A place for critical reading, compelling writing, and analytical thinking.
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Literary Devices—due February 6
With 150+ words, write about Kesey's literary devices (symbols, imagery, setting...), including page numbers, so far in the novel.
97 comments:
Ethan Wright
said...
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey uses a simile on the very first page. Chief Bromden explains how he is creeping as quietly as dust, “I creep along the wall quiet as dust.” (pg 3) Then he continues on the next page with an allusion. He describes Nurse Ratched as she is coming through a door. The Chief states that “she slides through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her.” (pg 4) This is an allusion because Nurse Ratched does not actually come in with a gust of cold, but instead, Kesey is giving a description of how she is as a person through the Chief’s eyes. In the very next paragraph, the Chief uses imagery to detail the basket that Nurse Ratched carries in with her. He goes into great detail of the entire basket and its belongings: “her woven wicker bag like the ones the Umpqua tribe sells out along the hot August,” “a bag shape of a toolbox with a handle,” and “full of thousands of parts she aims to use in her duties today—wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that gleam like porcelain.” (pg 4) The great detail tells us so much about the basket that we can almost picture it and its contents right in front of it. With multiple literary devices on the first few pages, I can not wait to see what other ways Kesey will weave them into the writing throughout the rest of the book.
In the book so far I have seen many great examples of imagery, symbolism, setting, etc. One main example of symbolism spoke to me the most. The fog machine that Kesey brings into the story is not a real fog machine on page 7. I believe that this symbol stands for Chief's lack of awareness and his escape from the reality inside the mental institution. Once he takes his medication that Nurse Ratched provides him, it seems like he begins to hallucinate. The description of the fog is that there are fog machines in the vents. The fog seems to be overwhelming to him at times, but I think he overall finds it to be a safe getaway from reality. I also think that Kesey does an outstanding job of describing the setting of the mental institution. One sentence that Kesey writes says, “...six-thirty in the morning in a room all white walls and white basins, a long-tube-lights in the ceiling making sure there aren’t any shadows, and faces all around you trapped screaming behind the mirrors—then what chance you got against one of their machines” (Kesey 6). This shows the atmosphere of the mental institution.
Ken Kasey has done an impeccable job with literary devices so far in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Right off the bat, Kasey starts the book off with a simile comparing dust to his creeping. The quote says "I creep along the wall quiet as dust" (pg. 3). Kasey sets up the book nicely while describing the Big Nurse on page 4. Kasey talks about the appearance of Big Nurse's bag while stating, "It's a loose weave and I can see inside it; there's no compact or lipstick or woman stuff, she's got that bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties today–wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that gleam like porcelain, needles, forceps, watchmakers' pliers, roll of copper wire..." (pg. 4). Chief has the idea in his head that Big Nurse is out to harm him with the pieces in her bag. He watches her and observes to see what she does as he is fascinated by her. Overall, Kasey set up the book well with his elaborate literary devices. I believe this set up is only a glimpse of what's to come for Kasey's writing in the rest of the book.
Ken Kesey has included more imagery, symbolism, and more descriptions in the first 100 pages than in other novels I have read. There are multiple symbolism examples, some that I may have not even realized yet. One that I picked out right away was the color of Nurse Ratched nails and lips and the description of the way she entered the room. Chief Bromden recalls, "she slides through the door with a gust of cold...and I see her fingers trail across the polished steel--the tip of each finger the same color as her lips. Funny orange...color so hot or so cold if she touches you with it you can't tell which." (pg. 4). The cold air and the steel door are symbols for her harshness. Her nails are a fiery orange color and the color represents that she is so harsh, it is hard to pin her down as fire hot or ice cold. I am also really impressed with his use of vivid imagery from Chief Bromden's perspective. He has made Chief Bromden a great storyteller by giving him a voice that paints the setting like a picture. On page 5, Nurse Ratched enters and interacts with the black boys. Chief Bromden witnesses this and describes it as though it is an epic brawl between her and the men. He says, "she's going to tear the black bastards limb from limb, she's so furious. She's swelling up, swells till her back's splitting out the white uniform and she's let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times." While she is not actually a raging monster who is growing to grow to the size of Hulk and kill the men, this passage helps emphasize how cruel she really is.
In Ken Kesey’s eye-opening novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a pattern of descriptive imagery can be found anywhere the reader looks. Upon its opening, the book’s schizophrenic narrator, Chief Bromden, describes the “black boys in white suits” who manage the mental institution as “sulky and hating everything,” with them carrying “special sensitive equipment that detects [his] fear” (3). Such a description highlights the gloomy, destructive nature of this location, as well as the possible unreliability of Chief Bromden. This information than transitions to an analysis of the institution’s dictator Nurse Ratched. Kesey explains that despite her near-perfect appearance, she contains a cold autonomous personality, always hiding her “hideous real self” (5). It is with these antagonists that many of the conflicts in the story derive. In contrast, the story’s protagonist R. P. Mcmurphy is characterized as energetic and chaotic, with a laugh that “hovers around him in his eyes, the way he smiles and swaggers, and in the way he talks” (12). He provides a stark contrast to the other patients and staff, making him a catalyst for much of the plot to come.
Ken Kesey includes many different literary devices in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The most common devices found in the book are symbols, setting, imagery, similes, metaphors, and more. The fog mentioned on page 128 and referred to many other times is an example of one of the many symbols throughout the novel. Chief mentions how he feels safe when he is able to slip into the fog and hide in it. The fog allows Chief to escape reality and represents safety for him. The most obvious examples of devices in the novel come from the use of imagery and settings. Ken Kesey does a great job describing everything in the mental institution. The descriptions are thorough and vivid and allow the reader to create a mental image of what the setting may look like. Pages 80 and 81, along with nearly every page in the book, use setting and imagery to describe everything happening in the scene, including sound, facial expressions, physical setting, and more. Kesey also frequently uses metaphors. One example of this is on page 5, “she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load.” This is one of many examples of the frequently brought up metaphor comparing the world/society to a machine. Kesey also uses a simile in this quote when comparing the nurse to a tractor.
Throughout Ken Kesey's interesting novel titled, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next, multitudes of descriptive imagery are written describing the surroundings that the main character, Cheif Bromden, visualizes at his time at the facility. At the beginning of the novel, Bromden describes the sight he sees as Big Nurse, Miz Ratched, is entering the building by saying, "Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils—everything working together except the color on her lips and fingernails and the size of her bosom" (5). These precise descriptions portray an image within the reader's mind of an uptight, mechanical-like, and powerful woman. Along with eye-opening descriptions, Kesey will also use an abundance of symbols throughout the novel, one of these being fog. Bromden, along with many patients, take medications for their disabilities and problems; however, when Bromden doesn't take his medication or is in fear, he will start to hallucinate by seeing fog creep into the ward. For example, Bromden says, "They start the fog machine again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me... I cant see six inches in front of me because the fog is the only thing I can see and hear" (7). This fog symbolizes a sort of safe place from reality, a place in which Bromden can hide from troubles in the ward. It also could mean the mindset and routine that the Big Nurse imposes upon the patients; a mindset that McMurphy will pull the patients out of.
Ken Kesey is almost forced to include an extensive amount of Literary Devices. You can't write a story from a crazed mind about other insane people without using these techniques. Kesey does a great job of using imagery to describe his characters. The boys that take care of the patients are described as "sulky and hating everything" (3) while the Miz Ratched, also known as Big Nurse, was described by saying "her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils—everything working together except the color on her lips and fingernails and the size of her bosom" (5). When patients, like Ruckly, receive installations Kesey describes their physical effects very well. For Ruckly, they said, “ you can see by his eyes how they burned him out over there; his eyes are all smoked up and gray and deserted inside like blow fuses” (16). Not only does he describe it in clear detail (especially the patients’ eyes) and continue to do so, but he includes an interesting simile.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey uses a wide variety of literary devices. I noticed on page 6 he used a flashback when the Cheif said, "...and I try to keep from getting scared, try to get my thoughts off someplace else—try to think back and remember things about the village and the big Columbia River..." (Kesey 6). Chief Bromden was in a very uncomfortable situation and he was trying to flashback to a time where he was more happy and comfortable. Kesey also uses point of view as an effective literary device. Chief Bromden realizes he is the narrator of this story and says, "It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen," (Kesey 8). After reading this, I can infer that the Chief might not be the most reliable narrator but that is the only side of the story we are getting. We are not far in the reading and I am eager to see what other literary devices Kesey uses in his writing.
In a novel highlighting the mistreatment of patients in a mental institute through the use of diverse characters, an unreliable narrator, and extremely descriptive text, one can imagine that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a colorful read--and Ken Kasey delivers just that! Kasey invites his readers into the hospital by supplying great detail on the hospital's setting and encourages an interactive audience. The imagery in this novel is so intense and frequent that it becomes difficult for readers to distinguish the line between reality and the Chief's perspective. A prime example of this takes shape right away on the fourth page when Chief tells of the Big Nurse's antics. "She's swelling up, swells till her back's splitting out the white uniform and she's let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times." Here, the Big Nurse is described as what could only be a supernatural entity. The Chief continues his tirade by comparing the nurse to a tractor and smelling like a "motor pulling too big a load." Great imagery!
So far in this book, the literary device or symbol that I have noticed the most would be laughter. Laughter in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest symbolizes freedom and the wish to escape from nurse Ratchet. Laughter helps patients deal with their problems, especially for McMurphy. McMurphy was the catalyst for taking charge with laughter in the ward; he would make people laugh and crack jokes (p.16). "You birds seem to think you got quite the champ in there, don't you?" (p. 73). In this book, birds symbolize will and hope that they will one day leave the nest, also known as the loony bin. Another symbol is the electroshock therapy table. This table is associated with crucifixion, this electroshock therapy table serves as a symbol to show what happens to those who rebel against the nurses in the loony bin.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey brings insight into a mental facility by using many different literary devices, the one I notice most being imagery. Kesey does very well using imagery all through the book, for example McMurphy and him being this huge tough red head with a gut and a bunch of tattoos. A fabulous example of imagery is on page 99-100 explaining Ms. Ratchet after McMurphy is in the hallway just in a towel. As she gains her self control, "gradually the lips gather together gain ... then click solid as the molten metal sets, growing cold and strangely dull.". There is more to that paragraph but that is just a glimpse of how he made her seem like a robot that was dysfunctioning, and as she gains her composure it is like she reboots herself back to the old Ms. Ratchet. He also uses imagery to describe events very well, such as Ellis who is "crucified" every day and pees on himself. Another example is when chief Bromden believes that his floor is moved 500 yards down and the description in to the room he went to where the drumming gets louder and louder on page 86. You go to this whole new world from a grey mental facility to what seems like a torture chamber. He uses settings a lot as well, using the fog that comes around a lot creating this setting of mystery and confusion. He uses a lot of literary devices, but the one I noticed the most was imagery.
As I am reading this novel, there are a numerous amount of literary devices that can be found. As far as the setting goes, we all know where this novel takes place, an asylum! This, to me, provides a very deep message that is conveyed throughout the rest of the novel. The literary device that stands out most to me has to be imagery. The amount of detail that Chief Bromdon, McMurphy, Nurse Ratchet, and others provide throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is ubiquitous. Props to Ken Kesey for giving us the reality of what it is like to be in an asylum. Chief Bromdon is a very imaginative man. For example, Bromdon forgets to take his pill, and dreams of Blastic, a vegetable, being executed. "He goes to the bed and with one hand grabs the old Vegetable Blastic by the heels and lifts him straight up like Blastic don't weight more'n a few pounds; with the other and the worker drives the hook through the tendon back of the heel, and the old guy's hanging there upside down, his moldy face blown up big, scared, the eyes scummed with mute fear..." (pg 88). The novel has a great amount of imagery that even I have never read in a novel before, and I look forward to continue reading this novel.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey uses many literary devices. One of the symbols used is the fog machine that Chief has experienced. Chief says that the wards hide this fag machine in the vents and that they use it to scare him, but instead he uses it to hide. “They start the fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me” (7). Kensey also uses imagery to describe the way Mrs. Ratched looks. Mrs. Ratched is part of the imagery of machines to “fix” society and the people in it. Nurse Ratched could be described as a robot with her movement and preciseness. “She nods once to each. Precise, automatic gesture. Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel…” (5). The setting used for the day room starts at seven-thirty with the Acutes on one side and the Chronics on the other side. In routine, “Everybody come to order...Everybody: breath in...and out… in perfect order; hearts all beating at the rate the OD cards have ordered” (33).
In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey uses many powerful literary devices to enhance the story being told by a somewhat unreliable narrator. The literary device that I notice most is how Kesey uses great detail and imagery when describing certain characters in the book, especially McMurphy. The narrator describes him as "redheaded with long red sideburns and a tangle of curls out from under his cap, been needing cute a long time, and he's broad as Papa was tall, broad across the jaw and shoulders and chest, a broad white devilish grin,..." (Kesey 11, 12). The description continues in great detail. Another literary device used is symbolism. Kesey continually references a fog, the narrator actually says that "One of these days I'll quit straining and let myself go completely, lose myself in the fog the way some of the other Chronics have, but for the time being I'm interested in this new man". (42) I think this line, in particular, explains the symbol of the fog as the mental state of zoning out whether produced by insanity or medications and drugs that many of the patients feel overcoming them. At this point, the narrator does not want to zone out because he wants to see this new man and learn more about him.
Embedded by the author, Ken Kesey, in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, are many literary devices that help to enhance the thoughts of the delusional narrator Chief. The author does a good job of describing other characters and the setting in this book. The Chief in his novel describes the Big Nurse as she walks into the same room as him. The Chief states “ She slides through the door with a gust of cold and lokes the door behind her and I see her fingers trail across the polished steel—the tip of each finger the same color as her lips. Funny orange. Like the tip of a soldering iron. Color so hot or so cold if she touches you with it you can’t tell which” (4). The Chief throughout part one of the novel always has his suspicions about the Big Nurse so he picks up on everything she does and the emotions she gives off. Towards the middle of part one Chief notices Harding saying, “Why, see here, my friend Mr. McMurphy, my psychopathic sidekick, our Miss Ratched is a veritable angel of mercy and why just everyone knows it” (61). I think he foreshadows that Mr. McMurphy is going to bring out the bad side of Miss Ratched and that everyone else is brainwashed to think of the nurse as an angel. Mr. McMurphy will do all he can to get others to realize the control that Miss Ratched has over the patients. This author uses necessary literary devices that overall make the book confusing at times, but yet so interesting.
As I am reading One FLew Over the Cuckoos Nest, I am noticing a lot of wide variety of literary devices. When writing a book about mental disorders and having the narrator be one with schizophrenia, it is very easy to implement symbols, metaphors, and hyperboles. Imagery is a very major literary device that is evident throughout the entire novel, especially when Ken Kesey describes Harding's hand right before he shakes it. An example of imagery is when Kesey says "there was a dirty Band-Aid on the middle knuckle, peeling up at the edge... I remember the palm was smooth and hard as bone from hefting the wooden handles of axes and hoes" (25). Another example of imagery is when Kesey describes the Big Nurse. He explains how she is similar to a tractor and is leaking motor oil. Kesey explains that he holds his breath in hopes that the staff is going to start tearing each other to pieces (5).
After reading only a short portion of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I have noticed a wide assortment of literary devices that the author, Ken Kesey, used. Personification is used on the first page of the first chapter where Chief Bromden describes to us the sound inside the hospital. He states, "Hum of black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets," (3). Kesey is giving the machines the human characteristics of humming and gossiping. Another literary device that Kesey uses well is his incorporation of imagery. He describes every character in such vivid detail, but when R.P. McMurphy is introduced in the beginning, this is where you really see how vivid he can be. McMurphy is described as, "His face and neck and arms are the color of oxblood leather from working long in the fields...the way he talks, his wink, his loud talk, his swagger all remind me of a car salesman or a stock auctioneer..." (13). Kesey is wonderful at incorporating a multitude of literary devices throughout his novel, and I can not wait to read more.
