the Freudian lens as well it contributes to how Kesey uses his imagination when he writes "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". Psychoanalytic Criticism consists of many aspects such as Id, Ego, Superego, Imaginary and Symbolic. For example McMurphy sees Nurse Ratched as a "ball-cutter" (imaginary) meaning she controls the men by making them turn against each other. Another example would be when McMurphy smashing a window to get the cigarettes (symbolic) in which the action was alluded to Cheswick's lost battle with Nurse Ratched and due to this action, Nurse Ratched remains calm and waits for McMurphy to make a mistake. An example of an "superego" is Billy Bibbit, his mother raised him differently so he has a different sense of right and wrong and other standards; for all we know he slept with a prostitute and he didn't see it was wrong at all until Nurse Ratched told him it was. An "ego" example would Nurse Ratched and how she shows her "self-importance" and her control over the patients and staff at the ward. Deep down inside Nurse Ratched she is tyrant and has a very high self-esteem because of this. "Id" example is McMurphy serving his "id" by trying to take down Nurse Ratched by being as observant as he can, being the opposite of conforming. Kesey does a really job with the Psychoanalytic Criticism as well as all the other criticisms being viewed on this novel. The "id", "ego" and "superego" are analyzed very fluently in this novel and using this criticism really made this a lot more interesting to me.
Hillman, 1
While reading Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website, I pondered a few of the items until I decided that archetypes was the best exhibit for me to examine. While visualizing through the Archetypal analysis, you must look for recurring images, characters or other literary concepts. An example of archetype would be the color white resembling innocence or signifying death. If the color white were to reappear time after time again along with relating it to the supernatural, then you could say that it is an example of archetypes. One of the men who came up with this concept was Carl Gustav Jung. He said that archetypes occur in universal themes common to everyone whether it is conscious or subconscious. A perfect example of this is in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey used many references to biblical images or ideas. The same type of example occurred in The Lion King when the director of the movie used many references to biblical examples as well. How is this an example of archetype you ask? Well in Kesey’s novel, he either consciously or subconsciously related McMurphy to Jesus when he lays down on the table for Electro Shock Therapy for the first time. After his hands and feet are pinned to the table like the crucifixion, he asks the operator if he could get a crown of thorns while he is at it. In The Lion King, during the scene where Simba talks to his father in the clouds, he relates this to the Bible as well. This reminds me of Jesus’ last supper when he prays to his father, who is also “in the clouds,” to help him receive the courage to do the right thing. Now obviously both of these mastermind creators referred both of their classics to the Bible. According to Carl Gustav Jung, he says that both of these authors either did this on purpose, or it was just ironic how they both related their work to the Bible. In essence, this was in both of their unconscious as they were coming up with this idea.
McClanahan 1
Existentialism is a theory that states that everybody is born into nothing and dies with nothing. The time period in between life and death is your choice and your actions make what your life will be like. If you choose to make your life good, I would disagree with this theory because a good life can never end with nothing. Dr. Kristi Siegel writes that, each person is viewed as an isolated being that conceives the world as having not truth, value, or meaning. Also it is believed that a human must take a “leap of faith” and consciously believe in God. Believing in God consciously is a way to make life great in some people’s eyes. By choosing to do a great thing with your life then there is no way that you would die unhappy or with nothing. Relating this to One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest you can look at Chief Bromden. Chief always chooses to take the easy way out by not talking to anyone or letting anybody know that he can actually hear what people are saying. Chief is silent until McMurphy comes and breaks him out of his shell. By Chief finally talking he made a great choice and he is finally brought out of the nothingness. When Chief comes out of his nothingness and realizes all of the great things he can accomplish he begins living his life to the fullest and making decisions he wouldn’t have usually made without the help of McMurphy. McMurphy can also be viewed with this lens. McMurphy was always making poor choices until him and Chief started becoming friends. By helping Chief McMurphy began to realize he didn’t need to bet or always take the easy way out to end up on top. When Chief finally spoke to McMurphy, he became a more caring person for everybody in the ward.
Kuck 5
Society craves its individuality. That’s why people do, wear, say, think, and act the way they do. We like being us; we like being our own individual selves. This is what Kristi Siegel believes, according to her website, www.kristiseigel.com. She believes in this theory called existentialism. ‘Existentialism is a philosophy that views each person as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe, and conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, value, or meaning.’ I liked reading through this article because I could easily relate it to “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. All people, especially those from the novel, come from completely different walks of life and different backgrounds. Reacting to those situations that may or may not have occurred during a lifetime is very important in making who you come to be. If we think about Chief Bromden in relation to existentialism, then we’ll see how he was brought up in the Indian culture. He was in the stereotypical impoverished, alcoholic, and unsafe lifestyle. He let that show through his past, not sticking out from the crowd. Sure, he was six and a half feet tall, but his voice, emotions, thoughts and opinions were being formed to be the same as everyone else’s. He was losing his individuality every day that he went by without saying a word. Everything slowly went downhill until McMurphy made Chief realize that he is an individual and does have a place to fit into society where he could contribute. Before he came to know his place in the world, he was a solemn and unhappy man. Now that he’s got a friend and a voice, he knows that he can make something of himself, whether he’s inside the ward or out in the real world. He knows he’s got things to contribute. You can also look at existentialism in relation to yourself, not just the media. Like Chief, think about how you fit into society and make yourself be all that you can be as an individual.
Oleson 2
On Doctor Kristi Siegel's website I found the Psychoanalytic Criticism lens to be the most interesting. What goes on in everyone's mind has been studied for centuries, and we all think differently. Sigmund Freud created a theory called Freudian Theory. The theory we have a Id, Ego, and Super ego complex. A example of Psychoanalytic is used all over One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Chief has a supposed fog over his mind that he just can't get out of. Nurse Ratched or referred to as the Big Nurse has this belief that she is better then everyone. She has the power over the ward when RPM or R.P. McMurpy has entered the ward, he challenges her of her power. She thinks that she is starting to loose her grip with the ward and it's patients. Professors and students study this Psyche theory in colleges and high schools. Professors look for the students to uncover what's in these books. Writers create mental problems in books to be analyzed and it's kind of a game to figure out what the author is trying to say. The Id in Cuckoo's nest is McMurphy trying to take the ward over. He wants to have the power of the Big Nurse and wants nurse to be out for good. The ego is how all the patients like the confrontation of Murphy and Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched overpowers McMurphy all the time while he thinks he is winning the battle. The Superego is Chief and his internal "Sensor" as defined on Dr. Kristi's website. His internal sensor is the fog, which is his mind thinking that he is lost in the world. He finds that he doesn't have this supposed fog in the end, and discovers that McMurphy isn't really who he thought he was.
Keller Pd. 5
The Website for Pos-tcolonial studies at Emory university is still a work in progress and has been so since the Spring of 1996. Its purpose is to be a primary source of information for students at Emory University. Although it is also going to serve as a source of information and introduction to the world of Post-colonial studies for people all over the world. The site and the information it holds is not meant to be demanding but in a world where its popularity is rapidly growing it is merely meant to inform and let the world know. Each semester as the students complete assignments the teachers will upload their work for the world to see and be educated about.
Wible 5
For my blog task I found Dr. Kristi Siegel's Feminist theory the most interesting. I believe that it heavily relates to "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest" in many different way. The first thing that comes to my mind is how all of the patients like the Doctor a lot more than they like Nurse Ratched. I believe this is because they have been taught by the past that men are higher on the totem pole than women are. Also this book is very stereo-typical because there are only female nurses which is the role that they are expected to be in. During the time period that this book was wrote in, women were expected to do all of the house duties and to take care of the men, which the nurses must do. Also in this book Women are being shown through Nurse Ratched that they have no feelings and only want to control the men in their lives. This novel also shows Candy as basically being a prostitute that McMurphy knew before he was sent to prison, then the work camp. You know that she definitely has slept around a few times by how she had no shirt under her sweatshirt on the boat after “checking the bottom of the boat” with McMurphy. I believe that this is written this way because of when this book was written, this is all women were expected to do. Where as today they are still expected to do this to a somewhat degree, but it isn't as frowned upon when women want to branch out and get their college degrees and have a full-time job just like men. Even though I chose to analyze with the feminist lens, I believe you could easily analyze with any of the lenses and they would all make perfect sense. This is such a unique book that you can look at it from any direction and it will make sense.
After reading Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website, I found the Existentialism portion the most interesting and most relevant to the cuckoo’s nest. “Existentialism is a philosophy that views each person as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe, and conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, value, or meaning.” This used very widely in the cuckoo’s nest because the book tells about each character and how they are different from each other. You could relate existentialism to McMurphy. If you look at all the characters most of them are the same but they all have their differences. When you look at McMurphy, he is not like the other patients he is about as individual as they come. McMurphy isn’t shy, he isn’t afraid to say what is on his mind, and he isn’t afraid to make Nurse Ratchet mad once in awhile. McMurphy also is different because he does have as many mental problems as the other patients. He as an individual is stronger than the other patients. The other patients wouldn’t do any of this because they know what would happen to them if they broke the rules or went against conformity and became more individualized. Chief is another guy that is very different from everyone else. Chief lives kind of in his own world throughout most of the book. He has a different heritage in his background that most of the patients don’t have. I think out of all the characters Nurse Ratchet represents existentialism the most. Nurse Ratchet is unlike any other character in the book. She wants to be the one who controls everyone, she wants everyone to bow down to her, and she is very mean to all of the patients. She is the most in individual out of them all. Existentialism is closely related to the cuckoo’s nest because its shows how people are individuals.
Thorson 5
I found a connection to Cuckoo’s Nest with Dr. Kristi Siegel’s Existentialism view. Existentialism is a philosophy that views the world and the lives that inhabit it as just meaningless nothings. According to this lens, there is no true meaning behind a human’s actions, feelings, or thoughts. I found lens this extremely relatable to the men in the ward. Nurse Ratched, society, and even the men themselves don’t see their reason for existence. All of the men admire McMurphy because they see he has a profound impact on the ward and the other patients and they strive to be like him, but don’t know how to knock down the walls they’ve set up. They don’t see their potential to make a difference because of how society has treated them throughout their entire lives. A perfect example of this would be Chief Bromden. With help from McMurphy and as Chief’s role model, the reader sees him break out of his hard internal shell he’s created. In part three we see that he begins to defile the system by refusing to clean, and he even starts to interact with the men on the fishing trip; more importantly with McMurphy the night he has his first conversation since he’s been in the ward. Nurse Ratched has taken control of almost every aspect of the patient’s life. The only reason she “cares” for the men is because she cares about power she receives by dominating them. Other than that, she sees no value in them. Society doesn’t see the men’s struggles they face so they would just see them as crazy men in a mental hospital. To society, the patients don’t count because they don’t contribute to the outside world in any way. This is absurd to me because throughout this book I have made connections with characters and I know most of their stories.
Merkel, 2
I enjoyed reading Semiology on Dr. Kristi Siegel’s site. Semiology is the analyzing of signs. This can be applied to human actions. These actions can be the clothes we wear, the food we eat, what we buy, and the body gestures we make. These actions and gestures have meanings, which are signs to analyze in a human. You may even apply Semiology to more than humans, but art, movies, and religion. All of these things send out signs to be analyzed. Also all of these topics can be viewed differently. Sings and signals can mean something entirely different in another culture. In one culture a friendly handshake could mean an entirely different thing, instead of bowing. A red octangular sign means stop in one culture and in another that could be taken as a yield sign. You could analyze why they chose such a sign to mean that or mean something ells. You can take this lens and use it in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. You may even analyze Chief Bromden’s use of fog. Chief’s fog is a sign of being scared and being unconfident. Another situation is Chief not talking and acting deaf. This is also a sign of being scared and being unconfident. Chief believes he is being unnoticed, but this could also draw more attention to him because he is not like the others and he doesn’t blend in. R.P. McMurphy breaks Miss Ratched’s glass widow, not once but twice. This is McMurphy giving out a sign that he has power and cannot be controlled by anything or anyone. Also another way to look at Semiology in this novel is McMurphy coming to the ward. McMurphy had the choice of going to the ward or jail. This is a sign of laziness on McMurphy’s behalf. I’m sure McMurphy thought going to a insane asylum would be much easer than going to jail. I am very glad I get to study different lenses. Knowing and using these lenses only make studying more exciting.
Brown pd.2
The theory that I found to be most interesting was Existentialism by Dr. Kristi Siegel. Basically what this theory means is that every individual starts their life with no meaning and for their life to have meaning, they must provide the meaning to their life. Just like some of the characters in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , some of the patients don’t really do anything with their life until McMurphy shows them that life can be fun and have meaning. For example, Chief, he pretended to be deaf and dumb for almost twenty years, and then McMurphy came around and Chief started to gain courage and stand up and say and do things. This would be the time in Chief’s life that he came out of the nothingness and started to give his life meaning. Chief probably never would have talked or done anything if McMurphy never would have came on the ward. Chief talking was him taking a “leap of faith”, because everything could have turned out really bad from him starting to talk, and it could have turned out really good. He didn’t know whether people would hate him, or accept him if he started to talk. Chief really had to believe in himself and the ones around him to have the courage to start talking after so long of being mute. Chief’s authenticity would be him helping McMurphy fight the black boys in the shower when they wouldn’t leave George alone when he said he didn’t want to get squirted by the salve the back boys had to put on the patients. He went against the codes of ethics for the ward, but maybe it wasn’t against his own ethical codes. Billy also lived a life of nothingness before McMurphy came onto the ward, he never really did much and minded his own business. Once McMurphy started showing everyone that it is okay to be happy and live life even if you are trapped in a hospital ward. The fishing trip really helped Billy to start to come out of his nothingness. He met a girl, one that liked him and that he could make smile, and that helped him break through his shell of nothingness too. But there is one thing that I don’t agree with Dr. Kristi Siegel about, and that would be that life also ends with the same nothingness you started with. I believe that as long as everyone lives their life to the fullestt of their abilites, then they will not end life with nothingness, because they will have achieved greatness throughout their life, and those things will never leave them no matter what.
Bennett 7
While I was reading Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website, I decided that the feminism theory struck the most interest for me. I have a very strong opinion about women's rights. People say that men and women are treated all the same. Which is an extreme false statement. In Cuckoo's Nest there are many examples feminism. Harding assumes his wife is cheating on him, only because other men looked at her. Over all it states that no matter male or female you have some type of feminism in you. Whether men show it or not is totally up to them but even the men say they don't care about anything still have a sensitive side to them. Another way I looked at it was that if a man has any feminism characteristics to him he's "gay" and is looked down upon. The thing that I found interesting is for every 100 girls there are 90.3 guys. Even though women out number men, men still believe they are in control. In everyday society girls are supposed to do the inside work. In the book Nurse Ratched is looked as a manly figure because she is in control of the ward, she controls everything the men do. She tells them when to take there daily pills, when to wake up in the morning, when to eat, and when to sleep. If it could only be that in everyday life.
Grimmius 2
The article that Dr. Kristi Siegel wrote about existentialism I found very interesting. Existentialism is everywhere in today’s society and is also shown in “The Cuckoo’s Nest”. Everyone is his or her own person and no one is alike exactly as someone else. Being accepted for this is key. When people do something that is so called out the normal and act a certain way that people don’t do on a regular bases, it is labeled as “weird” or “freak like” and we are judged because of it. The patients in “The Cuckoo’s Nest” want to stay inside of the ward because they are so afraid of society. They are unique in their own way but society judges them and considers them weird so they were sent to the ward. Also existentialism explains that people make their own choices, from who they are, and it sets the future situations. McMurphy changed the patients in the ward by giving them the confidence that they needed to make them feel strong again. McMurphy also chose to go the ward from the work farm. He even changes the lives of the staff in a way; he puts Nurse Ratched in check and Dr. Spivey is on the patients side and is more involved with them. Horten, from Horten Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss, is correct: “a person is a person, no matter how small.” We shouldn’t be judged just because we aren’t the same as the person next to us and we don’t act the same. Mostly being different is what makes us unique and what makes us more human. If everything was the same then we all really would have conformed and be basically robots. We wouldn’t be happy and we wouldn’t have very many emotions.
Lush period 2
As I researched I found a link that interested me that happened to described more on the feminist lense. It made me think more of the book in a complete feminist lense to show how much females are looked down on in the book. The way Nurse has to act like a man to get any respect is one example. If she were to show her true self for the woman with big breasts that she is the male patients, doctors and staff would not respect her at all. They would look down on her like she was less of a person and not someone they had to respect and listen to, therefore she hides her true self under that white uniform and tries not to let out any part of her feminine self. You could also analyze how Candy (McMurphy’s friend from the outside) is look at like an object when they talk about Billy going on a date with her. They don’t even see her as a person they just see her as someone Billy can lose his supposed virginity to and then be done with. They don’t even have her come for a visit they have her sneak on and I think that is because they are looking at her as an object not as a person that would come to visit them as anyone else would. The Japanese nurse upstairs could also be analyzed like this, she lets her feminine side show and therefore she is regarded as less and doesn’t have hardly any power over deciding when a patient comes and leaves. She is basically just there to patch up the wounds and play mommy for a while until the real power comes and takes the “kids” back to where they want them to be or moves them to a new facility. Therefore I think this book is really sexist and this link is what helped me analyze it more.
Corliss pd. 7
Dr. Kristi Siegel’s article on Existentialism can be interpreted in different ways but is extremely interesting. Existentialism is about everybody being isolated in an alien universe. It is really saying we are all the same when we are born, but in life we change ourselves to be different although in death- we are all the same again. There is “no inherent human truth, value, or meaning”. We are nothing to start with and what we do in our life doesn’t matter, because we are nothing when we die even though in life we try to be authentic. It is interesting to compare this to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in the ward they do what they are told but they have no real life, they are just space and when they die they become nothing. The patients have no effect on society, all isolated to the ward. All people express this Philosophy in different ways, some jump the “Leap of faith” and take to god for answers and others rely on science and logic. This Philosophy especially applies to the chronics that just sit there isolated from every other person there with them. Existentialism also states “Man [Woman] is condemned to be free”. Saying that life is absurd and that it doesn’t matter what we do. “In a world without sense, all choices are possible” as McMurphy does by creating chaos for Nurse Ratched. McMurphy can enjoy his life gambling and Chief can care about the “Machine” but they are just isolated in their own universe, only to become nothing in the end. Each patient of the ward could be considered authentic for their choice to be out of society McMurphy is the perfect example for this, his life is what he made it, and it suited him. Life is what you make it as Kesey expressed this in his characters.