There are many different literary devices in Ken Kelsey’s novel One who flew over the Cuckoo’s nest. The most common type of literary device is the imagery described by Chief Bromden. Having schizophrenia Chief Bromden has faulty perception and many delusions. One of the first examples of imagery is when Chief Bromden is describing the head nurse, Miss Ratched. “...she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor…” (5). This allows the reader to portray the head nurse, Miss Ratched as a very big and powerful woman. The next piece of imagery is the fog that Chief Bromden is constantly talking about throughout the book. Once saying, “they start the fog machine again… so thick I might even be able to hide… I cant see six inches in front of me through the fog” (7). It can be inferred that he is seeing these things because of schizophrenia or possibly even skipping out from taking his daily medicine.
When it comes to literary devices with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, I believe that he uses setting very abundantly throughout his writing. He makes it clear that the halls of the mental institute are bland, with white walls and floors, but inside each room holds something far from bland. The rooms have many devices that they use on the patients that they fear to go in, including the glass room that The Nurse works in. He also gives each character a distinct personality, describing why they are in the institute and even their treatments for some that are tried by the employees. Each of the characters has their own qualities. Along with this it shows the difference between the Chronics (including the wheelers and the walkers) and the Acutes. The Acutes were said to avoid the Chronics in fear that they would be like them some day. This shows the quality of his writing and setting because we can almost feel the tension between Billie and the other characters and he uses enough imagery to where we can picture the scene happening in our heads as we read.
While reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey has shown some impeccable writing. I have never read from an author with a mind like his and it has become very interesting. Moments that stand out most to me that show the best literary devices are when he has his schizophrenic moments. One that made the most impact on me was when Big Nurse suddenly enraged into anger on page 5. A sudden outburst of imagery first confused me because I am not used to his schizophrenic writing. To me, I think that this outburst and imagery of Miss Ratched could reflect his thoughts inside. Because the Chief acts deaf and mute, I think that there are many things he would like to say but doesn't. I think when he gets frustrated he visualizes others having outbursts to refrain from having one himself. Obviously the nurse does not blow up to the size of a tractor, but maybe that is what Chief wishes he could do because he has been held there for so long.
As I read through the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey I noticed many different forms of literary devices that he incorporated. The variety of devices he uses creates a more fluent story throughout and to me makes the book much easier to read. One sentence that really popped out to me when reading was on page 31, Ken Kesey wrote: "The walls are white as the white suits, polished clean as a refrigerator door, and the blackface and hands seem to float against it like a ghost". This sentence was packed full of creative similies that helped me as a reader form a clear image of the scenery during this section. Another clever literary device I spotted was in the first paragraph of page 78. Describing mops he said, "...waiving awful mops of wet copper wires cracking and spitting as they short with the water". This quote is an example of a personification showing characteristics like cracking and spitting to mops creating another image for the reader to better interoperate.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey has done an amazing job of creating a great visual characterization and personality for each person in the book so far. Chief Bromden's massive size is expressed quite well but what helps to picture him accurately is his crumbled form while sitting in the dayroom. On page 23, Kesey uses the phrase "...sitting there with my knees pulled up and my arms wrapped around them, staring straight ahead..." as a way to show how small Chief Bromden really feels compared to his height and weight. This also helped me to picture him more accurately. The vivid description of P. R. McMurphy has also helped me to visualize his character more as well. On page 13, McMurphy is described in his looks, but even before that, we are given a good description of his big sound and the feeling he brings into the room, found on pages 11 and 12. This sets his character up so well for me, that when he is mentioned on page 43 to be sitting in an arm-chair in the corner, I can perfectly picture the manner he is sitting in before it is even mentioned, as I have a good feel for what his character is. These characterizations have helped me to further understand the story thus far.
Throughout the opening chapters of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, Kesey masterfully integrates several literary devices into his novel, drawing the reader deeper into the mind of Chief Bromden. On the very first page, the author uses a vivid simile to help depict the institution's orderlies, stating that their eyes glittered "like the hard glitter of radio tubes out of the back of an old radio" in order to provide readers with a surprisingly clear picture of what the Chief is seeing. Throughout the following pages, Kesey continues to use graphic descriptions to always keep the reader engaged in the setting. Nurse Ratchet's fingernails are orange "like the tip of a soldering iron" (4). Her woven wicker bag is "like the ones the Umpqua tribe sells out along the hot August highway" (4). Even her face is artistically described as similar to that of "an expensive baby doll" (5). By providing these images, Kesey proves that he is a master at his craft and makes the reader know that his book is going to be a great read.
Kesey uses many literary devices in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The largest literary device I have noticed is the use of imagery. Chief Bromden, our main narrator and an unreliable one at that, has a wandering mind as he views events. Every detail that he watches is over-exaggerated he sees and hears things that are not reality. During the group meeting, he has a flashback, to a time he said about twenty years ago. He describes Pete, Pete is acting out and Chief describes his arm as constantly growing, it starts to swell into a giant iron ball (52) and Pete is supposedly so built up that when he punches one of the black security guards he is launched back into the wall and leaves an imprint in the wall. (53). Kesey also uses the use of setting constantly. When he describes the main room he describes it as pure white whit no other color. The only other color ever talked about is the color of the black skin.
Kensey includes a multitude of different literary devices in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I have seen many similes and metaphors, such as the simile found on the first page when Chief Bromden is explaining how he creeps "I creep along the wall quiet as dust" (pg 3). Another example of similes on page 53 of the novel like: "the black boy whammed flat against the wall and stuck, then slid down to the floor like the wall there was greased." and "The little one beside the other line an image in a reducing mirror" (pg 53). I also noticed that there is a lot of imagery used by Kensey in his novel as well. One instance of this pertains to Pete Banicici's birth, "HIs head has two big dents, one on each side, where the doctor who was with his mother at borning time pinched his skull trying to pull him out" (pg 51 and 52). His birth is described in detail and it really adds to the character's backstory, further evolving the importance of all the disabilities around Chief Bromden.
Kesey includes a plethora of literary devices. One of the more prevalent devices that he uses is imagery. He employs many sentences describing the setting, characters, items, and much more. On page 25, Kesey takes up half a page just describing McMurry’s hand. He goes into detail about almost everything imaginable. It is said that “there was carbon under the fingernails… an anchor tattooed back from the knuckles… a dirty band-aid on the middle knuckle…palm was smooth and hard as bone from hefting...” Even in that same paragraph, he uses a metaphor to also describe his hand: “The palm was callused, and the calluses were cracked, and dirt was worked in the cracks. A road map of his travels up and down the West.” Kesey characterizes some of these people through indirect methods. Even though we were only given details of McMurry’s hands, we received much more insight as to what his background and personality are.
Throughout Ken Kesey's wonderfully written book titled, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, many different literary devices are present throughout the novel. Imagery, setting, and symbols are used by Kesey in the novel and help readers to see what is going on in the story. Kesey uses different ways of writing to show imagery. One example of Kesey using imagery is "Chronics are machines with flaws inside that can't be repaired" (16). He makes readers think that the people look like machines when in turn they are just people. Kesey uses setting to show what the people do all day and where they do it. He gives a timeline of what the characters do by saying "Seven o'clock the mess hall opens and the order of the line reverses" (32). The last literary device that Kesey uses is symbols. One way Kesey uses symbols is by comparing situations in the book to past religious situations. He says "You are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a crown of electric sparks in a place of thorns" (69). Kesey links the situations that happen to situations that happened in the bible. Ken Kesey uses many different literary devices in his book titled, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with the three main devices being imagery, setting, and symbols.
We are exposed to "Cheif Broom" and his interesting mind within the first chapter of the book. At the end of chapter one, he hides because he does not want to get his hair cut. Upon his capture, he doesn't "fight or make any noise." However, once he is put into the chair, he hallucinates. He describes this event as though he is in a fog. He says, "They start the fog machine again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn't have a hold on me" (page 7). This is an example of the author's use of imagery. I also feel like this can be a symbol. The imagery is very well written when it compares the fog as skim milk. Skim milk has a weird, sort-of creamy texture. I would like to say it reminds me of the texture of heavy whipping cream. Those words help me visualize how thick and allusive the fog is. I also, however, think this is a symbol that sets the reader up to understand the rest of the story. Mental illness is something that is hard to recover from or something you cannot recover from at all. I think that the whiteness and thickness of the fog are not only a product of his mind but a description of his mind. The white signifies the blankness, the draw from reality, and the blinding effects of mental illness. The thickness of the fog signifies how deeply rooted the illness is. I think that this scene shows the reader: I have a mental illness; this illness blinds my sense of reality; my illness is too sever to get out of.
Ken Kesey displays many uses of literary devices in his book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But, the main literary device that stuck out to me the most would have to be his use of imagery whenever Chief Bromden is describing the setting or whatever is going on. For example, Chief said,” They start the fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me I can’t see six inches in front of me through the fog.”(7) That is when Chief was describing the fog and you can clearly understand what the fog would be like if you were put in his situation. Other than the great imagery that is shown Ken Kesey decided to use a little bit of foreshadowing when Nurse Ratchet said, “Sometimes a manipulator’s own ends are simply the actual disruption of the ward for the sake of disruption.” (27) She said that when describing the new patient named McMurry and how he is going to take over the ward and I have a sneaky suspicion that is what is ogin to end up happening. So, in conclusion, Ken Kesey uses great examples of literary devices and these are just a few that I found right away.
Throughout the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, dust is used in several different contexts. On page three, Chief crept “along the wall, quiet as dust.” Dust is also used when referring to lighting in different parts of the book. On page 86 chief describes “The light of the dorm door five hundred yards back up this hole is nothing but a speck, dusting the square sides of the shaft with a dim powder.” Dust is a symbol of the underlying disruption in a superficially clean hospital ward. The dustiest character in the story is McMurphy. He is said to smell of dirt from a farm, he beats dust from his thighs and he brushes his teeth with powder. McMurphy is also the most disruptive character in the story, openly taunting the Big Nurse. The Nurse, on the contrary, is said to emit a fog that fills the room until you can’t see. Fog and mist control dust, the water holds it down, this is why at dirt race tracks they have a water truck to wet the dry track. The Nurse is trying to put down the disruption in the ward because she is the ego and McMurphy is trying to undo her work because he is the id.
In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, fantastic imagery is used throughout the book. There are times when there might be one or two pages used just to set the scene of the book. When the old man in the story starts to fight back when they are rangling him, Ken Kesey uses superb imagery explaining what this psychotic inmate is seeing. Even though he is the only one who is seeing this, it is important to know how the person is seeing things throughout the story. It gives character to him and in order to understand the whole book, you need to understand this character. Pg.81
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a book that is defined by literary devices, such as symbols, imagery, setting, similes, and so on. The book immediately starts off with a simile that tells us this will be a story of secrecy and suspense, "I creep along the wall quiet as dust" (pg 3). These literary devices add to the suspense of the story. They give a creepy, dark feel and make everything surreal. The way he uses his imagery really adds to the creepiness of the story but makes you wonder how much of it is real and how much of it is actually in Chief's head: "It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen" (pg 8). The imagery really sets the setting and shows how the abuse really was back in the day in mental hospitals. Kesey has a way of using literary devices to really make the setting and abuse stand out.
In the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, there seems to be a bunch of awesome imagery. Throughout the novel, there are times that the author goes into great detail about the settings and or characters we read about. We can see an example of this on page 25 when Kesey goes into great detail about McMurphy's hand, or any time he goes into great detail about the fog machine that is used throughout the novel. He also goes into great detail about the treatment of the patients using Cheif as a narrator. Cheif sees all and relays everything back to the reader throughout the story. His in-depth detailed narrations are what gives us the best imagery. I think that Kesey going above and beyond with imagery is making the book easier to read. You get to picture what you're reading and it is easier to understand the text when she goes into more detail about it.
On page 12, McMurphy walks into the day room, which is a major part of the setting. The day room is where many events take place, including when we first get a glimpse at McMurphy’s personality, where they hear the first laugh in years, and where a few of Chief Bromden’s hallucinations take place. On page 7, Chief Bromden uses a simile to compare the fog from the fog machine to skim milk. This shows that the fog may be so thick it’s disabling, and lets the reader see how Chief Bromden views their methods and wrong and even torturous. On page 30, Bromden describes the other two black boys’ never changing expressions as being like flint arrowheads to show the sharp boniness. The sentence prior, he states they look so much alike he thinks the nurse just made a replica of one. He goes on to use a simile to say “all of them black as telephones,” because the nurse learned the blacker they are, “the more time they are likely to devote to cleaning and scrubbing and keeping the ward in order. These all intertwine to portray an expressed yet unspoken inner racism; whether that of the author or just the narrator I can’t tell. Finally, on page 31, Bromden points out that all three of the black boys’ uniforms are spotless as snow (simile) and their white shoes are polished like ice (simile) with red rubber soles silent as mice (simile).
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a book that is immensely filled with different allusions, imagery, symbols, and many more literary devices. The very first literary device you see is a simile. Chief is described as dust as he creeps along the wall, "I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes" (pg 3). This intrigued me because when you open up the story with a sentence as mysterious and creepy as this one, then it makes me want to read more and find out more about this mystery. Later in the story, Kesey uses imagery to describe the Chronics in the book. "Chronics are machines with flaws inside that can't be repaired" (pg 16). Dust is meant to be bad in this story. There is a line that Kesey includes that shows just how much dirt means to the hospital, "The light of the dorm door five hundred yards back up this hole is nothing but a speck, dusting the square sides of the shaft with a dim powder" (pg 86). The dirt surrounds the things that cause trouble in the hospital. McMurphy is the dirtiest of them all. He is covered with dirt when he walks in and is the person that causes the most trouble in the book.
In One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey is able to use many literary devices to enhance the story. One prolific symbol, which can been seen throughout the book is the fog. The narrator of the story, Chief Bromden describes this fog , saying "Nobody complains about the fog. I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe... [McMurphy] keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we'd be easy to get at," (pg. 128). Obviously the fog is a figment of Bromden's creative mind, but it can be seen as a symbol for his mind and the minds of those around him as well. His mental illness makes his mind "foggy" and he can not see clearly. However, McMurphy, who does not have the acute illness that the others suffer from, is helping them to think clearly. He is "dragging them out of the fog" because he is not treating them like insane people. He is talking to them and interacting with them as normal people, which is something that they have not experienced in a good amount of time, and is helping to clear the fog from Bromden's mind.
In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, many literary devices can be seen and applied to the readers' notes and knowledge. I find myself most attracted to imagery and symbolism. Kesey's work exemplifies his knowledge and understanding of what it is like to be in a ward filled with other lost minds. Page 17 reads, "Memory whispers someplace in that jumbled machinery." I was not only provided with a picture of gears and tears working and spinning around each other but I also later connected these whispers to the fog that Chief seems to visit often. The fog symbolizes the powerless actions that patients have against the nurses and doctors who seem to encourage them to stay safe and hidden amongst their own fog. Chief believes that each patient has their own set of "fog", but it doesn't seem to affect them the same way it affects him. Another use of imagery amongst the fog is displayed on page 137, "The faces blow past in the fog like confetti." In this section, Chief seemed to be drowning in his fog while the Big Nurse was at work pulling out her files and having conversations about the other patients. Each face tells a small backstory about that person that Chief has encountered or heard about on the ward. I found it interesting that Kensey would use confetti, as most often times, confetti is used in a time of celebration; however, this was all occurring during the same time the nurse was conforming and dehumanizing the patients on the ward. A similar idea to George Orwell's 1984. There are many other forms of literary devices that Kensey writes and elaborates on, but I am fond of his use of imagery and connections to weave together his work and others that explore the topic of sanity vs insanity.