Like pd. 7
While reading through Dr. Kristi Siegel introduction to modern literary theory, existentialism stood out to me the most because it relates to the most to the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. After reading about existentialism it tells you about a person that comes into this world has no real meaning for life or does not know what to do or what to expect during their life time. Nobody has anything to start out with but then at the end you still don’t have anything. Then the word absurd comes into to play which is used to describe existence which means a world without inherent meaning or truth. To me that makes no sense at all but then it says “In a world without sense, all choices are possible”. I feel like that is one of our biggest problems in our society today. So existentialism can be found everywhere in today’s world. Religion is a huge part of existentialism. It also states "Man [woman] is condemned to be free." I think that is saying we are gifted with the burden of freedom. This freedom doesn’t guarantee that we are right in what we do and when it comes to religion then we must take the “leap of faith” to whatever we believe in because we cannot be sure that it is true. One of the major terms used in Existentialism is Authenticity, and I’m going to compare it with Miss Ractched because she “authenticity” kills her patients by not letting them converse between on and another, makes them believe that they are worthless in their life and that they need to stay here with her in this institution for the “stupid”. They need to stay here so she can supposedly “help them take their pills” but all she does is brain wash them, make them all look like zombies.
Reta7
As I was studying Dr. Kristi Siegel’s theories the one that kind of jumped out at me was Existentialism. This I thought it related to the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest the best. The thing that really stuck out to me about this was when she talked about the “leap of Faith.” By definition it means the acknowledgement that religion is full of risks but you keep faith in it anyways. It is putting yourself on the line for something you believe in. When I saw this I thought of the scene in the book when McMurphy needs one more vote to get the majority vote to watch the World Series. Chief then takes a “leap of Faith” and raises his hand. He took a huge risk by raising his hand and going against the Big Nurse Ratchet and even possibly showing that he was not deaf this whole time. Chief left his fog and put his neck on the line for something that he wanted. This is his first step in having authenticity, the authenticity of which Nurse Ratchet kills when the patients come to the ward. Dr. Kristi Siegel also talks about how people are condemned to be free and to not be absurd. In the ward none of the patients are free. They have to do everything the Big Nurse says and have to do it when she says. They have no chance to be free and do what they want. They are afraid to be who they really are and have authenticity. Then when McMurphy comes he changes this. He has the patients start rebelling against Nurse Ratchet and making their own decisions. Most importantly, however, he has them finally start laughing and doing what makes them happy, having them live life and be free.
Petersen 7
As I was researching different topics, I came across Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website and all the different topics she had. The topic that I thought was the most intriguing and related most to The Cuckoo’s Nest was existentialism. Existentialism is described as a person being isolated or in an alien universe and sees the world as possessing no inherent truth, value, or meaning, according to Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website. This relates a lot to the novel because the patients are isolated on the ward. They are controlled so much by Nurse Ratched that even if they want to leave they won’t. This is because the black boys and all the other nurses make them feel like they haven’t changed at all and scare them of the outside world and society. The patients don’t know any better either. They have been in the same place for most of there lives and don’t even remember most of their childhood. Chief has this happen to him and then once he realizes what is going on comes out of the fog and starts remembering all of his childhood at once. That just shows how much life they have lost by being kept on the ward. Another thing that I found on Dr. Siegel’s website was the vocab. box at the end of each section. As I was reading the words under existentialism, one of them I have not heard a lot of. Authenticity was the word. It is described as a being a “personal code” but I think of it more as someone’s faith or morals. When someone decides to do something they do it because they want to and believe in it, not because society has made them think it is ok or pressured them into doing it. This relates to the patients in the novel. They do things because Nurse Ratched has pressured them into doing it or just making them believe that is the right thing to do. They don’t use their own judgment because they don’t really know what their judgment is anymore. She has taken it away from them. Once the patients start to come out of the fog and realize what is actually going on they will regain their thought process and hopefully get off the ward and back into society.
Benz7
For my blog task I decided to write on structuralism and semiology by Dr. Kristi Siegel. Structuralism is a way of thinking about the world which is predominantly concerned with the perceptions and description of structures. It claims that the nature of every element in any given situation has no significance by itself, and in fact is determined by all the other elements involved in that situation. It’s like the patients in the cuckoo’s nest. All the actions they do the nurses say don’t have significances by its self. But if they were to stand together they could have a big influence on each other and everyone there. Structuralists believe that all human activity is constructed, not natural or "essential." That is how Chief feels like in the book a lot of the time. He feels like other people are controlling him. And it’s also like the nurses. They control all the patients’ activities in the ward. It likes subjects rather than individuals. This is like the ward and how they like every one being the same and not individuals. They always want to be in control of everything. Semiology is the science of signs. Semiology is the proposes that a great diversity of our human action and productions. Our bodily postures and gestures, the social rituals we perform, the clothes we wear, the meals we serve, the buildings we inhabit ect. It also likes to use sign vs. symbols. It’s like how we happen in our world today. How we act and live day to day. And when it says that it proposes great diversity of human action it’s just like the diversity in the ward. How everyone is so different yet have many things in common with each other. They are all there because they feel safe there and don’t want to go out in to the real world where it’s unsafe to them.
period 1 Jones
I found Marxism to be the theory that I understand the best and that I find the most applicable to One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. The Marxist Critical Theory analyzes the economic and social structures of the world in which we live. It goes in depth and analyzes the struggles of different social classes, materialistic conditions, and economic organization. This is the basis of how our capitalistic economy functions today. The wealthy are the strong and the poor are the weak. Marxist Theory says that the amount of labor or work you put into society has a direct correlation to the return you receive in the form of a commodity. In our society if you work hard and get good grades, you will get to go to college. If you work hard and excel in college, you get a college degree. A college degree can get you a job and if you work hard to keep moving up the social ladder, you will get more money, a bigger house, and a hotter spouse. Marxist Theory says that those who do not work hard for society fall into a life-sucking abyss. People who do not work hard in school and college cannot succeed in the world we live in today. After researching more, I have applied this theory to Randle Patrick McMurphy. I believe that McMurphy did not win the environmental lottery, but he has won the genetic lottery. McMurphy is strong, athletic, and clever, but he rebels against society. McMurphy’s problem with fighting and gambling culminated in his being sentenced to prison. He believes he can cheat the system and is transferred to the asylum to serve out the rest of his sentence. He rebels against Nurse Ratched and tries to live in narcissistic bliss, but that’s not how capitalism works and it ultimately costs McMurphy his freedom and his life. As a Marxist critic would say, “Only the strong survive.”
Klumpp 5
Dr. Kristi Siegel’s theory of Existentialism seemed to be the most interesting to me. This theory shows how someone should act for themselves and not just rely on other people to do things for them. In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest it shows how all the patients were relying on each other a lot and just doing what the big nurse wanted them to do. Before McMurphy got to the ward it was like an empty world in which people were trying to find themselves but didn’t know how or where to start. The ward at that time was not filled with any authenticity due to the outside world and the nurses conforming every patient. As soon as McMurphy gets there they are shown some light in how to be different and stand up for what they want and not just conform like the nurse and society say they should. McMurphy shows the patients how to think freely and live life his way and not by anyone else’s standards. In this book McMurphy was being isolated because he was the only mostly sane person in the ward trying to show others how they could live their lives. Chief Bromden was also isolated because he was silent for twenty years and acted deaf and dumb until McMurphy showed him the light. Chief is like an alien in a sense because he let people do anything to him and doesn’t care enough to show his intelligence. He felt like he was dumb and didn’t care enough to stand up for himself.
I think Existentialism is a good theory because if you start with nothing than on the journey anything is possible to happen, but starting with nothing leads to ending with nothing. This book shows a lot of Existentialism by showing how no one wants to talk in the meetings because they are scared of being made fun of by other patients. At the start of this book all the patients seemed like aliens from different planets trapped in one little area of the world. Everyone felt like they had nothing in their lives and were too scared to ask for help when they needed it. With the world taking everything away from them they were left with nothing and did not know where to go from there because they were all left in a strange place with strangers. Over all there was a lot of Existentialism happening in this book.
McConniel 2
In the introduction to modern literary theory by Dr. Kristi Siegel I found Existentialismto be the most unique to me. In Existentialism she says that each person is an isolated being that is cast into an alien universe. That person conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, meaning, or value. She also states how your life is nothingness. I found this interesting because every one is different I. The system of society. Each person looks at our world differently and believes in different things. Some things are more important and have different meanings to some people then others. There are those people that think they have no meaning and live for no reason but everyone has something. You may not think it but I think everything happens for a reason so as Dr. Siegel says if you take that "leap o faith" you will find meaning in your life. That brings me to the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". I think McMurphy felt in his early life that he didn't have a meaning and his life was nothingness. Something must have happened or McMurphy must have taken his "leap of faith" and once he got to the ward he decided to make a difference and give himself meaning. He realizes how all the men look up to him and maybe that was his "leap of faith" or something, but he knows his life has meaning now. Also I think Chief has taken a "leap of faith" and found meaning to his life. So to me that is why McMurphy acts the way he does and does the things he does. That is how I compared Dr. Siegel's definition of Existentialism into the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Also how I analyzed Siegel's meaning of Existentialism into our own world and society.
Crow 2
After reading through quite a few of the links, I found myself going back to reread Kristi Siegel's definition of Marxism. Her summary of it was almost exactly what I had already known Marxism to be, but the vocabulary terms made a few things click for me. Commodification, for example, is the attitude of valuing things only for their power to impress others. Almost immediately this drew connections to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. This term reminds me a lot of McMurphy; he values many things just to impress people, though many of these things aren't necessarily physical objects. I see McMurphy as a somewhat selfish character who thrives on having dominance and people being impressed by him. He achieves this by always trying to have one up on everyone. It started when he first arrived at the ward; his ultimate goal is to “break” Nurse Ratched. If he does this, he will have immense power over all of the patients and their undying respect. He also values money and cigarettes, so he bets for them. Overall, having these things in the prison ward doesn't really help McMurrphy in any way physically. It does however, give him just one more way to impress and dominate everyone else. Another striking term is Superstructure. Basically, this is the already established ideological ways in which things are structured. For example, in the patients minds it is already established that the mental institution is where they need to go in order to recover. This was an almost understood thing that they never had questioned, before McMurphy. I relate the way McMurphy disrupts the structure of the ward to things in life that we have always thought to be perfect, and may not actually be. Through examples like this, I can give proper insight towards my surroundings and not be eaten by the combine!
Geurts Pd. 2
Through researching different literary criticisms and theories, I found Dr. Kristi Sigels Existentialism Theory to be the most intriguing and most relatable to “One Flew of the Cuckoo’s Nest.” This theory is a philosophy that helps us view the world as nothing more than a world without sense. We come from nothingness into nothing so that we may gradually end with nothingness once again. Within the nothingness that it says we enter we are isolated by our own thoughts and actions viewing everything else the world does as absurd. The world has no society, human truth, values, cultures, and essentially no meaning at all. There are many ways that we can see the existentialism theory through Ken Kesey’s novel. The first way I see existentialism in the novel is through the narrator Chief Bromden, who suffers from schizophrenia. Throughout the novel we are shown how chief is viewing, understanding, interpreting, and going through everything that happens in the ward. He is isolated in his own mind, thoughts, and actions, which causes the nurses, patients, and black boys to misunderstand him. We see his self-isolation through the way he is constantly flipping from reality to what is going on in his head. He often times confuses his reality with the reality of what actually happen. One quote from the novel that really explains this well is when Chief says, “But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen”(8). He says this because it didn’t happen in reality however Chief believed it to be to because subconsciously that’s what he thought really happened. Another way we see existentialism is through the aguish the men feel but don’t know how to escape. Their whole existence is wrapped around themselves within a room full of people. They hurt yet don’t know how to escape this anguish, anger, and loneliness. Within the ward they are nothing and their lives will end with nothing and they can’t fix it, which causes them to have a lost sense of the world. This causes the men to lose any sense of meaning they may have had for the world, society, culture, and all values they had.
Beldin 1 ^
Everything we do, say and think can be analyzed. There is a reason for any small thing we do in life, whether we know why consciously or subconsciously. Though researched by Dr. Kristi Siegel, I would like to expand on the topic of semiology. Semiology is the study of signs and sign processes, analogy, symbolism and signification. Semiotics is broken down into three different categories, including semantics, syntactics and pragmatics. Syntactics refers to the formal properties of signs and symbols, it goes on to further describe how words are combined to form phrases then sentences. A sign system correlates to how it’s transmitted or perceived by others. Humans use different sounds, facials and body movements to show emotion. Others comprehend your actions from a personal opinion and decide what you’re thinking or how your day went. The men from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are giving off a very noticeable emotion, and its all the same, defeat and weakness. Nurse Ratched have those men so undeniably brainwashed they do whatever she says, just so they stay in her good graces. In my opinion, body movements have such a greater impact to lead to someone’s feelings compared to their actual words because they can always try to bluff their way out of a crappy day while their physical body shows otherwise. They could be hunched over and head down, but say that their just fine, “why do you ask?” No, they are unhappy. That’s where the quote “A picture is worth a thousand words” puts so much more into the situation rather than a quote from a person. Semiology also relates closely to binary oppositions. In the novel, Nurse Ratched likes to think of herself as giving the men confidence and hope, but in reality their going through despair and hardship under her care. She is also taking away their independence , making all of them conform to her standards of being normal. Nurse Ratched almost seems to want to neuter them of their masculinity and make them convert to her side of femininity, which obviously isn’t going to happen to the men still holding on to what little pride they have left. McDonald.2
When reading through the different critical/theoretical approaches that Dr. Kristi Siegel has, one of them caught my attention the most. I find that the existentialism lens is the most intriguing and interesting lens to me. To me, I think it is fascinating to look at all of us humans have nothing to start with and also end with nothing. I couldn’t agree with this theory more, but if we take the “leap of faith” that she refers to, then I think we have something to live for. It is up to us to decide what we want to do with our lives and if we are going to make an impact on something or someone, or just live throughout life as a ‘zombie’; really not caring what happens to us or anyone around us. If we take the leap of faith as she talks about, we consciously decide to believe in God which also takes a commitment. If you decide to take the “leap of faith” in your life, then I also think you have authenticity which she describes as making choices based on your own individual ethic or commitment rather than what society tells us. Now relating this to the book I think many of the patients are inauthentic, because they just go along with what Nurse Ratched tells them to do. But McMurphy on the other hand, is very authentic in his own way and will not just go along with what Nurse Ratched says. He organizes his own fishing trip, and doesn’t let anything that Nurse Ratched may say or pin up on the bulletin board keep him from pursuing the trip. He even gets ten other patients to sign up, and not only do the patients go with but he also gets the doctor to go along with them. He is very influential to the other patients and not just putting his life to waste. He may have been born with nothing like the existentialism lens states, but that is not stopping him from making a difference in someone else’s life and trying to change how the institution is run.
Van Hemert, 5
While browsing through Dr. Kristi Siegel: Introduction to Modern Literary Theory, I found Existentialism to be very intriguing and worth learning about. This “philosophy views each individual as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe….” This reminds me of the ward. It is full of many men that are in a foreign place to many “normal” people. For any typical person, going into the insane asylum would be like stepping on Jupiter. But the acutes and chronics in the ward being put outside of their “comfort zone” feel out of place and as if they shouldn’t be a part the world with humans without mental disorders.
“A person’s life, then, as it moves from the nothingness from which it came, toward the nothingness where it must end, defines an existence which is both anguished and absurd.” This point made me go back to Chief Bromden. When he was on the reservation and the whites came to overpower it, he was made feel as if he was nobody, which is where he went to his state of “deaf and dumb”. Then when he was sent to the institution, he realized he was still just a number and remained deaf and dumb to the point of where all they made him do was clean. He became the nobody of the ward, besides the tall Indian guy, where he figured he would spend the rest of his life.
The central dilemma, according to Existentialism is: “Man [woman] is condemned to be free. In contrast to atheist existentialism….” If this is true, Big Nurse is acting against it and being the atheistic character. She is trapping the patients by not letting them play their own games and do what they want to do to feel like they belong somewhere and make their own decisions within the ward. Nurse Ratched is holding them back from their real capabilities of being “human”. The acutes and chronics are pushing her buttons with McMurphy’s help to try to be free and an individual, but Nurse Ratched is being the atheist and holding them back. So McMurphy takes his choice “leap of faith” filled with risks. He has tested Nurse’s authority numerous times by placing bets, not taking medications, or just acting against her completely. This is all a part of his leap to try to get the patients to be free and try to live their lives no longer as machines, but actual functioning human beings.
Cushing 5
I found the New Historicism lens to be quite interesting and something that I feel I have already used. The New Historicism acknowledges and understands the importance of the literary text, but they also analyze the text with an eye to history. They focused mainly on the historical content and historical contexts such as the author’s life or intentions in writing the work. Mainly what this means is that with the New Historicism lens you can analyze the author’s writings by comparing it to certain events in history. You can do this by looking at the date and time he wrote is book or by comparing the elements and events in his story to an even in history that has the similar or the same elements and events in it as well. You can use the New Historicism lenses to compare the book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” to the Cold War on Communism. This book was written in the early 1960s which was about right at the brink of the Cold War which might have had some reason to why Kesey wrote the book. In the book, Nurse Ratchet had total control over the whole ward and how she had many strict rules on all the patients. She never used force on any of the patience.In this way, Nurse Ratchet represented Communism in general because she was in charge of everything and she always had a close eye one. She had very strict rules on everyone and if you broke them there were also enormous consequences to go with them just like in Communism. She also ruled with an iron fist and was extremely paranoid just like Stalin was. All the patients were afraid to do anything to her to upset her, but McMurphy wasn’t afraid and wanted to fight back. In the same way many people in America were afraid of Communism, but our government wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Although McMurphy fought against Ratchet for power, he still have to suffer the consequences and got EST. In the same way even though we fought against Communism we still suffered the consequences as well with the deaths from the Vietnam War. Although, when the book was finished we were still Cool War. I still think Kesey was trying to show us through McMurphy that we should never give up on the battle towards Communism even if it does mean a few sacrifices must be made, we should still never give up our freedom.
Stoltenburg 5
I decided to write about Existentialism from Dr. Kristi Siegel: Introduction to modern literary theory website. I decided to go with existentialism because I think it is a cool theory and it is easy for most everyone to understand. This theory says that when a person comes to be or is born they have no meaning or purpose in life. This means that from when a person is born till when they are dead, they decide their purpose in life. They have the power to make any choice that they desire. Existentialism is easily shown in Ken Kasey's novel One Flew Over the cuckoos nest. One person you can look at with the existentialism theory is Chief. Chief is technically a nobody in the ward. He just stands around pretending to be deaf, dump, and insane. It really shows that his life has no meaning or purpose. The moment Chiefs life starts to mean something to him or anyone else, is when a man name Randal Patrick Mcmurphy is introduced. This man effects Chiefs life more than they both realize. Mcmurphy changes Chiefs life because it is him who opens up Chiefs understanding of life. Chief starts to think of choices he has to make to adapt better to things around him. His big choice is weather to let out the big secret of him being deaf and dumb. He even goes as far as to think of his consequences if he were to talk or acknowledge someone. He figures that if someone were to find out that it would be a disaster because they would know that he was listening to them all along. They would be very upset because they told things in confidence around him that he wasn't suppose to heir but he did. He first makes this decision subconsciously. When Mcmurphy gives him gum he says “Thank you”. From this point on he decides to give his life meaning buy talking to Mcmurphy and helping him out on a conscious level. After the big first choice he continues to grow and give himself a purpose in life by making more choices.