In one flew over the cuckoo's nest, Ken Kasey uses a plethora of Literary devices. Right off the bat, Kasey uses a Simile on page one where he says "I creep along wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoe". Dust pops up a lot in part one but that is a good example there. Another instance of literary devices is a metaphor used on page 20. "He's got hands so long and white and dainty I think they carved each other out of soap". Cheif Bromdon was talking about one of the fellow ward members Dale Harding in this quote because he seemed too normal to be there. And to his credit he was right. Dale Harding was only in the "Cuckoo's nest" because he was gay. Back in the time of the story that was looked at as a mental illness. This entire book is loaded to the ceiling with fantastic literary devices and I can't wait to see what more it has to offer.
In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, fog is a symbol that gets more complex the more you get into the novel. Towards the beginning, the fog can be seen as simply an extra figment of Bromden's hallucination. The fog can be seen as a moment for Bromden to slip out of reality and "...time doesn't mean anything. It's lost in the fog, like everything else"(78). However, as we get more references to fog through Bromden, fog can be seen as a symbol of the patients and Bromden himself giving in to authority. It is a smoke that blocks out any natural instincts for the patients to rebel. The fog helps to eliminate the reality of what the patients go through and are submitted to in the ward. McMurphy is a character that is trying to clear the fog from the patients' eyes and make them see what is happening around them. However, the patients can choose to "either strain and look at things that appear in front of (them) in the fog, painful as it might be, or (they) could relax and lose (themselves)" (131). Many of the patients like to play it safe and escape into the fog where they can choose to not face their problems. This action gives Nurse Ratched more control as none of the patients choose to rebel against her orders.
Ken Kesey is very adept at using imagery in his book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. For example, on page 6, Chief Bromden describes the shaving room as "...a room all white walls and white basins, and long-tube-lights in the ceiling making sure there aren't any shadows..." Bromden's description of the shaving room tells the ready what type of facility he and the rest of the patients are in; everything being white and bland says that the place is cold and mechanical. Another example of the facility being mechanical is when flips out and breaks down. After Pete punches one of the aides into the wall, Bromden says that he "Heard tubes pop and short all over inside that wall..."(53). Additionally, Bromden described the other aides' reactions as mechanical, because they "...shook and smoked and I could hear gears grinding...like machines throttled full ahead with the brake on" (53-54). The demeanor of the staff combined with the facility itself makes the patients feel like nobody actually cares about them and that the staff is only doing the bare minimum.
Ken Kesey uses very subtle imagery in his book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". To me, the title itself is imagery. When you say someone is "cuckoo" you mean that they are crazy. In this book, they are in a mental hospital where there are some "cuckoo" people. On page 3, Chief is described as dust. He means that he feels like he is barely noticed by people even with his height being impeccable. On page 7, it talks about the fog which can be used as imagery. The fog isn't really there and it is all part of Chief's hallucinations. But, fog is almost like the patients can't see to the other side and don't know what is next for their lives. It's like they have stuck in the fog for the rest of their lives like how they are stuck in the hospital. The machine that is causing the fog is the hospital or the people themselves. They describe the chronics as machines that can be fixed. It is like everyone in the hospital is a robot and they have to listen to what the nurses say and they can't escape their feeling of emptiness inside.
In Ken Kesey's, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, there are multiple examples of imagery, symbolism, and setting. Kesey constantly describes the setting in many different ways. The main thing that helps me "see" the setting is when Kesey using imagery to describe it. When he uses vivid imagery to describe the setting, I can understand and actually visualize what is happening in the novel. Kesey also uses imagery to describe characters. On page 13, he describes McMurphy's face, neck, and arms as the color of oxblood leather. He uses imagery like this throughout the entire novel. This allows me the chance to actually visualize the character to what they could possibly look like and give me a better understanding of the novel. On page 1, Kesey first mentions the use of machinery. Throughout the first 100 pages, he really comes back to the ward as a working machine. I think the machine is an awesome symbol and an almost type of analogy for the mental ward.
Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, contains an abundance of literary devices. From metaphors, to similes, to imagery, this book has it all. On the very first page is a simile. “I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes..” (pg. 3). Ken Kesey uses a simile to show how quiet the Chief is. Just a few pages later another simile is used. This time to describe the Nurse. “So she really lets herself go and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor..” (pg. 5). The author uses the phrase “big as a tractor” to illustrate the mean snarl of the Nurse. On the same page, Kesey uses good imagery to describe Ms. Ratched. “Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils..” (pg. 5-6). Kesey’s use of vivid vocabulary really helps paint a picture in the mind of the reader.
Ken Kesey is quite magnificent in his use of literary devices in the novel entitled One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. While making my way through the first part of the story, I have immediately noticed several instances of literary devices. The talented author even includes foreshadowing in the title! The word "cuckoo" in the title foreshadows that the novel will be dealing with unstable minds possibly. Kesey not only uses foreshadowing in the early stages of the book, but he also uses very vivid imagery. The sections that immediately stuck out to me were when the characters were being introduced. I was able to create a picture in my brain of each of the characters being described. One example of this was located on page 13 and read, "He's got on work-farm pants and shirt, sunned out till they're the color of watered milk. His face and neck and arms are the color of the oxblood leather from working long in the fields. He's got a primer-black motorcycle cap stuck in his hair and a leather jacket over one arm, and he's got on boots gray and dusty and heavy enough to kick a man half in two." This quote provides great imagery written by Kesey.
In the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" Ken Kesey did a really great job of using literary devices. On page 25 he described McMurphy hand detail by detail. For example, he stated, " I remember the palm smooth and hard as bone from hefting the wooden handles of axes and hoes." He used imagery for that page so readers could mentally picture what his hands looked like. On page 7 Chief states " they start the fog machines again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk. This is yet another example of imagery. One major symbol that Kelsey used is on page 69 that says " you are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a crown of electric sparks in place of thorns." When I read that page it stood out to me because it was very obvious it was hinting at Jesus and his death. Ken Kesey did an excellent job with this novel and using literary devices!
In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Ken Kesey's ability to use imagery and symbols is shown. Each character has their own unique personality. For instance, the narrator of the story, Cheif, does not say overtly that he pretends to be deaf and mute, but we can take context clues to figure that out. Chief explains on page 4, "In the dark, I listen...". He depicting how he feels and how others see him, blanketed in darkness and safe from exposure. But we know he is not the big dumb man everyone sees him as. I see this as perfect symbolism because it displays the Chief's self-esteem. Another example of symbolism is when McMurphy is introduced. He is shown to be a charismatic jokester who gambles all the time. Chief immediately relates him to his father who was very close to him. "He talks a little the way Papa used to..." (page 11). This could be foreshadowing to Chief and McMurphy's relationship. McMurphy's constant gambling could symbolize his confidence in himself and spontaneous decisions instead of mindless repetition. McMurphy shares this trait and infiltrates it into the others which brings excitement into their lives. "They are grinning because something out of the ordinary is happening" (page 14).
Kesey uses an insane amount of metaphors and similes in his writing (among other literary devices). I think he is able to insert these details because the Chief pretends he is deaf. Because of his silence, he is able to focus on small details and the very nature of things that we never look beyond the surface of. A metaphor that really stood out to me was the comparison of the lines in McMurphy’s hand to those of a road map. “A road map of his travels up and down the West.” (pg.25) Chief was about to shake his hand, and he noticed so many small details in a simple gesture. McMurphy’s hand is compared to a road map of his travels because he probably has many worn calluses from working and not staying sedentary for long periods of time. I thought it was interesting how Kesey used capital letters on inside and outside. “Under her rule the ward Inside… she’s got to spend some time Outside.” (pg. 28) The use of capital letters draws attention to the words and makes them more of an important, tangible thing. It makes the clear distinction of two different worlds, and the Outside being the one Chief will never be able to be a part of.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey uses an immense amount of imagery. He describes the setting in full detail to help give the reader a mental picture of where the book is taking place. What separates a unique novel from a plain, boring one is the amount of imagery the author provides. I believe Kesey has accomplished the title for this book to be unique, and maybe more. An excellent example of the use of imagery can be read on page 43, "She looks around to see if anybody else is about to interrupt her, smiling steadily as her head turns in her collar. The guys won't meet her look; they're all looking for hangnails. Except for McMurphy. He's got himself an armchair in the corner sits in it like he's claimed it for good, and he's watching her every move. He's still got his cap on, jammed tight down on his redhead like he's a motorcycle racer...." In this excerpt, we can see a visual picture of the setting, like Kesey painted a picture in our heads.
Throughout the book, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Ken Kesey uses many different literary devices, including symbols, imagery, setting, and many more. Even when you first start reading, you are able to find many right away. On page 3, he uses a simile "quiet as dust" to help the reader understand how soundless or stealthy his manner is when the workers are nearby. Also on page 3, he compares the gossiping workers to black machinery. I believe that Kesey does this to show that each of them is a part of the machine or the mental hospital, as a whole. Another type of literary device that he seems to use quite a bit is imagery. Personally, I like having more imagery that best because then it is easier to vividly visualize what's happening the plot inside my head. One type of imagery that really stuck out to me was when Chief met McMurphy and described what his hand looked like. On page 25, he says "I remember real clear the way that hand looked: there was carbon under the fingernails where he'd worked once in a garage; there was an anchor tattooed back from the knuckles; there was a dirty Band-Aid on the middle knuckle, peeling up at the edge...". This imagery made it feel as if I were watching this happen on a screen. It gave every detail of what you'd see if you were really there. While I feel there isn't as consistent of a plot, at least not yet, I am already enjoying reading this book due to all these different devices that happen throughout the book.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kessy, there are a great number of uses of imagery, symbolism, and setting. The most prominent of these three is the use of imagery. He describes Cheifs delusions so well with imagery, that it is very easy to tell when he is having a delusions episode. For example, Cheif states that "They didn't see the hand on the end of that arm pumping bigger and bigger as he clenched and unclenched it. "(pg. 53) Kessy also uses symbolism very well. Harding says "I am a rabbit. The doctor is a rabbit."(pg. 64) The rabbit symbolizes that the admissioned are weak in the wild like rabbits. Finally, Kessy does well with the use of setting. Kessy introduces settings with long descriptions of the room. For example, "in a room all white walls and white basins, and long tube lights in the ceiling making sure there aren't any shadows, and faces all round you trapped screaming behind the mirrors." (pg. 6) This does well in ensuring the reader that the main character hates it here and is in fear of the place.
Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he does an excellent job using a variety of literary devices throughout the whole novel. One example of a literary device he used was imagery when describing Nurse Ratched. "I see her fingers trail across the polished steel tip of each finger the same color as her lips. Funny orange. Like the tip of a soldering iron. Color so hot or so cold if she touches you with it you can't tell which" (pg 4). I like this one because it describes how cold she really is even if she acts like she is warm and nice. Another example I liked was flashbacks used in the novel. "Like always when I try to place my thoughts in the past and hide there, the fear close at hands seeps in through the memory" (pg 6). I thought this was a good example because it talks about how Chief Bromden uses his past thoughts and memories to escape the bad things that are happening in the present.
Through Out the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey has used different types of literary devices. One of the most used types of literary devices is imagery. The book is full of tons of deep descriptions to describe different characters and events, especially Nurse Ratched. When it comes to her description of her, she is vividly described as her "face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel..." (5). She is also consistently described as being made of machinery. She is crude and deceiving. Cheif has a hallucination of her "swelling up till her back's spitting out the white uniform...she blows up bigger and bigger, as big as a tractor" (5) Another type of literary device he uses a lot is the allusion to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Ellis is another character who is "nailed against a wall... arms up, palms upped, with the same horror on his face" (16). This is a reference to the Bible and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Kesey uses a lot of imagery in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. You can find an example of literary devices on almost any page; this is necessary to give us more insight as to what the inside of the ward looks like, and show us what day-to-day life is like among the men. On page 144, Kesey writes, "And we're all sitting there lined up in front of that blanked-out TV set, watching the gray screen just like we could see the baseball game clear as day, and she's ranting and screaming behind us." This is an example of imagery since he is painting a picture for us to look at and imagine in our heads. On page 96, Kesey writes, "She starts moving, and I get back against the wall, and when she rumbles past she's already big as a truck, trailing that wicker bag behind in her exhaust like a semi behind a Jimmy Diesel." This is an example of a simile, comparing two things to give us, the readers, a better understanding of what the enraged nurse looks like. without this comparison, we might not get the full effect on how mad the nurse is as she rushes to McMurphy. With this comparison, like a semi, we can tell she is full of power, and she doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
Ken Kesey's use of literary devices in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is very elaborate. Every setting, person, and object is described very distinctly to give the reader a full visual of what it is he is describing. For example, Chief Bromden falls into another hallucination (fog) and immediately the setting of the hallucination is described. "The picture is a guy fly-fishing somewhere in the mountains, looks like the Ochocos near Paineville—snow on the peaks showing over the pines, long white aspen trunks lining the stream, sheep sorrel growing in sour green patches. The guy is flicking his fly in a pool behind a rock. It's no place for a fly, its a place for a single egg on a number 6 hook—he'd better to drift the fly over those riffles downstream." (pg. 126) Here we are taken to a place in the mountains where Chief Bromden sees a man fishing. I believe this man to be Bromden's father because as you flip a few more pages you a brought on another fog adventure where Bromden is hunting with his father. Also, using stereotypes and cultural knowledge, Native Americans are profound hunters and fishermen. So I believe these hallucinations are from Bromden's past experiences with his father learning how to hunt and fish.
In the book "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest" there is an example of imagery on the first page when he says, "Hum of black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets." He is describing the three "black" aides as machinery like they are part of the hospital equipment (3). Another example is when he describes the nurse as a machine when he says, "like a big tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load" (5). He describes the hospital as a combine when he says, "Across the room from the Acutes are the culls of the Combine's product, the Chronics" like the Chronics are the way they are because of the hospital (15). the big nurse is upset about there being residents because it messes with her "machinery" as stated on page 36, "nine-fifty the residents leave and the machinery hums up smooth again" (36).
Kesey uses multitudes of literary devices in his work, In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He gives the reader an example of imagery, using their sense of hearing, by saying this on page 4, "In my dark I hear her rubber heels hit the tile and the stuff in her wicker bag clash with the jar of her walking as she passes me in the hall." This gives the reader a chance to imagine the sounds that are being projected by the Big Nurse, as well as showing a hint of intimidation from her character right away. He also uses symbolism with a variety of objects, such as the thermometer. He continually uses it as a device of torture and intimidation that the staff will use against the patients. Bromden, the main character, is the one narrating the story, so the reader has no choice but to go off of what he says or thinks. "... the brassy way he hollers at that black boy who's still after him with a thermometer..." (Pg 19).
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by author Ken Kesey uses varying types of literary devices, such as symbols, imagery, and setting. Ken Kesey uses these literary devices in an excellent manner to describe each character very elaborately. For example, when describing the main character, Chief Bromden, he writes "I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes" on page 3. Not only does this let you know right away that Chief Bromden does not want people's attention, but that even at his enormous height and weight, he is a quiet man. Kesey then proceeds the describe all of the characters with the same amount of detail and symbolic nature, including Nurse Ratchet. On page 5, Kesey describes Nurse Ratchets anger as almost machine-like, "she blows bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load". Using the literary devices at such expertise, Ken Kesey draws almost any reader into the story with such vivid imagery, in turn, making it hard to put the book down.
Ken Kesey uses many literary devices in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", including symbolism, imagery, setting, and many more. On page 117, character Chief Bromden describes his psychotic hallucination as "...overheard like a bell buoy clanging in the fog. When I can see, the guys are usually moving around as unconcerned as though they didn't notice so much as a mist in the air. I believe the fog affects their memory some way it doesn't affect mine." Chief feels like he is not hallucinating himself, but how his hallucination is actually happening to the others in the ward. Imagery is used on page 86 with the fat black boy, Geever, to describe the way the light described him. "...wiping the wet grey palms in his armpits. The light from the Nurse's Station throws his shadow on the dorm wall big as an elephant, gets smaller as he walks to the dorm door and looks in." The setting of this story makes perfect sense for the title. "The Cuckoo's Nest" is the mental ward for all psychologically insane citizens and the "One Flew Over" would be McMurphy, for he is (as far as we can infer) more sane than any other character living in the ward.