Dede 1
I connected with the feminism paper from Dr. Kristi Siegel, the most. Pretty much everything you read, hear, and see, still today, you can use feminism on it. Ever since the beginning of the world there was standards for woman to follow that made them lower then men standards. Such as: birthing kids, cooking, cleaning, extra while the man went out and brought money into the house. Still today you can see woman are not hired for pacific jobs and can be paid less then a male for doing the same job and doing it just as well as the male would. Some things that woman do get, that men are mad about, would be: their insurance are lower, sometimes its easier for them to get out of something, and they pretty much can say a guy rapped them and he’s done for. There should be equal trials, jobs, pay, and extra for males and females over everything. If society would stop looking at the past and the woman role I believe we could get society to have females and males more equal in life.
Almost in every book or movie you can but a feminist lens up to it and find something against a gender. Weather its talking about there “roles” in society, the mind of a male, females obsession of cute and fuzzes. There are many things that are under the feminism category, you can see it everywhere you look such as: people say that’s a girl/boys color, that’s more of a boy/girl movie, I’m a man I can’t hold you purse, or you can get your own tampons I’m a man. I have great respect for the men that will hold a girls purse and go to the store and by her tampons and woman that take the world and put it in there pocket cause they know they can do anything such as politics’, farming, extra.
-Schroeder, 5th
When researching for this blog, I found Kristi Siegel’s theory of existentialism to be most interesting. I found it most interesting because I thought it was an unique way of looking at individuality. “Each person as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe, and conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, value, or meaning.” This statement is some really deep stuff. I think this says that all of us have the choice to be, believe, and think whatever we want. I agree with this to a certain extent. When we are young, we are like sponges. We absorb all of the information we can that’s around us. That means if you are stuck in a racist family growing up, chances are you’re going to be a racist. That’s just how life works. I also thought this theory related to the book most. In the theory it states, “Men are condemned to be free.” This is interesting because in the book, the men aren’t free at all. They are told how to act, how to feel, and what to think. This goes against what the theory states. Every character in this novel has struggled at some point trying to discover who they are, and what their purpose is. Is this theory against locking a man up? I think so. In reality though, it doesn’t work that way. We need to protect ourselves from those who will hurt others. Those people deserve to be locked up for the good of the world. That’s just common sense. It’s also a very harsh way of punishment if you think about it. Locking someone up for the rest of their lives for making a mistake, but I also think it’s necessary. I really enjoyed reading and studying all of these passages/ theories, because they made me think deeply, and in that sense I think I have grown more intelligent.
Ben 1
While browsing Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website, existentialism caught my eye. This philosophy states that an individual is born into an unfamiliar universe with nothing and die with nothing. What you conceive between birth and death is totally up to you. This reminds me of Mr. C’s saying, “Work harder, earn more.” I think this statement is very accurate, because the harder you try and the more you do, you will get further in life. Reading the links provided in this section, the word “individual” was used quite often. That is an important word when it comes to studying existentialism. Nobody is the same, everybody thinks and acts differently. What is weird to one person may be normal for another person. One of the terms Dr. Siegel uses is authenticity. In the context she uses, it deals with the choices a person makes without the influence of society. In other words, a choice based on your own personal beliefs consciously or subconsciously. A decision made based on the influence of something, like conforming, would be considered “inauthentic”. “Leap of faith” was another term used in this article. When it comes to someone choosing a religion, it is based on a person’s conscious decision about what they think is right. Not knowing if a specific religion is the truth, you have to trust your decision and commit to it. This is where the phrase “leap of faith” comes from. Now to connect this philosophy of existentialism to the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. The patients were born into a world where they are unfamiliar with and don’t fit in. This is why they are in the ward, where they feel safe and are around other people like themselves. Basically, they are hiding from the real world, because they think they cannot make it and don’t fit in. Wasting their life and heading towards dying with nothingness.
-Grogan 5
I decided to read about Structuralism on Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website. In my reading, I found many similarities between the Structuralism theory, and the way the institution is run in the novel _One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_. In the article, it says that “…the nature of every element in any given situation has no significance by itself, and in fact is determined by all the other elements involved in that situation.” To me, this seems like an explanation of a machine, or the Combine. In the book, Nurse Ratched is obsessed with making the institution run like a machine, forcing every worker and every patient play their role in her machine, and if one person (part) fails, then the machine will stop running. In the novel, McMurphey plays the role of the part that does not work, causing other parts (patients) to fail, causing the failure of the machine. At the part of the story where McMurphy begins to cooperate with Nurse Ratched, the machine starts to run efficiently again because all of the parts are playing their roles. The article also states that all human activity is not natural, but it is constructed. This is very similar to the Combine in the novel because all people are forced to act in a certain manner and are not committing actions for themselves, but are committing the actions that were designed for them. The article also says that one’s actions, no matter how small they may be, are working towards a higher purpose. In the novel, the higher purpose would be the running of the Combine, forcing everybody to conform and destroying any man, woman, or child who refuses to conform. I believe Dr. Siegel’s analytic theories are a great tool to use in seeing the scientific side of the English language and literature.
Ekeren 5
The topic that struck me as the most interesting would have to be psychoanalytic criticism. I learned that psychoanalytic criticism focuses on the psyche of the writer and the psychological types and principles within the works of literature. Also it deals with how the readers are affected upon by the literature. Some of the theory is based on Freud's model of the psyche and Lacan's model. It deals with how the writer's and our id, ego, and superego help us to perceive a novel. Applying this theory to One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest we can tell many things. One is the fact that McMurphy is very id driven. He only lives to serve himself and rarely cares about others. One could also infer that McMurphy has an unconscious desire to be with Nurse Ratched. The Nurse herself could be seen as id based, that she wants to be in control over people. Chief Bromden could be seen as an superego based character. He seems to know a definitive difference between right and wrong. This can be seen when Chief says that Ratched is an evil robot, knowing that how she treats the patients is wrong. Another idea that was interesting was constructive acceptance, which is the adaptation of the ego to meet the demands of the id and superego. This can also be seen in the way the Murphy changes throughout the book to balance out what he wants to do for himself and things he wants to do to help the other patients. In the beginning of the novel, McMurphy could be seen as stuck in the mirror stage of his life. He is so infatuated with himself that he sees that everyone else can see the world as he does. The Nurse is seen trying to reach the real state of the psyche, that represents all that one is not and does not have. She feels that she should be in control of everything in the ward.
Ladwig 5
I decided to research psychoanalytic criticism because it is by far the most interesting to me. Psychoanalytic criticism peaks my interest because it deals with the mental and emotional side of life. I think the mental and emotional state of mind is much more powerful and important than the physical. I believe that a person must be mentally stable because it affects a persons physical state. Norman Holland thought that a piece of literature showed more of the reader, rather than just the text. While psychoanalyzing Kesey's novel, I observe that woman are much less dominant. This could be for multiple reasons. Kesey could have had an abused mother, an abusive mother, or both. Kesey also gives most of the men in the story a low self esteem. He might have had an abusive dad whom he once thought was very powerful. Kesey may have realized later in life that his dad was very weak as a man when he chose to abuse him. Jacques Lacan had a theory which stated that unconscious mind was a language trying to speak out. He analyzed literature as the reason for dreams and analyzed dreams as helpful tool of literature. Kesey and The Cuckoo's Nest would be analyzed as a dream that Kesey might have had, rather than just his imagination. Reading Kesey's novel could tell us that he had ridiculous dreams. There is also a possibility that the unconscious mind could represent a drugged mind. Kesey may have had this ridiculous imagination from drugs, but still relating to life situations. Kesey's novel is essentially life in an unconscious mind. Anything can happen in the unconscious mind and anything does happen in the novel. Lacan agrees with Freud's theory of the Oedipus complex. This states that a child wishes to replace a parent of the opposite sex in order to receive more attention from the remaining parent, whether it be consciously or unconsciously. Lacan had three orders of subjectivity. They are symbolic order, imaginary order, and real. The symbolic order would be the beginning of childhood when children use single words to symbolize a symbol. In the novel, a patient continuous says "Tired!", which is a symbol that could mean pure exhaustion or actually sleepy. The imaginary order is a mirror stage in which a person may see themselves in something or someone else. The patients in Kesey's novel all see a part of themselves in each other. McMurphy shows Chief his true strong and powerful side when McMurphy makes him lift the control panel. Whether or not the patients realize their similarities in each other, eventually they all bring out the good and the bad in each other. The last order of subjectivity the real. This deals with the experiences in life that are not able to be comprehended. An example of this is death. Nobody knows exactly what death is or what it is like to experience death. We symbolize death as weakness or suffering. Society may have over analyzed death and may have comprehended it wrong. We cannot imagine death. There are symbols that represent death but could be false and there is no one that directly knows death. The real stage is the most interesting to me, because it is the least thought about, yet it is the most profound type of judgment in life that could in the end conotate a bad message.
Boscaljon Period 2
When reading Dr. Kristi Siegel’s theories, existentialism stuck out to me most because I immediately thought of some of the guys on the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Chief, for example, feels isolated which is why he doesn’t talk to anyone and pretends he is deaf. He sees the ward as a combine, and sees machinery as a daily part in life, the world to him possesses no inherent truth. The men in the disturbed ward believe their lives are nothing, and they are simple waiting for it to turn into the nothingness where they end. Before McMurphy came I suppose all of the men on the whole ward believed that, too.
I preferred surrealism, though; mainly because it’s fun to look at things or think about things irrationally. I think most of the things we feel and do in life are irrational. For example, jealousy is a completely irrational feeling, and yet we feel it all of the time. I sometimes get jealous about people I don’t even know, for example Nick Jonas dating a girl, which would make me jealous. How odd! When we fight with people, we say things that we don’t mean and that we know would purposely hurt the person we are talking to. That’s absurd to me, or better yet, an irrational behavior. Also, with surrealism is imagination, something else that is done everyday. Whether it be daydreaming, or dreaming in general. I imagine scenarios all of the time, whether it be how the talk is going to go with someone, or how a talk I want to have with someone. Imagining is something that I feel keeps us all young; you never can lose your imagination. No one can tell you how to imagine things or how to dream things, which is what makes people so unique. Included in surrealism is the function of chance. I’d like to believe in chance over choice, it feels more real to me. You can’t pick how things are going to turn out; you just have to let it unfold.
Speiser7
Sivertson 5
Ok I don’t mean to beat a dead horse but I’m doing my blog on Marxism. We have talked about this lens the most because it is the most important. When I was skimming Dr. Kristi Siegel’s site the topic that popped the most was the Marxist lens but I thought oh we have already talked about that so much ill find a different one but I just decided to look at the Marxist articles and they go far more in depth than we did in class. Just look at the idea of Commodification – the act of valuing things not for their usefulness but for their ability to impress others and or its resale value- is a very interesting topic I mean who doesn’t have something just because it looks impressive. Simply look at the wardrobe of any person today (girls more than boys but boys still do it) and you will find clothing that was meant to look good and impress others but they offer little to no protection form the elements. You can use this to look at nurse ratched’s window to the nurses’ station. It really has little purpose to the nurses job she could function perfectly well if there was no glass there but they have it there to impose their power over the patients in the ward. She uses that glass to impress the patients on how much more powerful she is. Superstructure –“"The social, political, and ideological systems and institutions”- is also a key term in Marxism that we have not discussed much. Whenever we talked of the superstructure we referred to it as the combine. From my understanding the superstructure is the man, in the case of our school it is the teachers with “Dr.” Talcott at the head, in the cuckoo’s nest the superstructure is the nurses with nurse Ratched leading and yes I did just kind of compare nurse to Talcott.
I chose to use the theory existentialism to analyze One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest because I have looked into the theories of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard before. My research was somewhat limited due to the fact that it's hard to wrap your mind around without the help of someone who understands the philosophy more deeply. I really resound with what Nietzsche has to say with a lot of topics, especially ones to do with religion/Christianity, but I also like how Kierkegaard relates his philosophy to Christianity itself. I like what the theory of existentialism promotes in terms of how you're born with nothing and leave with nothing. It seems to me like that promotes that material things don't matter that much in the long-run. I like how it also represents taking a step back and looking at the background of a person and seeing all of the factors that they have had in their life that have influenced them to act the way they act or look the way they look. For instance, I really like this band called Cradle of Filth, and right now I'm reading their book called The Gospel of Filth to learn their background and all the things that have influenced them. I've done this with other musicians that I really like by reading the autobiographies of people like Brian Warner (Marilyn Manson), Brian Welch (Head), Reggie Arvizu (Fieldy), and Joseph Bruce (Violent J). But you can also use the theory of existentialism to look at One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest which is what this blog is essentially about. The theory of existentialism explains that all humans should be viewed as if they're from another planet and are born with authentic actions. This relates to the book because, essentially, each of the characters are like aliens compared to one-another, even more so than most people. These people have things that are “wrong” with them that separates them from the rest of us. They're basically born on another planet and have authentic actions because they don't have the societal filters that most “normal” people have. This gives us a great option for looking at people, I just wish that more people would stop just talking about it, and start practicing it.
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Psychoanalytical Criticism by Dr. Kristi Siegel is the topic that I found interest in. This topic is highly focused on the Freudian Lens and its nature between the id, ego, and the superego. Psychoanalytical Criticism can possibly focus on the writers’ psyche, the creative process, psychological types along with principles present within works of literature, and/or the effects upon its readers. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, tons of Freudian points are displayed. R.P. McMurphy is a huge example of this lens. He is a man who is almost completely sucked into his id and a few things he does to show this are things like: he goes against his ego and superego by not obeying the rules in ward and just being himself. On his ward, Nurse Ratched controls it like a Nazi dictator in her little prison camp. McMurphy loves to gamble and this also shows his id controlling him; he takes all the men’s cigarettes and their money. But McMurphy isn’t just a bad guy, he still shows somewhat of an ego or superego during the first quarter of the book when he tries to lift the control panel. He has cockiness and self esteem, but when he fails to succeed in lifting the control panel, we notice that his hand a bleeding from the sharp corners and you see how he is a little crushed in side. You can hear the pain in his voice; he is letting out a little bit of his ego. Also, I believe that McMurphy is a symbol of the Freudian Lens; he is a symbol of our society. It shows how our society is demolished by our uncontrollable id and our “unconscious” that is ripping us apart. We are too focused on the sexual aspects of life and the need to be better at sports and being popular, rather than paying more attention to the important parts of life like education and the ability to think freely for ourselves. This doesn’t make McMurphy a bad character, but he should help us to better ourselves in the world we live in now, by telling ourselves that we should force our ego and superego to be released. We shouldn’t shut those away, and let that “icky demon” be our sole purpose in life. McMurphy is a man of great talent and skill, he is controlled by his id, yet he still helps Chief to believe in himself more, to make him feel “bigger” and “stronger”. He DOES have a superego which helps him function with the other ward members on an unconscious level.
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I would say the Marxist topic was most suited to my taste. Although existentialism is an intriguing concept, I have a hard time trying to grasp the thought of analyzing people as an alien separate from Earth, as human concepts are entirely based off our worldly experiences where another planet may have no subconscious influence, competition, or opinions, similar to robots. I believe the Marxist theory is a root idea to how we see our subconscious and society by including a Freudian lens or a Feminist lens. It involves both our subconscious motives and way of thinking to achieve a habitat vs. a zoo, and the different ways we are physically affected by our subconscious and how binary opposites are formed through our evolution, good and bad, pretty and ugly, strong and weak, young and old. The Marxist lens can easily be defined as the climb or fall on the socioeconomic ladder, but when you look in depth at what causes these changes we start to understand what “human” is. For example in American culture, based on a capitalistic society, we try to make the best of our habitat through work. Work can be further analyzed through a feminist lens as a masculine or feminine profession and divided into educational or athletic based occupations often dependent on a person’s genetic and environmental lottery. All of these job categories and financial differences place us differently on the social “food chain” creating different opinions and habits from these experiences. As children we quickly absorb our environment and form opinions that may be strengthened with time before we are able to develop our own unbiased ideas. The Marxist lens in my opinion is the most concrete theory of human existence. It has almost become a math or science which can be proven through examples of people, and used to accurately predict people’s future choices and reactions like an X and Y chart for a function.
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Søren Kierkegaard, the early 19th century philosopher, is regarded as the father of existentialism. He believes that the individual has the responsibility for giving one's own life meaning and with living life passionately and sincerely, in spite of many obstacles and distractions including despair, absurdity, choice, boredom, and death. Existential philosophers keep the emphasis on the individual, but differ on how one achieves a fulfilling life. What obstacles must be overcome and what external and internal factors are involved always have varying views, including the potential consequences of the existence or non-existence of God. Some existentialists considered the meaning of life to be based in faith, while others noted self-determined goals. Existentialism didn’t become popular until after WWII, when the importance of human individuality and freedom become more important. In general, existentialism has been described as a set of ideas to categorize human existence, beyond the traditional ancient philosophies and scientific method. Existentialist thinkers focus on the question of concrete human existence and the conditions of this existence rather than hypothesizing a human essence, stressing that the human essence is determined through life choices. However, even though the concrete individual existence must have priority in existentialism, certain conditions are commonly held to be "endemic" to human existence. Humans are put face to face with the meaninglessness of the world, and the results can be devastating.
Ken Kesey uses this exhibit throughout his book. The patient’s lives mean nothing to them until McMurphy comes to the ward and starts get the men to live their lives. While McMurphy disrupted the ward, Cheswick finally had someone to stand up agains Nurse Ratched. It’s when he believes that McMurphy has given up that he loses the motivation to live and drowns himself. Chief has been going through the last twenty years hiding in the fog, but for once Chief has made life meaningful for himself. Mr. Kesey shows us that society, the combine, tries to make us conform and for the men in the ward it’s not enough. They need more to believe in and for the patience, McMurphy is the one that gives them a reason to try and improve their lives.
The literary theory I find the most interesting is Postmodernism. This theory seems to show how literary exhibits go against how things have been traditionally done. The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a tremendous example of this. Many of the things talked about in this novel are quite controversial. For example, the mental hospitals and their issues tend to be shrouded from the public. We may see these people as objects, rather than human beings. Kesey does an amazing job of pulling the reader into the chaotic and often misunderstood mind of a mental patient. Kesey and others like him have embraced those who have been sequestered into the dark corners of society.