In Ken Kesey's eye-opening novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" symbolism, imagery, and setting are all present throughout the beginning chapters. The story is told from the point of view of Chief Bromden, a Native American man who is in a patient in the mental hospital where the novel takes place. From early on in the story it is quite clear the Chief is quite an unreliable narrator, this is evident when he is describing the “black boys in white suits” and he states that they have “special sensitive equipment that detects [his] fear” (3). Clearly, this is not the case but from the point of view of Chief, it is the case. Chief has many descriptions throughout the book but because he has schizophrenia and PTSD these descriptions are not necessarily how the average person would describe situations. This makes the book a challenge but because it is written this way it adds a challenge that keeps me turning the pages.
Imagery, symbolism, setting, and other literary devices are found running rampant in Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The beginning chapters of Kesey's novel illustrate the schizophrenic delusions of main character Cheif Bromden in ways that leave me as a reader both uncomfortable and intrigued. One of the most detailed and personally unsettling examples of symbolism in Kesey's novel is Cheif's hallucinations of machines and wires running through the walls of the hospital. Specifically, the symbolism of Nurse Ratched and her control of the hospital through the control panel in the Nurse's Station. The Machinery symbolizes Society's pressure on the patients to become like those on the Outside, and the machinery controls how they should behave, so they act more accordingly. Chief explains that Nurse Ratched is "able to set the wall clock to whatever speed she wants by turning one of those dials in the steel door" (Kesey 76). Chief imagines her controlling everything because her ideal is to convert them all to Discharges because she wants them to be controlled. Ratched's ideas are similar to Society's and therefore is it actually represented by Kesey in the physical form of the wall's machinery.
So far in my reading, I have noticed the powerful use of imagery and symbolism. Kesey does a fine job of describing the poor condition of each patient and the dreary look of the mental institution. There are a couple symbols I have noticed while reading this book as well, one is laughter. Since McMurphey has been at this mental institution, he has mentioned the lack of laughter multiple times. The Chief says, “I realize all of a sudden it’s the first laugh I’ve heard in years.” (12) and again when he has a memory thinking, “I forget sometimes what laughter can do.” (95) This shows how something as simple as laughter can have a big effect on people’s lives. Along with McMurphy stating, “man, when you lose your laugh, you lose your footing.” (70) I think the laughter in this book is a symbol of a happier life, a way to forget about the stresses of any situation. McMurphy uses laughter to highlight his bright, outgoing personality, while Chief Bromden uses laughter as a way to remember the good old times outside of the mental institution. That is why the laughter is so unfamiliar in the institution because they lack any joyful, fun experiences.
Ken Kesey uses a great number of Literary Devices in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest including imagery, symbolism, and setting. From the pages I have read so far, I believe that Kesey uses all three of these devices to do the same job. I see him describing the setting by using vivid imagery and portraying imagery with the use of similes and symbols. For example, on page 31, in the second paragraph, there is about 5 similes for less than half a page long paragraph. He compares the walls to a polished clean refrigerator door, and the blackface and hands floating against the walls "like a ghost." This way of describing setting and characteristics really resonates with me because Kesey compares colors, shapes, and other features to simple everyday things that I can imagine. His technique and portrayal of all these things is essential in ensuring the reader's thoughts and emotions when it comes to anything within this book.
I think that Ken Kesey uses imagery and setting as his two main literary devices in the book. To make his readers understand what the characters are doing and where they are in the hospital, she describes things vividly and spacially. Throughout the book she uses imagery, my favorite example of this is on page 36 when Kesey describes the rape of Taber. Although the author doesn't tell the readers he is raped, he heavily implies the action and hopes that readers will understand what he is saying. On page 36 Kesey writes about Taber's rape, how the black workers take him to the mattress room, push him face down on the bed, rip his pants open in the back, the nurse leaving vaseline in the room, and his green clothes being ripped off and replaced by a damp sheet. Nowhere on this page does Kesey say Taber was raped, he uses imagery and setting to help readers understand what goes on at this hospital. After this act was committed, Taber has to go through shots, spine taps, EST, and possibly brain work. This goes into one of Kasey's themes, unhealthy sexual behavior can lead to insanity.
Throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author, Ken Kesey, uses many literary devices such as imagery and symbols. One example of imagery that really stuck out was referencing a visitor to the ward. He is described as, “thin and meatless” “his clothes flap around his bones” (127). The wording here really goes to show how skinny this guy in a more interesting way than just saying he was skinny. Another literary device used by Ken Kesey is symbolism. I believe the fog Chief Bromden sees in his hallucinations is meant to symbolize the lack of freedom for the patients in the ward. They are not allowed to do what they want when they want to do it. The patients are forced to follow a very strict time clock that is never changed because the Big Nurse keeps it that way. They are forced into conformity and there is nothing they can do about it. Then McMurphy shows up and tries to, “drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we’d be easy to get at” (128). McMurphy is trying to make the others understand that there is more to life than sitting around doing nothing. He wants to give the patients the freedom they have never experienced and drag them out of the fog.
Ken Kesey’s novel does not fail to lack a shortage of literary devices. He writes in a brilliant manner through the use of superb imagery and symbolism. One of the first symbols I noticed in the novel was the fog machine. When Bromden takes his medication, he often hallucinates and imagines fog drifting through the ward, “... cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it” (7). Kesey describes the fog immaculately, giving readers a true sense of what Bromden was feeling. I believe Kesey uses the fog to show the lack of reality each character has in the ward––how the characters become numb to everything around them. Kesey also develops the setting brilliantly for his readers. On page 40, he compares the psych ward to a Combine––a place where things go when broken. The Combine represents society, and the ward is just a part of society created to fix the broken people. When fixed, they often come out better than before. I think Kesey did this to shine a light on society’s failures and what it often times attempt to hide (the “broken” people who stick out from others).
There are many great examples of literary devices that Kesey uses very efficiently within One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Straight away imagery is used. On page 4, the Chief says that "she[Nurse Ratched] slides through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her." This is used to form the atmosphere. The cold represents Nurse Ratched's strict ways and how she is the focal figure that all actions have to be presented to. The cold that follows her could also be representing the personality that she is portrayed as possessing. The next page gives us a further look at Nurse Ratched's personality and how she acts when she is angry. Nurse Ratched enters the room and begins to chew out the black boys. Cheif Bromeden describes her as she chews out the boys on page 5 saying, "she's going to tear the black bastards limb from limb, she's so furious. She's swelling up, swells till her back's spitting out the white uniform and she's let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times." The imagery continues to be present throughout the novel and adds color to the writing making it easier for readers to better understand what the people in the mental facility went through. We can see this through Ellis who, every day is "crucified" on the wall. Continuing on with Ellis you also see imagery when it describes how his pee had eaten the floor.
In One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey uses many literary devices such as allusions, imagery, and symbols. Something I have noticed as I have been reading this book is the mention of a fog machine, “They start to fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me” (7). I think the fog is supposed to symbolize Chief’s escape from reality because he mentions that he feels safe when he is in it. At the beginning of the book, Kesey used great detail to describe the contents of the Big Nurse’s basket she carried in with her: “full of thousands of parts she aims to use I he duties today––wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that glean like porcelain”(4). With the amount of detail you are able to imagine what the contents of the basket looked like. I found the imagery the Chief used to describe the Big Nurse is sometimes difficult to distinguish what is reality and what is not. An example of this would be when he said, “She’s swelling up, swells till her back’s splitting out the white uniform and she’s let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times”. Kesey has used many literary devices but the one that has stood out to me the most is imagery.
In my opinion, Ken Kesey does an outstanding job using many different literary devices in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Right away, Kesey starts the book off with a simile. The quote, "I creep along the wall quiet as dust." on page 3 compares his creeping to dust and how silent they both are. One thing I noticed and I had to reread, was the part where the narrator talks about the fog machine. This part I did not understand at first but after rereading it, I think it is the Chief, "escaping" the real world. “They start to fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me” (7). On page 128, Kesey uses one of the best pieces of irony I have read in a novel. It says, "If somebody'd of come in and took a look... they'd of thought the whole bunch of us was crazy as loons. I am looking forward to seeing how else Kesey uses literary devices throughout the novel.
A common theme presented throughout the story, depicted during Chief Bromden’s frequent hallucinations, is fog. Accompanying Bromden’s bizarre visions is heavy fog, which he believes is being controlled by the institution and combine. These visions of fog are prominently described in almost the entirety of chapter 15 with pages 130, 131 and 133 referencing heavily on how Bromden believes the fog is created. The fog creates bizarre scenarios that include fellow patients as well as memories of his time during military service. Whenever Bromden envisions the fog, his mind is being torn away from reality. He sometimes finds comfort in not being in reality as he does not have to deal with problems facing him or accept his position in the real world. With the arrival of Murphy, Bromden envisions himself and the other patients being lifted out of the fog by Murphy. He slowly believes that Murphy can’t be consumed by the fog that was designed by the institution to suppress them.
Ken Kesey does an amazing job of using literary devices in this book. He almost needs to use such devices to get really paint us, readers, a picture. The first literary device I saw in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next was on the first page. Chief Bromden said, "I crept along the wall quiet as dust.." (page 1) This is a very powerful simile as it shows just how quiet he was. Quiet as dust, which is extremely quiet. Later on in the book is a whole paragraph that is filled with similes and metaphors to describe Nurse Ratched and just how big and scary she seemed at the moment. Chief described, "...when she rumbles past she's already big as a truck, trailing that wicker bag behind in her exhaust like a semi behind a Jimmy Diesel. Her lips are parted, and her smile's going out before her like a radiator grill. I can smell the hot oil and magneto spark when she goes past, and every step hits the floor she blows up a size bigger, blowing and puffing, roll down anything in her path! I'm scared to think what she'll do." (page 96) This is my favorite paragraph of the whole book. It does an amazing job of portraying how strong and absolutely terrifying Nurse Ratched is. This really gives us a taste for what the patients felt whenever she got angry.
Kesey uses an abundance of literary devices within Part One of the novel. With symbols, it has been mentioned how most of the character’s names are symbolic of something. For example, Billy Bibbit's alliterative name is perfect for him and his stutter. Kesey uses imagery all over the place to paint a clear image in my head of what is going on within the scene. One line Kesey wrote on page 37 is specifically fun to imagine in my mind; it says, "Public Relation's shirt collar is so tight it bloats his face up when he laughs... red and round as a balloon with a face painted on it,". He describes each character very precisely like with McMurphy's bright ginger hair and Chief extreme height. Also, I can perfectly image the daily room with the Chronics and Acutes and a line right down the middle. His settings are clear and keep my mind interested.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey uses a TON of Literary Devices. The one that caught my eye the most was on page 69 when he compared the Electro-Shock Therapy System, or EST for short, to being crucified. It says, "You are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a crown of electric sparks in place of thorns." Ken Kesey uses vivid imagery to really show the readers what is going on and give them a glimpse as to what is happening. On Page 25, the full page is dedicated to the description of McMurry and his hand, which obviously shows the extent to which he is describing. "there was carbon under the fingernails where he'd worked once in a garage". This shows how much detail Kesey is going into. Another one that I found was on page 5 when Kesey uses a metaphor that is comparing the world and the machine that is being used inside the facility. "Bigger and bigger, big as a tractor". (25)
Ken Kesey uses many different forms of literary devices throughout his novel, "One who flew over the Cuckoo's Nest". One literary device he uses quite often is imagery. In one instance, he describes Mr. McMurphy. On page 124, McMurphy was trying to prove his strength. Not only mentally is he trying to do this throughout the novel, but also physically. Kesey describes him very vividly as he is trying to lift the control panel. Kesey writes, "HIs arms commence to swell, and the veins squeeze up to the surface. He clinches his eyes, and his lips draw away from his teeth. His head leans back, and tendons stand out like coiled ropes running from his heaving neck down both arms to his hands. His whole body shakes with the strain as he tries to lift something he knows he can't lift, something everybody knows he can't lift.". After this part of the novel, Kesey goes further and mentions how McMurphy's hands are bleeding from trying to lift the control panel. This example just goes to show how important McMurphy is as a character in the book. It shows that just because someone might mentally be okay, that doesn't mean they are better physically at other things than them. Kesey also has irony behind this. It shows that McMurphy thinks he is so much smarter than the other 39 people at the ward by always showing them up in bets. In this particular section of the novel though, he loses his own bet. This could also symbolize him losing his mind more than he cares to admit he is by trying to prove something everyone, including himself, knows he can not do.
Well, to speak of what I have read so far in One that Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kasey—I must talk about the setting of the story. The book sets up that they are in a mental institution, a well-renowned one as well by the many tours from school teachers and nurse trainees touring the facility, and is placed after the time of high lobotomy usage and great abuses by the staff towards the inmates—as is evidenced by McMurphy during his discussing with Harding as to why they let the Head Nurse treat them like pecking chickens—but before the public was aware of the negative treatment of inmates indirectly and how horrific the electric chain was for "therapy". Rather it sits nicely in the time frame of "You must play nice with them, but should they do anything remotely unwanted you can shock them into behaving better" as evidenced by Big Nurse when she was searching for suitable lackeys, her black boys as Chief puts it, telling them to hide their hate but she still wanted them to hate the people they are supposed to be taking care of—evidenced by Chief on page 1 when they blatantly discuss "hate secrets" in front of him which gets them yelled at by Big Nurse. Which is key to the setting of the book, how the Big Nurse doesn't want to care for these people, rather correct them into what society wants them to be or outright killing the soul if they can't be fixed. Even some people in the facility shouldn't be there or got worse while there.
While reading, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” by Ken Kesey, you pick up on all of the amazing literary devices in his writing. Ken Kesey uses an abundant amount of symbolism, imagery, and setting in the novel. For one I think the title its self is a symbol. A Cuckoo bird is an informal word or phrase referring to someone(or something) crazy or eccentric. The entire novel so far is about people in a mental health center which could be seen as the characters' home, or nest if you will. With this thought in mind you can even take the term Cuckoo to the characters themselves. Look at McMurphy, I would consider him to be a very eccentric person. When he first entires the novel on page 11, the Acutes were even shocked by his upbeat attitude. So I think that the title its self is a symbol of the characters and what will happen during the rest of the book.
Ken Kensey uses many literary devices in his book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest. Out of all of them, I felt he used symbolism the most. A lot of the things Chief is imaging could actually have deeper meanings behind them. For example, the Chief always sees fog. There is not actually fog there. This could be a symbol for the hospital keeping the people living there from doing certain things and holding them back. I think that Ken Kensey did not use much imagery. The amount he has used is nothing compared to the Lord of the Flies which would have a full page of imagery. I do not think that Ken Kensy uses much to describe the setting. The reader never gets a description of where and when everything is taking place. There are also different rooms or places in the hospital that are given weird names, but the reader never really knows what these rooms look like or what they actually are.
As I am reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, I have noticed that the author has used several different literary devices. I feel that imagery and symbolism stick out the most to me. From the moment I started reading, I felt that the fog references in the book were the simplest literary device to pick out. The fog in the story doesn't actually exist as they say it does, it is actually a symbol of Brodmen's internal despair. The title even has a symbolic meaning. The title is referring to a "nest" which is in relation to the health center the characters are all located in. Several times in the book you hear of machinery. The machinery that runs the hospital gives a lot of symbolic meaning. I see it as it symbolizes the pressure to conform to social standards, but it can mean several other ideas as well.
I have noticed so far while reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, that Ken Kesey has included so much description in his words. He is an artist painting a picture in my brain. Within each page of the book, I am able to see exactly what Kesey wants me to see because of the brilliant imagery that he has added to this story. When it comes to symbols in this story the main one that I think of is the fog and the fog machine. I think that this is a symbol because it is somewhat an escape from reality for Cheif. Also, the fact that it is not real. I think that it could be the medication or something that makes him hallucinate and think that there is a fog that is there when his drugs kick in. The setting of this story I find very interesting. It takes place in a mental institution and to me seems to make the plot a lot more interesting because it feels like I never know what is going to happen next while reading. I feel like some of the parts are a little confusing to me on like what is real, what is a hallucination, and what is a flashback or previous event that happened. However, the story for me is very interesting and I am excited to read more!