Sex and sex symbols are another element Kesey uses to divulge this story. Despite sex symbols like Elvis and Marilyn Monroe, the sixties rarely brought forth this type of content. The sixties emphasized abstinence and monogamy. McMurphy gives the impression that he been with many women and he even assists Billy in hooking up with a floozy. McMurphy teases Nurse Ratched by making comments about her body. I see Nurse Ratched an antiquated type that gets offended by the behavior of the younger generations.
The novel also goes against society’s standard of hard work and honesty. McMurphy got sent to the ward, possibly due to his lack of desire to work. Citizens, especially in the 1930’s, had to work extremely hard just to get by. It’s possible that the voluntary patients are slothish and too afraid to re-enter society. White males ruled during this period, so you would think that these patients would have wanted to be a part of this domination.
McMurphy is also a master conman. He swindles his friends out of money and cigarettes without their realization. McMurphy represents an American hero in many ways, such as his drive to change wrong doings in the ward. On the other hand, he goes against the status quo by being a trickster, conman, and sloth.
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While reading through various parts of Dr. Kristi Siegel’s introduction to modern literary theory, one certain topic jumped out at me. I found Existentialism to be the most intriguing. Dr. Kristi Siegel basically means that Existentialism is the philosophy that every person is isolated and posses no inherent human truth, value, or meaning. She states that your life starts out as nothing and will end as nothing; everyone is considered to be in their own world. Existentialism can relate to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in many different ways. A couple ways to interpret Existentialism in the novel is that most of the characters seem to be isolated and shy at one point or another and seem to have a hard time to try and find their own self. One character I can relate to the most is Chief. Chief isolates himself from everyone else by pretending to be deaf. He also tries to hide from everyone by cleaning and mopping during the meetings just so he can listen in and get to know the patients more. Chief wants to stay in the fog because that is where he feels the safest. If you stay hidden your whole life you will not be able to make anything of yourself and will not know what you are capable of accomplishing in your life. Existentialism relates to this novel also by showing us that none of the patients have found their part in the ward due to their lack of interest in themselves and they don’t know what is expected of them. Each person is to be viewed as “aliens” from another planet. They are to be viewed way more different to the rest of us so called “normal” people. Everyone in the ward sees us as the weird ones while it is opposite to us. Everyone sees each other as different and some to see others as having no meaning in this world, Existentialism. Burkman pd5
What I found interesting by reading Dr. Siegel’s theory was existentialism. These views demonstrate how each person begins as nothing; they have no meaning, and no purpose in the world. They also end their life in the same way. It is up to the individual to create that meaning in their life. Until you establish a purpose to yourself, you are a hollow body walking amongst the world. While doing further research I also came across a link on that page called, The Ethics of Absolute Freedom by David Banach. In this exhibit he explains how when you really think about it, everyone of us is alone in the world. We only feel our pains, hopes, dreams, and worries ourselves on the inside. By looking at someone, we can only see them as appear on the outside, not who they truly are. We may try and interpret them by their expressions and body language, but that’s merely an assumption. We are alone because there isn’t a person who can feel exactly what we feel and what is going on in our minds. One thing he stated that caught my attention was, “It seems, then, that we are minds trapped in bodies, only perceiving the images transmitted to us through our bodies and their senses. Each of us is trapped within our own mind, unable to feel anything but our own feelings and experiences.” This can be related to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest when first examining the patients on the ward.
When looking blindly we can say they are a bunch of “loonies” that contribute nothing to society. The Big Nurse chooses to only see them in this manor. I thought about how true it is that each patient lives in their own little world- alone, with nothing but their damaged minds, thoughts, feelings, and desires. Every other worker and herself can only assume who these men really are from what their senses transmit. For example Chief has isolated himself from the cruel world and shows himself to be deaf and dumb to everyone in the ward. He has no one to communicate with and only lives within himself. No one can read Chief, especially through his tough exterior. People view him to be huge and strong, when in inside he feels tiny and weak. Then, later when McMurphy arrives he pulls Chief out of his fog and gives him the courage to stand up against the Combine. Before then Chief’s life meant nothing, but by him revealing his strength he has giving his life meaning and purpose. Cheswick was another character who was trapped in his nothingness until McMurphy showed them how to be human again and have fun. Cheswick was always complaining how he desired change but never followed through on anything because he was afraid. Then with McMurphy as a guide and support system, he finally truly speaks his mind, which sends him into his life meaning briefly, before the Combine has control over him once again. These ideas can be closely related to Cuckoo’s Nest and I enjoyed comparing outside views to this exciting novel for a different perspective. Although I did have to disagree with Dr. Siegel’s thought that you end your life with nothing. I think as long as you live your life to the fullest and find meaning for yourself you’ve achieve depth and purpose in your lifetime.
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In Dr. Kristi Siegel’s Introduction to modern literary theory, I became drawn to the Archetypal/Myth Criticism. In it, it stated that humans make up stories about ancient ancestors to explain things that they do not know about. Some examples of this are religions, ideal women/man, and myths. In “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” Ken Kesey puts this into play by showing Harding being the opposite of what a the ideal man is to a women. He acts feminine with very little amount of masculinity in him. You can also see this in Nurse Ratched, but she is trying to do the opposite of the man’s view of a perfect women. She tries to hide hers and doesn’t show any form of her being weak. This can also refer to Ken Kesey with him making his book. A lot of this stuff in the book could be from past events he has experienced, it doesn’t even have to be something he lived it could be stories from other people he’s talked to or even things other people have done. A majority of stories in human history are all based off of someone else’s life, whether it be their own or a relative or even some stranger that they will never see again. Everything can be told as a story you can take the most boring person and turn him into a hero. Even stories that seem true usually have some kind of fiction in them to turn your interest into the story otherwise no one would read it. Bottom line is that even if kesey says he made this up on his own there has to be something in his subconscious that is telling him these things for great ideas of this story that either deal with his or someone else’s life.
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For my blog task, I researched about semiology. Semiology is the study of human characteristic, for example the clothes we were, the way we walk or pose, and etc. I see a lot of this in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest because Nurse Ratched has things in that hospital HER way. If someone isn’t thinking right, she fixes them. If someone else is doing something wrong to her, like McMurphy, she fixes them. She does everything in her power to try to make it her way, similar to communism or dictatorship. She’s has all the power she can get and doesn’t what to get it taken away from her. McMurphy is the new guy that is trying to make things right in the ward because he sees that Nurse Ratched has gone crazy and is making the patients crazy. He tries to stop her because he sees the semiology of Nurse Ratched’s ways in the ward and doesn’t feel right. Yes, all the other patients think so too, but none of them are brave enough to stand up. That’s why Kesey has add McMurphy in the book to show another view of semiology other than Nurse Ratched’s views/ ways. He is like Jesus, walking around saying he’s the hero and spending the good ways and teachings and Nurse Ratched is similar to Pontius Pilot trying to get ride of that person that is changing her rules. So in other words, that’s how I see this book as to be characterized as Semiology.
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While reading Dr. Kristi Siegel website, the topic Psychoanalytic Criticism intrigued me. It is looking at not only the lenses, but going deeper in the thoughts and dreams. By doing this it’s letting us get into the brains of the characters we are reading and showing us something we might not have seen before. Someone can analyze Bromden as someone with multiple problems, but just by looking on the outside of things no one will really understand what might be really going on. If we analyze Bromden’s memories of when he was a child and with his father, we can tell something clicked in his mind and changed him to wanting to be the way he is today. He might have felt like he was betrayed by the alcohol his father drank, so now he feels like the world will betray him if given the chance. Bromden is a scared child who needs to be guide by hand, in which McMurphy steps up to the plate and takes on the challenge that no one else may see.
Sigmund Freud’s models of psyche are Id, ego, Superego. During bets in the Ward the men listen to their Id and gamble their money away to where they are almost bone dry of money; McMurphy listens to his Id when it comes to women. People fulfill their Id because it’s easier for them to do since it’s a wish or desire; rather then listening to what they know is right, which is the Superego! Their superego is when the men listen to their hearts and brains and do what’s right for them. If they are deciding to choose then they are deciphering in what is their ego. Each patient has an ego in which they will listen to the angel(Superego) or devil(Id).
Jacques Lacan’s models are imagery, symbolic, and real. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey has a large variety of Lacan’s models. First, Imagery is like Chief needing to be “separate” from others, yet he still feels like he’s missing something or needing something more. He’s decided to shut himself out of everyone and pretend to be someone he’s not, which children will do when trying to fill that empty space. Secondly, Symbolism is a huge piece of the novel. For example, when McMurphy is going through treatment he asks if he is going to be “crowned with thorns”, saying he’s a god and he’s being crucified. Kesey throws symbol in the novel to lift up one thing over another, just like every author or writer on Earth. Lastly, Real is toward the end when patients are becoming more of an indivisual and being completely filled or building power. They aren’t leaning on McMurphy to help them hobble through life. Now they are becoming strong, fulfilled human beings.
I found Semiology in the article by Dr. Kristi Seigel very interesting. Semiology deals with human actions such as our bodily postures and gestures, the the social rituals we perform, the clothes we wear, the meals we serve, the buildings we inhabit, they all convey "shared" meanings to members of a particular culture. I feel like this deals with the entire novel in many ways. For example, in the novel, the time period where it is taken place, those who do things differently than what is "normal" in society or in the accepted culture are considered "weird" or "crazy". Yet it is never thought that everything a human does is part of their culture in some way. It is never thought that maybe if Nurse Ratched would loosen-up that she would be like McMurphy, that the only reason she is the way she is is because of society and the culture she lives in. Obvioulsy Nurse Ratched, the doctors, the black boys and the rest of society has noticed that by acting differently than the majority of the culture portrays them as "weird" or "crazy". In order to remove themselves from the "weird" or "crazy" they have learned to act in a way that is acceptable, such as perform regular hygiene actions, dress acceptably, talk acceptably, etc. If the story had switched roles and in this culture what was acceptable was to be as different and as "weird" as you can, there is no doubt in my mind that Nurse Ratched would be the first to change. She feels that she has learned the way of life and what is acceptable. In every culture there is a standard of what is acceptable and what is not. In my culture it is not acceptable to skip homework assignments, because of this I am doing the blog task.
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I found Postcolonialism in Dr. Kristi Siegel's article the most interesting. Postcolonialism is what it sounds like, the time after the colonial age and era; the time when America broke free from English rule, and Europe altogether. This lens stuck out to me the most because one, I like the colonial age, and two it is a view easily seen by most people. Its views are about being free, not being attached or restrained. This is a view where new ideas are good, and old ideas are bad. People using this lens don’t like the “west” being brought to the “east”. This lens can be used in the book, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the book Nurse Ratched is like Europe and McMurphy is like the newly begun or formed America. Nurse Ratched is forcing old rules onto McMurphy and he doesn’t like that. Instead of cooperating he tries to make his own rules and does not obey Nurse Ratched, but he still talks to her about his ideas. Also McMurphy is trying to break free from the ward and leave. Like people wanted to do from England and other European countries, they wanted to form America and be free from their reign. Everyone is sick and tired of being controlled by Nurse Ratched and wants to leave, but others like the people who were not for leaving of their home country, want to stay and live there. They want to stay because they feel safe like the people in Europe. This lens can be used in the book many different times and ways. Zangara Period 2
Existentialism caught my eyes as I was scrolling down this extraordinary page of Dr. Kristi Siegel Introduction to Modern Literary Theory website. Existentialism is known to be a difficult term to define and an odd movement. Reason being odd is most thinkers (major figures like Soren Kierkegaard, Fredrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Camus), whom society categorizes as existentialist, are people who deny they are existentialism. Some also deny what most people in society find is real is actually a mirage or a computer-simulation to them. It is a philosophy where an individual is finding owns self and the meaning of life through free will or choice. An existentialist believes that a person should be forced to choose and be responsible without the help of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions. The free will to act without society telling them to act so or follow society rules but to follow own selfness. A fascinating phrase I spotted upon research on existentialism is a philosophical Latin phrase by Rene Descartes is “Cogito Ergo Sum” (translation) “I think, therefore I am,” meaning is that someone wondering whether or not they exist is, in and of itself, proof that he does exist.
A great connection to existentialism and the book, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is McMurphy. This rebellious character chooses, as an individual, to do what he wants to do, as free will, in the ward. He goes over the top and does not stop at “good enough” in life. The choice to give in and follow the rules and take his pills was not an option for him. A good example is when he took the patients up for a fishing trip. He was not told or controlled to take them to go fishing; he chose to take the patients through his own free will.
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When reading about Dr. Kristi Siegel’s passage on Marxism, I thought I could make the most comparisons from her knowledge to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. As a class, we have beat the meaning of a Marxist critic to death, however, we all completely understand it now. Dr. Siegel’s opinion on Marxism is it generally focuses on the clash between the dominant and repressed classes in any given age, which I agree with. The Marxist view is completely based on world analogies, and how we as humans live in our world. When looking through the Marxist lenses, I take in to consideration: financial status, how successful he/she may be and where they stand in the race to winning the environmental lottery. Dr. Siegel is correct, we generally focus on who has won the environmental and genetic lottery to decide if someone is fit for living their life the way society tells us to live.
I thought Kristi’s Marxism view was a lot like how we learned it and the Marxism voice is largely present in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Society, the combine, expects us to live our lives and be happy, be rich, get married, have kids and be successful. McMurphy, is a sex addict in the book, from a Christian point of view, also Marxism, God tells us being addicted to sex and doing it for our own selfish pleasure is a sin; therefore, McMurphy is a downfall to our “wanna be” perfect society. Harding is questioned to be gay, which is also looked down upon when looking through the Marxist lenses. He fakes his love for his wife because he knows if the other men in the ward knew he didn’t have a slutty wife that he must have something wrong with him. It’s going against society to be homosexual; it’s not what we’ve been taught, but it is expected of you to get married. I’ve noticed there are no women in the ward, besides the nurses who take care of the patients. So, are men considered crazier than women for doing something that goes against society? Is it expected of women to make more mistakes than the “powerful” man? It is very likely. I think this was a main point Dr. Siegel was trying to make in her statement. Society groups types of people together and expects certain things out of them, just like different things are expected of men than women.
When I researched about Marxism I found a word that really struck me, Superstructure. A superstructure is based on social, political, and ideological systems generated by the base. (From Ann B. Dobie's text). Marxism is focused on dictating a society or group based on popular values, morals, and arts that seem proper and fit. This theory comes from the clash between classes in society. The ward in Ken Kesey's, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the ultimate superstructure. The patients are the citizens in the Marxist society being forced to live and abide by the demand of Nurse Ratched. What the Big Nurse views fit shall be. The men under her control where kicked out of society and moved into and institute to “fix” them when really they are thrown into a completely different world. They were the lower class in society and still are in the ward. Nurse Ratched and some of the staff members are the higher class and are the law preaching what’s right and wrong and personally deciding consequences for rebellious actions. Ken Kesey does well showing the differences of society and brings out, in a way for all to understand, those differences. Kesey also makes apparent the growing theories of Feminism for that time period. One feminist theory is focused on sexual differences and sexual politics. Essentialism justified the oppression of women by proclaiming the natural superiority of men. Nurse Ratched completely proves this wrong, she is female and RULES many different types of men in the book. Although she is a voluptuous women, accommodating to a mans view on women, she is the alpha omega in this book. She hides her femininity representing women’s changing roles of society of the time period. She is a very good example of women gaining more power and having equal rights as men. Ms. Rise
Existentialism stood out to me from Dr. Kristi Siegel's paper. Existentialism is a philosophy that views each person as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe that has no value or meaning. This so called universe is like the ward. All of the men in the ward feel like life has no meaning and that they are aliens in the world because of their mental illness. McMurphy is the only one who does not portray any of the signs of existentialism. Nurse Ratched feeds off of the men thinking their lives have no value and that the men will stay because they "need" her to feel like they have meaning. In Cuckoo's Nest the men do not actually feel like they have any meaning or value in life until McMurphy shows up. They just went through life just going through the motions. Phenomenology is shown in the ward as well. Phenomenology states that all realities must be treated as pure phenomena. The men in the ward feel as if everything that happens with McMurphy there is unreal. They feel like it shouldn't be happening, sort of like they are dreaming. Chief feels like everything is unreal because of his schizophrenia. He feels like McMurphy really is not there. It's a phenomena when he first talks and McMurphy is actually there and keeps his secret. Chief wants to touch McMurphy to make sure he is real. Why would he want to do this? He wants to touch him because he believes phenomenology. Nurse Ratched has taught all the men to believe that everything that is lively and real is actually part of their imagination. I believe that McMurphy is out to change the men for the better. Yes, at the beginning I feel that McMurphy was only "helping" the men to gain for himself, but now I feel like he has actually grown to love the men of the ward and he is trying to change the phenomenology in their brains to actually believe reality.
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When reading Dr. Kristi Siegel website the Marxist lens stood out to me, because its said to be the sociological approach to literature and in the art world in the products
of historical forces. Also I see the word bourgeoisie, which means a range of groups over history in something like sociology. Also the term is used on Middle-Class people. Marxist like Capitalism they like there private owned business for operation and profit on for themselves. Now superstructure is another word you see, with the Marxist len also base is with that comprehends the forces and relations of production employer-employee work conditions. These relations determine society’s other relationships and ideas. Also this plays out in the culture,institutions, political power structures, roles, rituals, and state. An their relation is not strictly causal, its based more on predominates.
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Existentialism is the one I enjoyed most of all, it reminded me of a movie in a way, this weekend I went to “The Thing” which was about an alien who would isolate themselves into another body, by duplicating its cells. Existentialism shows the best way was to isolate the individual and study them. Just like in the movie. They would judge people according to how well they fit in to other people, instead of how well they fit into their own life. In Ken Keseys book “one flew over the cuckoos nest”, the patients of the institute are treated like aliens they are looked as if they don’t belong on this “planet” like they are their own special species. They isolated the patients and would study them, instead of giving them their freedom, and space. If they were given a chance to be themselves they would fit right in to everyone else.
I also enjoyed Psychoanalytic Criticism because when it comes to how you act, everyone can see that, but what you are thinking only you know what is really going on. Psychoanalytic deals with your subconscious and sometimes it is hard to understand what your even thinking that way, Your i.d, ego, and superego would come into play. Like Walt Disney’s movie, “The Lion King” Simba could wait to be king. He obviously loved his father but at the same time, he wanted his father dead so he could be king. In “one Flew over the Cuckoos nest”, Mcmurphy satisfies his I.d by going against Ms. Rachet.
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