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, some of the symbols and imagery include the fog and the TV. On page 128, Chief says, “Nobody complains about all the fog I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe”. The fog acts as a barrier between his mind and reality. The fog is one of the last places he feels safe even if sometimes he has horrible and terrifying hallucinations. On page 144 the ward has risen up against Nurse Ratched for the first time as they pretend a baseball game is playing on the blank TV screen. In my opinion, I believe that the TV screen could be a metaphor for a prison break. The TV acts as a clean slate for the boys to let their minds roam wild and free which is exactly what Nurse Ratched despises. For one of the first times in a long time, the boys are mentally set free despite the fact that they are still imprisoned. This metaphor shows that even though they may be locked away in a building the only thing that can truly imprison them is their minds.
Kesey has placed many literary devices all over the book. I noticed a lot of metaphors and similes. For example, on page 60 McMurphy says, "She may be a mother, but she's big as a damn barn and tough as a knife metal." This simile is being used to describe Nurse Ratched through McMurphy's eyes. Also on page 60, there is a metaphor which is "Hooowee, I've seen some bitches in my time, but she takes the cake." This is also being used to describe Nurse Ratched through McMurphy's point of view. On page 61 I found another simile which is "She's unselfish as the wind..." and this is being used to describe Nurse Ratched the way Harding sees her. On page 62 another simile is used to describe Harding through Chief Bromden's eyes and he says, "He wrings his hands like a fly...". This simile does a very good job of specifically describing the action of Harding rubbing his hands together because I can picture it in my mind very well which makes the story easier to read.
I love how Ken Kesey sets up the novel especially at the beginning. For instance, pages 1 and 2 are intriguing in how the scene is set. It isn't telling us about our narrator but sets the stage of the mental institution and of the villain. His use of imagery is amazing as he describes the menial tasks that Chief performs and the things that he sees. Particularly, I liked the part where it describes how the nurse was about to tear into those men who clumped up in the hallway and with how aggressive she got, but when everyone poked their heads out everything was fine. I also like how the narrator creates a clear image of really important characters. For instance, when R.P.McMurphy is introduced, the imagery used to describe him, and more specifically his laugh that lingers. I could almost hear it while I'm reading the book. I enjoy this novel a lot and I can't wait to read more.
In Ken Kensey's book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he uses many literary devices in my personal opinion I think that the biggest devices used are the symbols, with one of the biggest being how he even illustrates to Ellis being a pure Jesus-like figure with he is "nailed" to the walls every day and is more of an overlooking figure that witnesses everything that is going on but is incapable of helping because he is "nailed" to the walls and is in vegetable-like state which causes him to be unable to help the acutes or the cryonics in their rebellion against Nurse Ratched. Another example of that Ken Kensy uses is the symbolism of the dust that McMurphy is constantly patting off of himself which could be interpreted as McMurphy dirtying the system that was in place by Nurse Ratched which shows that McMurphy is planing on overthrowing the system and set himself in control.
From reading the first part of the novel, it is obvious of Ken Kesey's ability to write is outstanding. He uses various literary devices that enhance his interesting stories. Even on the first page of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Kesey uses a simile. Chief was describing how silent he walked as, "I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes..." By using this simile we as readers can infer that Chief isn't making any possible noise since dust doesn't make a noise. Another great example of a simile displayed on page 32 is how Chief describes how he switches the alphabetical order when it is shaving days. He goes, "Without lifting my feet—powerful magnets in the floor maneuver personnel through the ward like arcade puppets..." A statement like this shows how controlled everyone in the institute is forced to live by. If Chief has the feeling of being manipulated like a puppet or an arcade game that repeats the same game over and over, it shows how dissatisfied he is with his living conditions. Kesey's main literary devices used (I would say) are similes and imagery. He uses imagery when describing the different rooms in the ward or the conditions/personalities of the patients and employees.
In the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, there are many different examples of imagery, similes, and many other literary devices used in the pages I have read so far. I found one example right off the bat. An example of a simile on page 3 is used to describe how Chief Bromdone moved through the hall when the black boys are committing their sex acts. The quote says "I crept along the wall as quiet as dust." Chief then explained he did this because it was better to not let them see them when they are committing such acts. Another literary device used is setting. Chief takes us through the typical schedule of a day in the ward. (Pages 31-38) "Six-forty-five the shavers buzz...seven-thirty back to the day room...seven-forty-five the black boys move down the line of Chronics taping catheters..." In this process, we also see strictness and how Nurse Ratched runs the institute. We get to see different parts of the ward as well through the chief's narration as he sweeps the hallways and in the day room. We know how the day room is split up and the social norms in the ward with all the patients. On page 23 we see the kind of mental state Chief is in. When McMurphy was introducing himself to Chief, Chief describes himself as "...sitting there with my knees pulled up and my arms wrapped around them, staring straight ahead..." He is portraying himself as a tiny harmless man when in reality he is 6 foot 7 inches and could probably kick the crap out of anyone in the room.
After reading the first part of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's by Ken Kesey you can really tell that he put a lot of thought into the book and used many different literary devices. I thought Ken Kesey used a lot of symbolism throughout the first part of the novel. For example, Cheif Bromeden has hallucinations and paranoia a lot throughout the first half of the book. He says he sees fog and I think the fog symbolizes his state of mind. His brain is cloudy and overmedicated. He doesn't want to face the reality of what his life really is. The fog could also represent how the patients have no power and are forced to be hidden by the staff. I think Ken Kesey also used imagery because the narrator Bromeden pretends to be deaf he pays attention to more small details. An example of this would be from page 33 when he says, " The Big Nurse looks though her special glass, always polished till you can't tell its there, and nods and what she sees."
Throughout the portion of the book One Flew Voer the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, I have read many different types of examples of imagery and symbolism. Right away to describe one of the main nurses, he says "she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor" (pg.5). This line gives you immense imagery and allows the reader to really think in-depth about how big this nurse actually may be. Another example I have encountered while reading the book is "I creep along the wall quiet as dust" (pg.3). I think this was a very well thought out line because obviously dust makes no sort of sound and he is describing just how quiet he was creeping along the wall. When the Chief is jumping in and out of his episodes, it is interesting to see how he sees or explains things while having an episode and it is neat to read it because Kesey does not say when an episode begins or ends. At times the book has been a little confusing to tell what is actually real and what is just a product of his episodes but other than that the book is a good read and there will be lots to talk about tomorrow for our discussion.
In the first part of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kasey, I found many literary devices. On page 64, McMurphy starts uses symbolism to describe how all the patients are chickens in the hospital. What he means by this is that the chicken's peck at each other until they end up killing one and all the patients in the hospital are pecking at each other until one of them breaks during the group meetings. Another literary device that Kasey uses extremely well is imagery. Many pages contain imagery and vivid word choice but one paragraph I found was on page 76 when he is describing the Public Relations man. He says, "In comes a fat man with a beard, eyes ringed red by the cold and his nose just the color of a cherry."
In the first part of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, Ken Kesey used a flashback when the chief said: "and I try to keep from getting scared, try to get my thoughts off someplace else—try to think back and remember things about the village and the big Columbia River..." I also noticed how Kesey uses great imagery and detail in the book when describing characters. He does this especially well when describing McMurphy. There is one certain part that sticks out to me, where he said he is "redheaded with long red sideburns and a tangle of curls out from under his cap, been needing cute a long time, and he's broad as Papa was tall, broad across the jaw and shoulders and chest, a broad white devilish grin..." Adding into what I just stated about the imagery he uses for the characters, this is another literary device called characterization. He does an amazing job of using this device to develop everyone in the story so the readers can get to know them better.
Throughout the first portion of the book: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I found many literary devices that were used efficiency. One that was used right away was "she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor." (Pg.5.) This line gives imagery and allows the reader to visualize how the nurse looks and reacts within the environment. This also allows the reader to understand the impact the Nurse has on other characters within the ward. Another example that you even established was amazing was when he said: " I creep along the wall quiet as dust."(pg.3) This is a fantastic description of how quiet he is because he is quite as dust. How often does one hear dust? One of the other examples was on page 64, McMurphy starts using symbolism to describe how the patients are chickens in a coop, and establishes that it was a pecking fest. One makes a chicken bleed and then they demolish that chicken until there is nothing left.
At the beginning of this book, I was a little bit confused about what the author was trying to say through this book. Towards the start of the novel I thought "Wow this is just like daily life in a psych ward, what is the big deal here?" Then as the book progressed I could kind of tell how Kesey used all sorts of different techniques in the book. I think the introduction of McMurphy really helped further the plot because his character I feel brings the most out of others, good and bad. Kesey also uses a lot of literary devices in his book to help the reader visualize it better. Like on page 104, when McMurphy throws that pad of butter on the wall he says, "and there that butter is, easing down the wall like a yellow snail...everybody turns in their chair and watches the butter sneak on down the wall, starting, hanging still, shooting ahead and leaving a shiny trail behind it on the paint." This kind of imagery is intense. He took at least an entire paragraph to describe this butter on a wall. But it created such a vivid picture in my mind like I could see exactly how he was picturing, that is some high-quality imagery. Another thing that I thought about in the book was when McMurphy was willing to do just about anything to be able to watch the World Series. But I think this was much more than just a game to him. He said that he has watched it every year. I think that if he is not able to watch it that is kind of like him having let go a little bit of the outside world, which is not what he wants but is kind of what the nurse wants. For him is is much more than a game. It is a symbol of the way things use to be for him.
Ken Kesey uses some imaginative (and at some points a little confusing) literary devices. It took me actually slowing down and re-reading to catch some metaphorical description that appeared already on page three. The guys in the hallway are described as having "special sensitive equipment..."(3) which is a metaphor showing how eerily observant and suspicious they are, as if they had special equipment to detect even the smallest noise and movement. Kesey also has Cheif refer to Nurse Rachet as a tractor (5) and has lines later that refer to rectal thermometers as "machines," which I think conveys a distrust of technology and a past that was in no uncertain terms traumatic. The aides are described as being able to "smell my fear" (6) which is obviously impossible, but adds an element of animalistic qualities to the aids and Nurse Ratchet.
After reading about half of the book now, I have seen many examples of imagery, setting, and symbolism. Ken Kesey is very good at placing literary devices throughout the book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". The one that sticks out the most to me is the amount of symbolism that Ken uses. One symbol that is very big is the fog. The fog is something that comes from Chief Bromden's mind, it is a hallucination that he used to get away from all the noise and drama throughout the "psychiatric place". He drifts off into "the fog" and pretends he is alone and doesn't let anyone bug him while being in the fog. Another symbol that is important in the control panel. A lot of the patients believe that Big Nurse is controlling them with this "panel". That there is something inside of their brain that was implanted in them and now that panel can control them. A lot of this book is very confusing, you never know if the things being said are real or a hallucination so knowing what all the main symbols are can really help you understand what is going on because you never know what is real or a lie.
Ken Kesey is a BRILLIANT writer! His work throughout what I've read so far is astonishing. The amount of symbolism, imagery, and setting use is able to perplex and intrigue even the most complex and wise minds among us. So much so that sometimes I have to reread sentences an inordinate amount of times to finally capture what he is trying to convey to us. However, art and literature are up to the readers' own interpretation. I think any great writer such as Kesey would like his readers to pull different things from the story whether that be intentional or unintentional, similarily to when we are able to converse over completely made up concepts from books like Lord of the Flies by Willliam Golding. Anyways, I digress. Personally, I am most pulled in by his incredible sense of imagery throughout the novel. He spends a great deal of time explaining certain things is harsh and almost overbearing detail to really make sure the reader is able to be in the moment of the patients in the book. Also, he is able to easily skip over certain details that are not very important. Describing those would be a waste of time. He has a firm understanding of when things need to extended and taken further or when things can be put simply and terse, which can create a cold, terse feeling for the reader.
The amount of literary devices in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is quite incredible. After reading a large chunk of this book, I can say that Ken Kesey does not mess around with his literary devices. I think the one that jumps out to me more than anything else is the fog. It has quite the foothold in the first part of the novel and is really interesting to sit back and think about. I personally believe that the fog is a figment of Chief Bromden's imagination. I think that his brain uses the fog to get him away from all of his issues or struggles in the ward. Another literary device used in the book that really makes it unique is the imagery used. It is really incredible how he can really paint such a vivid picture into the reader's mind. As I read the book, I fell like I am right there with Chief or McMurphy.
After reading a little over half of the book now, I have seen so many examples of imagery and symbolism. One that Ken Kesey does a very good job and sticks out the most is the FOG. Now, this is not literal fog. This is a state that Chief Brodmens goes into a hallucination that gets him away from the reality and what’s really going on around him. It is so incredible how much of a clear image he can put into their heads by reading whats the fog really is. Also, the control panel is huge many of the patients think when they get knocked out from the pills they take they get a device implanted into their head which is now being controlled by the nurse. Knowing the symbols and what they mean really helps comprehend the book because it gives so much detail. Not knowing what the symbols mean would be very hard to understand what is going on.
97 comments:
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey uses a simile on the very first page. Chief Bromden explains how he is creeping as quietly as dust, “I creep along the wall quiet as dust.” (pg 3) Then he continues on the next page with an allusion. He describes Nurse Ratched as she is coming through a door. The Chief states that “she slides through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her.” (pg 4) This is an allusion because Nurse Ratched does not actually come in with a gust of cold, but instead, Kesey is giving a description of how she is as a person through the Chief’s eyes. In the very next paragraph, the Chief uses imagery to detail the basket that Nurse Ratched carries in with her. He goes into great detail of the entire basket and its belongings: “her woven wicker bag like the ones the Umpqua tribe sells out along the hot August,” “a bag shape of a toolbox with a handle,” and “full of thousands of parts she aims to use in her duties today—wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that gleam like porcelain.” (pg 4) The great detail tells us so much about the basket that we can almost picture it and its contents right in front of it. With multiple literary devices on the first few pages, I can not wait to see what other ways Kesey will weave them into the writing throughout the rest of the book.
In the book so far I have seen many great examples of imagery, symbolism, setting, etc. One main example of symbolism spoke to me the most. The fog machine that Kesey brings into the story is not a real fog machine on page 7. I believe that this symbol stands for Chief's lack of awareness and his escape from the reality inside the mental institution. Once he takes his medication that Nurse Ratched provides him, it seems like he begins to hallucinate. The description of the fog is that there are fog machines in the vents. The fog seems to be overwhelming to him at times, but I think he overall finds it to be a safe getaway from reality. I also think that Kesey does an outstanding job of describing the setting of the mental institution. One sentence that Kesey writes says, “...six-thirty in the morning in a room all white walls and white basins, a long-tube-lights in the ceiling making sure there aren’t any shadows, and faces all around you trapped screaming behind the mirrors—then what chance you got against one of their machines” (Kesey 6). This shows the atmosphere of the mental institution.
Ken Kasey has done an impeccable job with literary devices so far in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Right off the bat, Kasey starts the book off with a simile comparing dust to his creeping. The quote says "I creep along the wall quiet as dust" (pg. 3). Kasey sets up the book nicely while describing the Big Nurse on page 4. Kasey talks about the appearance of Big Nurse's bag while stating, "It's a loose weave and I can see inside it; there's no compact or lipstick or woman stuff, she's got that bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties today–wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that gleam like porcelain, needles, forceps, watchmakers' pliers, roll of copper wire..." (pg. 4). Chief has the idea in his head that Big Nurse is out to harm him with the pieces in her bag. He watches her and observes to see what she does as he is fascinated by her. Overall, Kasey set up the book well with his elaborate literary devices. I believe this set up is only a glimpse of what's to come for Kasey's writing in the rest of the book.
Ken Kesey has included more imagery, symbolism, and more descriptions in the first 100 pages than in other novels I have read. There are multiple symbolism examples, some that I may have not even realized yet. One that I picked out right away was the color of Nurse Ratched nails and lips and the description of the way she entered the room. Chief Bromden recalls, "she slides through the door with a gust of cold...and I see her fingers trail across the polished steel--the tip of each finger the same color as her lips. Funny orange...color so hot or so cold if she touches you with it you can't tell which." (pg. 4). The cold air and the steel door are symbols for her harshness. Her nails are a fiery orange color and the color represents that she is so harsh, it is hard to pin her down as fire hot or ice cold. I am also really impressed with his use of vivid imagery from Chief Bromden's perspective. He has made Chief Bromden a great storyteller by giving him a voice that paints the setting like a picture. On page 5, Nurse Ratched enters and interacts with the black boys. Chief Bromden witnesses this and describes it as though it is an epic brawl between her and the men. He says, "she's going to tear the black bastards limb from limb, she's so furious. She's swelling up, swells till her back's splitting out the white uniform and she's let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times." While she is not actually a raging monster who is growing to grow to the size of Hulk and kill the men, this passage helps emphasize how cruel she really is.
In Ken Kesey’s eye-opening novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a pattern of descriptive imagery can be found anywhere the reader looks. Upon its opening, the book’s schizophrenic narrator, Chief Bromden, describes the “black boys in white suits” who manage the mental institution as “sulky and hating everything,” with them carrying “special sensitive equipment that detects [his] fear” (3). Such a description highlights the gloomy, destructive nature of this location, as well as the possible unreliability of Chief Bromden. This information than transitions to an analysis of the institution’s dictator Nurse Ratched. Kesey explains that despite her near-perfect appearance, she contains a cold autonomous personality, always hiding her “hideous real self” (5). It is with these antagonists that many of the conflicts in the story derive. In contrast, the story’s protagonist R. P. Mcmurphy is characterized as energetic and chaotic, with a laugh that “hovers around him in his eyes, the way he smiles and swaggers, and in the way he talks” (12). He provides a stark contrast to the other patients and staff, making him a catalyst for much of the plot to come.
Ken Kesey includes many different literary devices in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The most common devices found in the book are symbols, setting, imagery, similes, metaphors, and more. The fog mentioned on page 128 and referred to many other times is an example of one of the many symbols throughout the novel. Chief mentions how he feels safe when he is able to slip into the fog and hide in it. The fog allows Chief to escape reality and represents safety for him. The most obvious examples of devices in the novel come from the use of imagery and settings. Ken Kesey does a great job describing everything in the mental institution. The descriptions are thorough and vivid and allow the reader to create a mental image of what the setting may look like. Pages 80 and 81, along with nearly every page in the book, use setting and imagery to describe everything happening in the scene, including sound, facial expressions, physical setting, and more. Kesey also frequently uses metaphors. One example of this is on page 5, “she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load.” This is one of many examples of the frequently brought up metaphor comparing the world/society to a machine. Kesey also uses a simile in this quote when comparing the nurse to a tractor.
Throughout Ken Kesey's interesting novel titled, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next, multitudes of descriptive imagery are written describing the surroundings that the main character, Cheif Bromden, visualizes at his time at the facility. At the beginning of the novel, Bromden describes the sight he sees as Big Nurse, Miz Ratched, is entering the building by saying, "Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils—everything working together except the color on her lips and fingernails and the size of her bosom" (5). These precise descriptions portray an image within the reader's mind of an uptight, mechanical-like, and powerful woman. Along with eye-opening descriptions, Kesey will also use an abundance of symbols throughout the novel, one of these being fog. Bromden, along with many patients, take medications for their disabilities and problems; however, when Bromden doesn't take his medication or is in fear, he will start to hallucinate by seeing fog creep into the ward. For example, Bromden says, "They start the fog machine again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me... I cant see six inches in front of me because the fog is the only thing I can see and hear" (7). This fog symbolizes a sort of safe place from reality, a place in which Bromden can hide from troubles in the ward. It also could mean the mindset and routine that the Big Nurse imposes upon the patients; a mindset that McMurphy will pull the patients out of.
Ken Kesey is almost forced to include an extensive amount of Literary Devices. You can't write a story from a crazed mind about other insane people without using these techniques. Kesey does a great job of using imagery to describe his characters. The boys that take care of the patients are described as "sulky and hating everything" (3) while the Miz Ratched, also known as Big Nurse, was described by saying "her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils—everything working together except the color on her lips and fingernails and the size of her bosom" (5). When patients, like Ruckly, receive installations Kesey describes their physical effects very well. For Ruckly, they said, “ you can see by his eyes how they burned him out over there; his eyes are all smoked up and gray and deserted inside like blow fuses” (16). Not only does he describe it in clear detail (especially the patients’ eyes) and continue to do so, but he includes an interesting simile.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey uses a wide variety of literary devices. I noticed on page 6 he used a flashback when the Cheif said, "...and I try to keep from getting scared, try to get my thoughts off someplace else—try to think back and remember things about the village and the big Columbia River..." (Kesey 6). Chief Bromden was in a very uncomfortable situation and he was trying to flashback to a time where he was more happy and comfortable. Kesey also uses point of view as an effective literary device. Chief Bromden realizes he is the narrator of this story and says, "It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen," (Kesey 8). After reading this, I can infer that the Chief might not be the most reliable narrator but that is the only side of the story we are getting. We are not far in the reading and I am eager to see what other literary devices Kesey uses in his writing.
In a novel highlighting the mistreatment of patients in a mental institute through the use of diverse characters, an unreliable narrator, and extremely descriptive text, one can imagine that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a colorful read--and Ken Kasey delivers just that! Kasey invites his readers into the hospital by supplying great detail on the hospital's setting and encourages an interactive audience. The imagery in this novel is so intense and frequent that it becomes difficult for readers to distinguish the line between reality and the Chief's perspective. A prime example of this takes shape right away on the fourth page when Chief tells of the Big Nurse's antics. "She's swelling up, swells till her back's splitting out the white uniform and she's let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times." Here, the Big Nurse is described as what could only be a supernatural entity. The Chief continues his tirade by comparing the nurse to a tractor and smelling like a "motor pulling too big a load." Great imagery!
So far in this book, the literary device or symbol that I have noticed the most would be laughter. Laughter in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest symbolizes freedom and the wish to escape from nurse Ratchet. Laughter helps patients deal with their problems, especially for McMurphy. McMurphy was the catalyst for taking charge with laughter in the ward; he would make people laugh and crack jokes (p.16). "You birds seem to think you got quite the champ in there, don't you?" (p. 73). In this book, birds symbolize will and hope that they will one day leave the nest, also known as the loony bin. Another symbol is the electroshock therapy table. This table is associated with crucifixion, this electroshock therapy table serves as a symbol to show what happens to those who rebel against the nurses in the loony bin.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey brings insight into a mental facility by using many different literary devices, the one I notice most being imagery. Kesey does very well using imagery all through the book, for example McMurphy and him being this huge tough red head with a gut and a bunch of tattoos. A fabulous example of imagery is on page 99-100 explaining Ms. Ratchet after McMurphy is in the hallway just in a towel. As she gains her self control, "gradually the lips gather together gain ... then click solid as the molten metal sets, growing cold and strangely dull.". There is more to that paragraph but that is just a glimpse of how he made her seem like a robot that was dysfunctioning, and as she gains her composure it is like she reboots herself back to the old Ms. Ratchet. He also uses imagery to describe events very well, such as Ellis who is "crucified" every day and pees on himself. Another example is when chief Bromden believes that his floor is moved 500 yards down and the description in to the room he went to where the drumming gets louder and louder on page 86. You go to this whole new world from a grey mental facility to what seems like a torture chamber. He uses settings a lot as well, using the fog that comes around a lot creating this setting of mystery and confusion. He uses a lot of literary devices, but the one I noticed the most was imagery.
As I am reading this novel, there are a numerous amount of literary devices that can be found. As far as the setting goes, we all know where this novel takes place, an asylum! This, to me, provides a very deep message that is conveyed throughout the rest of the novel. The literary device that stands out most to me has to be imagery. The amount of detail that Chief Bromdon, McMurphy, Nurse Ratchet, and others provide throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is ubiquitous. Props to Ken Kesey for giving us the reality of what it is like to be in an asylum. Chief Bromdon is a very imaginative man. For example, Bromdon forgets to take his pill, and dreams of Blastic, a vegetable, being executed. "He goes to the bed and with one hand grabs the old Vegetable Blastic by the heels and lifts him straight up like Blastic don't weight more'n a few pounds; with the other and the worker drives the hook through the tendon back of the heel, and the old guy's hanging there upside down, his moldy face blown up big, scared, the eyes scummed with mute fear..." (pg 88). The novel has a great amount of imagery that even I have never read in a novel before, and I look forward to continue reading this novel.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey uses many literary devices. One of the symbols used is the fog machine that Chief has experienced. Chief says that the wards hide this fag machine in the vents and that they use it to scare him, but instead he uses it to hide. “They start the fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me” (7). Kensey also uses imagery to describe the way Mrs. Ratched looks. Mrs. Ratched is part of the imagery of machines to “fix” society and the people in it. Nurse Ratched could be described as a robot with her movement and preciseness. “She nods once to each. Precise, automatic gesture. Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel…” (5). The setting used for the day room starts at seven-thirty with the Acutes on one side and the Chronics on the other side. In routine, “Everybody come to order...Everybody: breath in...and out… in perfect order; hearts all beating at the rate the OD cards have ordered” (33).
In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey uses many powerful literary devices to enhance the story being told by a somewhat unreliable narrator. The literary device that I notice most is how Kesey uses great detail and imagery when describing certain characters in the book, especially McMurphy. The narrator describes him as "redheaded with long red sideburns and a tangle of curls out from under his cap, been needing cute a long time, and he's broad as Papa was tall, broad across the jaw and shoulders and chest, a broad white devilish grin,..." (Kesey 11, 12). The description continues in great detail. Another literary device used is symbolism. Kesey continually references a fog, the narrator actually says that "One of these days I'll quit straining and let myself go completely, lose myself in the fog the way some of the other Chronics have, but for the time being I'm interested in this new man". (42) I think this line, in particular, explains the symbol of the fog as the mental state of zoning out whether produced by insanity or medications and drugs that many of the patients feel overcoming them. At this point, the narrator does not want to zone out because he wants to see this new man and learn more about him.
Embedded by the author, Ken Kesey, in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, are many literary devices that help to enhance the thoughts of the delusional narrator Chief. The author does a good job of describing other characters and the setting in this book. The Chief in his novel describes the Big Nurse as she walks into the same room as him. The Chief states “ She slides through the door with a gust of cold and lokes the door behind her and I see her fingers trail across the polished steel—the tip of each finger the same color as her lips. Funny orange. Like the tip of a soldering iron. Color so hot or so cold if she touches you with it you can’t tell which” (4). The Chief throughout part one of the novel always has his suspicions about the Big Nurse so he picks up on everything she does and the emotions she gives off. Towards the middle of part one Chief notices Harding saying, “Why, see here, my friend Mr. McMurphy, my psychopathic sidekick, our Miss Ratched is a veritable angel of mercy and why just everyone knows it” (61). I think he foreshadows that Mr. McMurphy is going to bring out the bad side of Miss Ratched and that everyone else is brainwashed to think of the nurse as an angel. Mr. McMurphy will do all he can to get others to realize the control that Miss Ratched has over the patients. This author uses necessary literary devices that overall make the book confusing at times, but yet so interesting.
As I am reading One FLew Over the Cuckoos Nest, I am noticing a lot of wide variety of literary devices. When writing a book about mental disorders and having the narrator be one with schizophrenia, it is very easy to implement symbols, metaphors, and hyperboles. Imagery is a very major literary device that is evident throughout the entire novel, especially when Ken Kesey describes Harding's hand right before he shakes it. An example of imagery is when Kesey says "there was a dirty Band-Aid on the middle knuckle, peeling up at the edge... I remember the palm was smooth and hard as bone from hefting the wooden handles of axes and hoes" (25). Another example of imagery is when Kesey describes the Big Nurse. He explains how she is similar to a tractor and is leaking motor oil. Kesey explains that he holds his breath in hopes that the staff is going to start tearing each other to pieces (5).
After reading only a short portion of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I have noticed a wide assortment of literary devices that the author, Ken Kesey, used. Personification is used on the first page of the first chapter where Chief Bromden describes to us the sound inside the hospital. He states, "Hum of black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets," (3). Kesey is giving the machines the human characteristics of humming and gossiping. Another literary device that Kesey uses well is his incorporation of imagery. He describes every character in such vivid detail, but when R.P. McMurphy is introduced in the beginning, this is where you really see how vivid he can be. McMurphy is described as, "His face and neck and arms are the color of oxblood leather from working long in the fields...the way he talks, his wink, his loud talk, his swagger all remind me of a car salesman or a stock auctioneer..." (13). Kesey is wonderful at incorporating a multitude of literary devices throughout his novel, and I can not wait to read more.
There are many different literary devices in Ken Kelsey’s novel One who flew over the Cuckoo’s nest. The most common type of literary device is the imagery described by Chief Bromden. Having schizophrenia Chief Bromden has faulty perception and many delusions. One of the first examples of imagery is when Chief Bromden is describing the head nurse, Miss Ratched. “...she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor…” (5). This allows the reader to portray the head nurse, Miss Ratched as a very big and powerful woman. The next piece of imagery is the fog that Chief Bromden is constantly talking about throughout the book. Once saying, “they start the fog machine again… so thick I might even be able to hide… I cant see six inches in front of me through the fog” (7). It can be inferred that he is seeing these things because of schizophrenia or possibly even skipping out from taking his daily medicine.
When it comes to literary devices with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, I believe that he uses setting very abundantly throughout his writing. He makes it clear that the halls of the mental institute are bland, with white walls and floors, but inside each room holds something far from bland. The rooms have many devices that they use on the patients that they fear to go in, including the glass room that The Nurse works in. He also gives each character a distinct personality, describing why they are in the institute and even their treatments for some that are tried by the employees. Each of the characters has their own qualities. Along with this it shows the difference between the Chronics (including the wheelers and the walkers) and the Acutes. The Acutes were said to avoid the Chronics in fear that they would be like them some day. This shows the quality of his writing and setting because we can almost feel the tension between Billie and the other characters and he uses enough imagery to where we can picture the scene happening in our heads as we read.
While reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey has shown some impeccable writing. I have never read from an author with a mind like his and it has become very interesting. Moments that stand out most to me that show the best literary devices are when he has his schizophrenic moments. One that made the most impact on me was when Big Nurse suddenly enraged into anger on page 5. A sudden outburst of imagery first confused me because I am not used to his schizophrenic writing. To me, I think that this outburst and imagery of Miss Ratched could reflect his thoughts inside. Because the Chief acts deaf and mute, I think that there are many things he would like to say but doesn't. I think when he gets frustrated he visualizes others having outbursts to refrain from having one himself. Obviously the nurse does not blow up to the size of a tractor, but maybe that is what Chief wishes he could do because he has been held there for so long.
As I read through the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey I noticed many different forms of literary devices that he incorporated. The variety of devices he uses creates a more fluent story throughout and to me makes the book much easier to read. One sentence that really popped out to me when reading was on page 31, Ken Kesey wrote: "The walls are white as the white suits, polished clean as a refrigerator door, and the blackface and hands seem to float against it like a ghost". This sentence was packed full of creative similies that helped me as a reader form a clear image of the scenery during this section. Another clever literary device I spotted was in the first paragraph of page 78. Describing mops he said, "...waiving awful mops of wet copper wires cracking and spitting as they short with the water". This quote is an example of a personification showing characteristics like cracking and spitting to mops creating another image for the reader to better interoperate.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey has done an amazing job of creating a great visual characterization and personality for each person in the book so far. Chief Bromden's massive size is expressed quite well but what helps to picture him accurately is his crumbled form while sitting in the dayroom. On page 23, Kesey uses the phrase "...sitting there with my knees pulled up and my arms wrapped around them, staring straight ahead..." as a way to show how small Chief Bromden really feels compared to his height and weight. This also helped me to picture him more accurately. The vivid description of P. R. McMurphy has also helped me to visualize his character more as well. On page 13, McMurphy is described in his looks, but even before that, we are given a good description of his big sound and the feeling he brings into the room, found on pages 11 and 12. This sets his character up so well for me, that when he is mentioned on page 43 to be sitting in an arm-chair in the corner, I can perfectly picture the manner he is sitting in before it is even mentioned, as I have a good feel for what his character is. These characterizations have helped me to further understand the story thus far.
Throughout the opening chapters of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, Kesey masterfully integrates several literary devices into his novel, drawing the reader deeper into the mind of Chief Bromden. On the very first page, the author uses a vivid simile to help depict the institution's orderlies, stating that their eyes glittered "like the hard glitter of radio tubes out of the back of an old radio" in order to provide readers with a surprisingly clear picture of what the Chief is seeing. Throughout the following pages, Kesey continues to use graphic descriptions to always keep the reader engaged in the setting. Nurse Ratchet's fingernails are orange "like the tip of a soldering iron" (4). Her woven wicker bag is "like the ones the Umpqua tribe sells out along the hot August highway" (4). Even her face is artistically described as similar to that of "an expensive baby doll" (5). By providing these images, Kesey proves that he is a master at his craft and makes the reader know that his book is going to be a great read.
Kesey uses many literary devices in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The largest literary device I have noticed is the use of imagery. Chief Bromden, our main narrator and an unreliable one at that, has a wandering mind as he views events. Every detail that he watches is over-exaggerated he sees and hears things that are not reality. During the group meeting, he has a flashback, to a time he said about twenty years ago. He describes Pete, Pete is acting out and Chief describes his arm as constantly growing, it starts to swell into a giant iron ball (52) and Pete is supposedly so built up that when he punches one of the black security guards he is launched back into the wall and leaves an imprint in the wall. (53). Kesey also uses the use of setting constantly. When he describes the main room he describes it as pure white whit no other color. The only other color ever talked about is the color of the black skin.
Kensey includes a multitude of different literary devices in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I have seen many similes and metaphors, such as the simile found on the first page when Chief Bromden is explaining how he creeps "I creep along the wall quiet as dust" (pg 3). Another example of similes on page 53 of the novel like: "the black boy whammed flat against the wall and stuck, then slid down to the floor like the wall there was greased." and "The little one beside the other line an image in a reducing mirror" (pg 53). I also noticed that there is a lot of imagery used by Kensey in his novel as well. One instance of this pertains to Pete Banicici's birth, "HIs head has two big dents, one on each side, where the doctor who was with his mother at borning time pinched his skull trying to pull him out" (pg 51 and 52). His birth is described in detail and it really adds to the character's backstory, further evolving the importance of all the disabilities around Chief Bromden.
Kesey includes a plethora of literary devices. One of the more prevalent devices that he uses is imagery. He employs many sentences describing the setting, characters, items, and much more. On page 25, Kesey takes up half a page just describing McMurry’s hand. He goes into detail about almost everything imaginable. It is said that “there was carbon under the fingernails… an anchor tattooed back from the knuckles… a dirty band-aid on the middle knuckle…palm was smooth and hard as bone from hefting...” Even in that same paragraph, he uses a metaphor to also describe his hand: “The palm was callused, and the calluses were cracked, and dirt was worked in the cracks. A road map of his travels up and down the West.” Kesey characterizes some of these people through indirect methods. Even though we were only given details of McMurry’s hands, we received much more insight as to what his background and personality are.
Throughout Ken Kesey's wonderfully written book titled, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, many different literary devices are present throughout the novel. Imagery, setting, and symbols are used by Kesey in the novel and help readers to see what is going on in the story. Kesey uses different ways of writing to show imagery. One example of Kesey using imagery is "Chronics are machines with flaws inside that can't be repaired" (16). He makes readers think that the people look like machines when in turn they are just people. Kesey uses setting to show what the people do all day and where they do it. He gives a timeline of what the characters do by saying "Seven o'clock the mess hall opens and the order of the line reverses" (32). The last literary device that Kesey uses is symbols. One way Kesey uses symbols is by comparing situations in the book to past religious situations. He says "You are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a crown of electric sparks in a place of thorns" (69). Kesey links the situations that happen to situations that happened in the bible. Ken Kesey uses many different literary devices in his book titled, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with the three main devices being imagery, setting, and symbols.
We are exposed to "Cheif Broom" and his interesting mind within the first chapter of the book. At the end of chapter one, he hides because he does not want to get his hair cut. Upon his capture, he doesn't "fight or make any noise." However, once he is put into the chair, he hallucinates. He describes this event as though he is in a fog. He says, "They start the fog machine again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn't have a hold on me" (page 7). This is an example of the author's use of imagery. I also feel like this can be a symbol. The imagery is very well written when it compares the fog as skim milk. Skim milk has a weird, sort-of creamy texture. I would like to say it reminds me of the texture of heavy whipping cream. Those words help me visualize how thick and allusive the fog is. I also, however, think this is a symbol that sets the reader up to understand the rest of the story. Mental illness is something that is hard to recover from or something you cannot recover from at all. I think that the whiteness and thickness of the fog are not only a product of his mind but a description of his mind. The white signifies the blankness, the draw from reality, and the blinding effects of mental illness. The thickness of the fog signifies how deeply rooted the illness is. I think that this scene shows the reader: I have a mental illness; this illness blinds my sense of reality; my illness is too sever to get out of.
Ken Kesey displays many uses of literary devices in his book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But, the main literary device that stuck out to me the most would have to be his use of imagery whenever Chief Bromden is describing the setting or whatever is going on. For example, Chief said,” They start the fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me I can’t see six inches in front of me through the fog.”(7) That is when Chief was describing the fog and you can clearly understand what the fog would be like if you were put in his situation. Other than the great imagery that is shown Ken Kesey decided to use a little bit of foreshadowing when Nurse Ratchet said, “Sometimes a manipulator’s own ends are simply the actual disruption of the ward for the sake of disruption.” (27) She said that when describing the new patient named McMurry and how he is going to take over the ward and I have a sneaky suspicion that is what is ogin to end up happening. So, in conclusion, Ken Kesey uses great examples of literary devices and these are just a few that I found right away.
Throughout the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, dust is used in several different contexts. On page three, Chief crept “along the wall, quiet as dust.” Dust is also used when referring to lighting in different parts of the book. On page 86 chief describes “The light of the dorm door five hundred yards back up this hole is nothing but a speck, dusting the square sides of the shaft with a dim powder.” Dust is a symbol of the underlying disruption in a superficially clean hospital ward. The dustiest character in the story is McMurphy. He is said to smell of dirt from a farm, he beats dust from his thighs and he brushes his teeth with powder. McMurphy is also the most disruptive character in the story, openly taunting the Big Nurse. The Nurse, on the contrary, is said to emit a fog that fills the room until you can’t see. Fog and mist control dust, the water holds it down, this is why at dirt race tracks they have a water truck to wet the dry track. The Nurse is trying to put down the disruption in the ward because she is the ego and McMurphy is trying to undo her work because he is the id.
In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, fantastic imagery is used throughout the book. There are times when there might be one or two pages used just to set the scene of the book. When the old man in the story starts to fight back when they are rangling him, Ken Kesey uses superb imagery explaining what this psychotic inmate is seeing. Even though he is the only one who is seeing this, it is important to know how the person is seeing things throughout the story. It gives character to him and in order to understand the whole book, you need to understand this character. Pg.81
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a book that is defined by literary devices, such as symbols, imagery, setting, similes, and so on. The book immediately starts off with a simile that tells us this will be a story of secrecy and suspense, "I creep along the wall quiet as dust" (pg 3). These literary devices add to the suspense of the story. They give a creepy, dark feel and make everything surreal. The way he uses his imagery really adds to the creepiness of the story but makes you wonder how much of it is real and how much of it is actually in Chief's head: "It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen" (pg 8). The imagery really sets the setting and shows how the abuse really was back in the day in mental hospitals. Kesey has a way of using literary devices to really make the setting and abuse stand out.
In the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, there seems to be a bunch of awesome imagery. Throughout the novel, there are times that the author goes into great detail about the settings and or characters we read about. We can see an example of this on page 25 when Kesey goes into great detail about McMurphy's hand, or any time he goes into great detail about the fog machine that is used throughout the novel. He also goes into great detail about the treatment of the patients using Cheif as a narrator. Cheif sees all and relays everything back to the reader throughout the story. His in-depth detailed narrations are what gives us the best imagery. I think that Kesey going above and beyond with imagery is making the book easier to read. You get to picture what you're reading and it is easier to understand the text when she goes into more detail about it.
On page 12, McMurphy walks into the day room, which is a major part of the setting. The day room is where many events take place, including when we first get a glimpse at McMurphy’s personality, where they hear the first laugh in years, and where a few of Chief Bromden’s hallucinations take place.
On page 7, Chief Bromden uses a simile to compare the fog from the fog machine to skim milk. This shows that the fog may be so thick it’s disabling, and lets the reader see how Chief Bromden views their methods and wrong and even torturous.
On page 30, Bromden describes the other two black boys’ never changing expressions as being like flint arrowheads to show the sharp boniness. The sentence prior, he states they look so much alike he thinks the nurse just made a replica of one. He goes on to use a simile to say “all of them black as telephones,” because the nurse learned the blacker they are, “the more time they are likely to devote to cleaning and scrubbing and keeping the ward in order. These all intertwine to portray an expressed yet unspoken inner racism; whether that of the author or just the narrator I can’t tell. Finally, on page 31, Bromden points out that all three of the black boys’ uniforms are spotless as snow (simile) and their white shoes are polished like ice (simile) with red rubber soles silent as mice (simile).
Lizzi Boomsma
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a book that is immensely filled with different allusions, imagery, symbols, and many more literary devices. The very first literary device you see is a simile. Chief is described as dust as he creeps along the wall, "I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes" (pg 3). This intrigued me because when you open up the story with a sentence as mysterious and creepy as this one, then it makes me want to read more and find out more about this mystery. Later in the story, Kesey uses imagery to describe the Chronics in the book. "Chronics are machines with flaws inside that can't be repaired" (pg 16). Dust is meant to be bad in this story. There is a line that Kesey includes that shows just how much dirt means to the hospital, "The light of the dorm door five hundred yards back up this hole is nothing but a speck, dusting the square sides of the shaft with a dim powder" (pg 86). The dirt surrounds the things that cause trouble in the hospital. McMurphy is the dirtiest of them all. He is covered with dirt when he walks in and is the person that causes the most trouble in the book.
In One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey is able to use many literary devices to enhance the story. One prolific symbol, which can been seen throughout the book is the fog. The narrator of the story, Chief Bromden describes this fog , saying "Nobody complains about the fog. I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe... [McMurphy] keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we'd be easy to get at," (pg. 128). Obviously the fog is a figment of Bromden's creative mind, but it can be seen as a symbol for his mind and the minds of those around him as well. His mental illness makes his mind "foggy" and he can not see clearly. However, McMurphy, who does not have the acute illness that the others suffer from, is helping them to think clearly. He is "dragging them out of the fog" because he is not treating them like insane people. He is talking to them and interacting with them as normal people, which is something that they have not experienced in a good amount of time, and is helping to clear the fog from Bromden's mind.
In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, many literary devices can be seen and applied to the readers' notes and knowledge. I find myself most attracted to imagery and symbolism. Kesey's work exemplifies his knowledge and understanding of what it is like to be in a ward filled with other lost minds. Page 17 reads, "Memory whispers someplace in that jumbled machinery." I was not only provided with a picture of gears and tears working and spinning around each other but I also later connected these whispers to the fog that Chief seems to visit often. The fog symbolizes the powerless actions that patients have against the nurses and doctors who seem to encourage them to stay safe and hidden amongst their own fog. Chief believes that each patient has their own set of "fog", but it doesn't seem to affect them the same way it affects him. Another use of imagery amongst the fog is displayed on page 137, "The faces blow past in the fog like confetti." In this section, Chief seemed to be drowning in his fog while the Big Nurse was at work pulling out her files and having conversations about the other patients. Each face tells a small backstory about that person that Chief has encountered or heard about on the ward. I found it interesting that Kensey would use confetti, as most often times, confetti is used in a time of celebration; however, this was all occurring during the same time the nurse was conforming and dehumanizing the patients on the ward. A similar idea to George Orwell's 1984. There are many other forms of literary devices that Kensey writes and elaborates on, but I am fond of his use of imagery and connections to weave together his work and others that explore the topic of sanity vs insanity.
In one flew over the cuckoo's nest, Ken Kasey uses a plethora of Literary devices. Right off the bat, Kasey uses a Simile on page one where he says "I creep along wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoe". Dust pops up a lot in part one but that is a good example there. Another instance of literary devices is a metaphor used on page 20. "He's got hands so long and white and dainty I think they carved each other out of soap". Cheif Bromdon was talking about one of the fellow ward members Dale Harding in this quote because he seemed too normal to be there. And to his credit he was right. Dale Harding was only in the "Cuckoo's nest" because he was gay. Back in the time of the story that was looked at as a mental illness. This entire book is loaded to the ceiling with fantastic literary devices and I can't wait to see what more it has to offer.
In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, fog is a symbol that gets more complex the more you get into the novel. Towards the beginning, the fog can be seen as simply an extra figment of Bromden's hallucination. The fog can be seen as a moment for Bromden to slip out of reality and "...time doesn't mean anything. It's lost in the fog, like everything else"(78). However, as we get more references to fog through Bromden, fog can be seen as a symbol of the patients and Bromden himself giving in to authority. It is a smoke that blocks out any natural instincts for the patients to rebel. The fog helps to eliminate the reality of what the patients go through and are submitted to in the ward. McMurphy is a character that is trying to clear the fog from the patients' eyes and make them see what is happening around them. However, the patients can choose to "either strain and look at things that appear in front of (them) in the fog, painful as it might be, or (they) could relax and lose (themselves)" (131). Many of the patients like to play it safe and escape into the fog where they can choose to not face their problems. This action gives Nurse Ratched more control as none of the patients choose to rebel against her orders.
Ken Kesey is very adept at using imagery in his book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. For example, on page 6, Chief Bromden describes the shaving room as "...a room all white walls and white basins, and long-tube-lights in the ceiling making sure there aren't any shadows..." Bromden's description of the shaving room tells the ready what type of facility he and the rest of the patients are in; everything being white and bland says that the place is cold and mechanical. Another example of the facility being mechanical is when flips out and breaks down. After Pete punches one of the aides into the wall, Bromden says that he "Heard tubes pop and short all over inside that wall..."(53). Additionally, Bromden described the other aides' reactions as mechanical, because they "...shook and smoked and I could hear gears grinding...like machines throttled full ahead with the brake on" (53-54). The demeanor of the staff combined with the facility itself makes the patients feel like nobody actually cares about them and that the staff is only doing the bare minimum.
Ken Kesey uses very subtle imagery in his book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". To me, the title itself is imagery. When you say someone is "cuckoo" you mean that they are crazy. In this book, they are in a mental hospital where there are some "cuckoo" people. On page 3, Chief is described as dust. He means that he feels like he is barely noticed by people even with his height being impeccable. On page 7, it talks about the fog which can be used as imagery. The fog isn't really there and it is all part of Chief's hallucinations. But, fog is almost like the patients can't see to the other side and don't know what is next for their lives. It's like they have stuck in the fog for the rest of their lives like how they are stuck in the hospital. The machine that is causing the fog is the hospital or the people themselves. They describe the chronics as machines that can be fixed. It is like everyone in the hospital is a robot and they have to listen to what the nurses say and they can't escape their feeling of emptiness inside.
In Ken Kesey's, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, there are multiple examples of imagery, symbolism, and setting. Kesey constantly describes the setting in many different ways. The main thing that helps me "see" the setting is when Kesey using imagery to describe it. When he uses vivid imagery to describe the setting, I can understand and actually visualize what is happening in the novel. Kesey also uses imagery to describe characters. On page 13, he describes McMurphy's face, neck, and arms as the color of oxblood leather. He uses imagery like this throughout the entire novel. This allows me the chance to actually visualize the character to what they could possibly look like and give me a better understanding of the novel. On page 1, Kesey first mentions the use of machinery. Throughout the first 100 pages, he really comes back to the ward as a working machine. I think the machine is an awesome symbol and an almost type of analogy for the mental ward.
Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, contains an abundance of literary devices. From metaphors, to similes, to imagery, this book has it all. On the very first page is a simile. “I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes..” (pg. 3). Ken Kesey uses a simile to show how quiet the Chief is. Just a few pages later another simile is used. This time to describe the Nurse. “So she really lets herself go and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor..” (pg. 5). The author uses the phrase “big as a tractor” to illustrate the mean snarl of the Nurse. On the same page, Kesey uses good imagery to describe Ms. Ratched. “Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils..” (pg. 5-6). Kesey’s use of vivid vocabulary really helps paint a picture in the mind of the reader.
Ken Kesey is quite magnificent in his use of literary devices in the novel entitled One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. While making my way through the first part of the story, I have immediately noticed several instances of literary devices. The talented author even includes foreshadowing in the title! The word "cuckoo" in the title foreshadows that the novel will be dealing with unstable minds possibly. Kesey not only uses foreshadowing in the early stages of the book, but he also uses very vivid imagery. The sections that immediately stuck out to me were when the characters were being introduced. I was able to create a picture in my brain of each of the characters being described. One example of this was located on page 13 and read, "He's got on work-farm pants and shirt, sunned out till they're the color of watered milk. His face and neck and arms are the color of the oxblood leather from working long in the fields. He's got a primer-black motorcycle cap stuck in his hair and a leather jacket over one arm, and he's got on boots gray and dusty and heavy enough to kick a man half in two." This quote provides great imagery written by Kesey.
In the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" Ken Kesey did a really great job of using literary devices. On page 25 he described McMurphy hand detail by detail. For example, he stated, " I remember the palm smooth and hard as bone from hefting the wooden handles of axes and hoes." He used imagery for that page so readers could mentally picture what his hands looked like. On page 7 Chief states " they start the fog machines again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk. This is yet another example of imagery. One major symbol that Kelsey used is on page 69 that says " you are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a crown of electric sparks in place of thorns." When I read that page it stood out to me because it was very obvious it was hinting at Jesus and his death. Ken Kesey did an excellent job with this novel and using literary devices!
In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Ken Kesey's ability to use imagery and symbols is shown. Each character has their own unique personality. For instance, the narrator of the story, Cheif, does not say overtly that he pretends to be deaf and mute, but we can take context clues to figure that out. Chief explains on page 4, "In the dark, I listen...". He depicting how he feels and how others see him, blanketed in darkness and safe from exposure. But we know he is not the big dumb man everyone sees him as. I see this as perfect symbolism because it displays the Chief's self-esteem. Another example of symbolism is when McMurphy is introduced. He is shown to be a charismatic jokester who gambles all the time. Chief immediately relates him to his father who was very close to him. "He talks a little the way Papa used to..." (page 11). This could be foreshadowing to Chief and McMurphy's relationship. McMurphy's constant gambling could symbolize his confidence in himself and spontaneous decisions instead of mindless repetition. McMurphy shares this trait and infiltrates it into the others which brings excitement into their lives. "They are grinning because something out of the ordinary is happening" (page 14).
Kesey uses an insane amount of metaphors and similes in his writing (among other literary devices). I think he is able to insert these details because the Chief pretends he is deaf. Because of his silence, he is able to focus on small details and the very nature of things that we never look beyond the surface of. A metaphor that really stood out to me was the comparison of the lines in McMurphy’s hand to those of a road map. “A road map of his travels up and down the West.” (pg.25) Chief was about to shake his hand, and he noticed so many small details in a simple gesture. McMurphy’s hand is compared to a road map of his travels because he probably has many worn calluses from working and not staying sedentary for long periods of time. I thought it was interesting how Kesey used capital letters on inside and outside. “Under her rule the ward Inside… she’s got to spend some time Outside.” (pg. 28) The use of capital letters draws attention to the words and makes them more of an important, tangible thing. It makes the clear distinction of two different worlds, and the Outside being the one Chief will never be able to be a part of.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey uses an immense amount of imagery. He describes the setting in full detail to help give the reader a mental picture of where the book is taking place. What separates a unique novel from a plain, boring one is the amount of imagery the author provides. I believe Kesey has accomplished the title for this book to be unique, and maybe more. An excellent example of the use of imagery can be read on page 43, "She looks around to see if anybody else is about to interrupt her, smiling steadily as her head turns in her collar. The guys won't meet her look; they're all looking for hangnails. Except for McMurphy. He's got himself an armchair in the corner sits in it like he's claimed it for good, and he's watching her every move. He's still got his cap on, jammed tight down on his redhead like he's a motorcycle racer...." In this excerpt, we can see a visual picture of the setting, like Kesey painted a picture in our heads.
Throughout the book, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Ken Kesey uses many different literary devices, including symbols, imagery, setting, and many more. Even when you first start reading, you are able to find many right away. On page 3, he uses a simile "quiet as dust" to help the reader understand how soundless or stealthy his manner is when the workers are nearby. Also on page 3, he compares the gossiping workers to black machinery. I believe that Kesey does this to show that each of them is a part of the machine or the mental hospital, as a whole. Another type of literary device that he seems to use quite a bit is imagery. Personally, I like having more imagery that best because then it is easier to vividly visualize what's happening the plot inside my head. One type of imagery that really stuck out to me was when Chief met McMurphy and described what his hand looked like. On page 25, he says "I remember real clear the way that hand looked: there was carbon under the fingernails where he'd worked once in a garage; there was an anchor tattooed back from the knuckles; there was a dirty Band-Aid on the middle knuckle, peeling up at the edge...". This imagery made it feel as if I were watching this happen on a screen. It gave every detail of what you'd see if you were really there. While I feel there isn't as consistent of a plot, at least not yet, I am already enjoying reading this book due to all these different devices that happen throughout the book.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kessy, there are a great number of uses of imagery, symbolism, and setting. The most prominent of these three is the use of imagery. He describes Cheifs delusions so well with imagery, that it is very easy to tell when he is having a delusions episode. For example, Cheif states that "They didn't see the hand on the end of that arm pumping bigger and bigger as he clenched and unclenched it. "(pg. 53) Kessy also uses symbolism very well. Harding says "I am a rabbit. The doctor is a rabbit."(pg. 64) The rabbit symbolizes that the admissioned are weak in the wild like rabbits. Finally, Kessy does well with the use of setting. Kessy introduces settings with long descriptions of the room. For example, "in a room all white walls and white basins, and long tube lights in the ceiling making sure there aren't any shadows, and faces all round you trapped screaming behind the mirrors." (pg. 6) This does well in ensuring the reader that the main character hates it here and is in fear of the place.
Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he does an excellent job using a variety of literary devices throughout the whole novel. One example of a literary device he used was imagery when describing Nurse Ratched. "I see her fingers trail across the polished steel tip of each finger the same color as her lips. Funny orange. Like the tip of a soldering iron. Color so hot or so cold if she touches you with it you can't tell which" (pg 4). I like this one because it describes how cold she really is even if she acts like she is warm and nice. Another example I liked was flashbacks used in the novel. "Like always when I try to place my thoughts in the past and hide there, the fear close at hands seeps in through the memory" (pg 6). I thought this was a good example because it talks about how Chief Bromden uses his past thoughts and memories to escape the bad things that are happening in the present.
Through Out the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey has used different types of literary devices. One of the most used types of literary devices is imagery. The book is full of tons of deep descriptions to describe different characters and events, especially Nurse Ratched. When it comes to her description of her, she is vividly described as her "face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel..." (5). She is also consistently described as being made of machinery. She is crude and deceiving. Cheif has a hallucination of her "swelling up till her back's spitting out the white uniform...she blows up bigger and bigger, as big as a tractor" (5) Another type of literary device he uses a lot is the allusion to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Ellis is another character who is "nailed against a wall... arms up, palms upped, with the same horror on his face" (16). This is a reference to the Bible and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Kesey uses a lot of imagery in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. You can find an example of literary devices on almost any page; this is necessary to give us more insight as to what the inside of the ward looks like, and show us what day-to-day life is like among the men. On page 144, Kesey writes, "And we're all sitting there lined up in front of that blanked-out TV set, watching the gray screen just like we could see the baseball game clear as day, and she's ranting and screaming behind us." This is an example of imagery since he is painting a picture for us to look at and imagine in our heads. On page 96, Kesey writes, "She starts moving, and I get back against the wall, and when she rumbles past she's already big as a truck, trailing that wicker bag behind in her exhaust like a semi behind a Jimmy Diesel." This is an example of a simile, comparing two things to give us, the readers, a better understanding of what the enraged nurse looks like. without this comparison, we might not get the full effect on how mad the nurse is as she rushes to McMurphy. With this comparison, like a semi, we can tell she is full of power, and she doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
Ken Kesey's use of literary devices in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is very elaborate. Every setting, person, and object is described very distinctly to give the reader a full visual of what it is he is describing. For example, Chief Bromden falls into another hallucination (fog) and immediately the setting of the hallucination is described. "The picture is a guy fly-fishing somewhere in the mountains, looks like the Ochocos near Paineville—snow on the peaks showing over the pines, long white aspen trunks lining the stream, sheep sorrel growing in sour green patches. The guy is flicking his fly in a pool behind a rock. It's no place for a fly, its a place for a single egg on a number 6 hook—he'd better to drift the fly over those riffles downstream." (pg. 126) Here we are taken to a place in the mountains where Chief Bromden sees a man fishing. I believe this man to be Bromden's father because as you flip a few more pages you a brought on another fog adventure where Bromden is hunting with his father. Also, using stereotypes and cultural knowledge, Native Americans are profound hunters and fishermen. So I believe these hallucinations are from Bromden's past experiences with his father learning how to hunt and fish.
In the book "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest" there is an example of imagery on the first page when he says, "Hum of black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets." He is describing the three "black" aides as machinery like they are part of the hospital equipment (3). Another example is when he describes the nurse as a machine when he says, "like a big tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load" (5). He describes the hospital as a combine when he says, "Across the room from the Acutes are the culls of the Combine's product, the Chronics" like the Chronics are the way they are because of the hospital (15). the big nurse is upset about there being residents because it messes with her "machinery" as stated on page 36, "nine-fifty the residents leave and the machinery hums up smooth again" (36).
Kesey uses multitudes of literary devices in his work, In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He gives the reader an example of imagery, using their sense of hearing, by saying this on page 4, "In my dark I hear her rubber heels hit the tile and the stuff in her wicker bag clash with the jar of her walking as she passes me in the hall." This gives the reader a chance to imagine the sounds that are being projected by the Big Nurse, as well as showing a hint of intimidation from her character right away. He also uses symbolism with a variety of objects, such as the thermometer. He continually uses it as a device of torture and intimidation that the staff will use against the patients. Bromden, the main character, is the one narrating the story, so the reader has no choice but to go off of what he says or thinks. "... the brassy way he hollers at that black boy who's still after him with a thermometer..." (Pg 19).
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by author Ken Kesey uses varying types of literary devices, such as symbols, imagery, and setting. Ken Kesey uses these literary devices in an excellent manner to describe each character very elaborately. For example, when describing the main character, Chief Bromden, he writes "I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes" on page 3. Not only does this let you know right away that Chief Bromden does not want people's attention, but that even at his enormous height and weight, he is a quiet man. Kesey then proceeds the describe all of the characters with the same amount of detail and symbolic nature, including Nurse Ratchet. On page 5, Kesey describes Nurse Ratchets anger as almost machine-like, "she blows bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load". Using the literary devices at such expertise, Ken Kesey draws almost any reader into the story with such vivid imagery, in turn, making it hard to put the book down.
Ken Kesey uses many literary devices in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", including symbolism, imagery, setting, and many more. On page 117, character Chief Bromden describes his psychotic hallucination as "...overheard like a bell buoy clanging in the fog. When I can see, the guys are usually moving around as unconcerned as though they didn't notice so much as a mist in the air. I believe the fog affects their memory some way it doesn't affect mine." Chief feels like he is not hallucinating himself, but how his hallucination is actually happening to the others in the ward. Imagery is used on page 86 with the fat black boy, Geever, to describe the way the light described him. "...wiping the wet grey palms in his armpits. The light from the Nurse's Station throws his shadow on the dorm wall big as an elephant, gets smaller as he walks to the dorm door and looks in." The setting of this story makes perfect sense for the title. "The Cuckoo's Nest" is the mental ward for all psychologically insane citizens and the "One Flew Over" would be McMurphy, for he is (as far as we can infer) more sane than any other character living in the ward.
In Ken Kesey's eye-opening novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" symbolism, imagery, and setting are all present throughout the beginning chapters. The story is told from the point of view of Chief Bromden, a Native American man who is in a patient in the mental hospital where the novel takes place. From early on in the story it is quite clear the Chief is quite an unreliable narrator, this is evident when he is describing the “black boys in white suits” and he states that they have “special sensitive equipment that detects [his] fear” (3). Clearly, this is not the case but from the point of view of Chief, it is the case. Chief has many descriptions throughout the book but because he has schizophrenia and PTSD these descriptions are not necessarily how the average person would describe situations. This makes the book a challenge but because it is written this way it adds a challenge that keeps me turning the pages.
Imagery, symbolism, setting, and other literary devices are found running rampant in Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The beginning chapters of Kesey's novel illustrate the schizophrenic delusions of main character Cheif Bromden in ways that leave me as a reader both uncomfortable and intrigued. One of the most detailed and personally unsettling examples of symbolism in Kesey's novel is Cheif's hallucinations of machines and wires running through the walls of the hospital. Specifically, the symbolism of Nurse Ratched and her control of the hospital through the control panel in the Nurse's Station. The Machinery symbolizes Society's pressure on the patients to become like those on the Outside, and the machinery controls how they should behave, so they act more accordingly. Chief explains that Nurse Ratched is "able to set the wall clock to whatever speed she wants by turning one of those dials in the steel door" (Kesey 76). Chief imagines her controlling everything because her ideal is to convert them all to Discharges because she wants them to be controlled. Ratched's ideas are similar to Society's and therefore is it actually represented by Kesey in the physical form of the wall's machinery.
So far in my reading, I have noticed the powerful use of imagery and symbolism. Kesey does a fine job of describing the poor condition of each patient and the dreary look of the mental institution. There are a couple symbols I have noticed while reading this book as well, one is laughter. Since McMurphey has been at this mental institution, he has mentioned the lack of laughter multiple times. The Chief says, “I realize all of a sudden it’s the first laugh I’ve heard in years.” (12) and again when he has a memory thinking, “I forget sometimes what laughter can do.” (95) This shows how something as simple as laughter can have a big effect on people’s lives. Along with McMurphy stating, “man, when you lose your laugh, you lose your footing.” (70) I think the laughter in this book is a symbol of a happier life, a way to forget about the stresses of any situation. McMurphy uses laughter to highlight his bright, outgoing personality, while Chief Bromden uses laughter as a way to remember the good old times outside of the mental institution. That is why the laughter is so unfamiliar in the institution because they lack any joyful, fun experiences.
Ken Kesey uses a great number of Literary Devices in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest including imagery, symbolism, and setting. From the pages I have read so far, I believe that Kesey uses all three of these devices to do the same job. I see him describing the setting by using vivid imagery and portraying imagery with the use of similes and symbols. For example, on page 31, in the second paragraph, there is about 5 similes for less than half a page long paragraph. He compares the walls to a polished clean refrigerator door, and the blackface and hands floating against the walls "like a ghost." This way of describing setting and characteristics really resonates with me because Kesey compares colors, shapes, and other features to simple everyday things that I can imagine. His technique and portrayal of all these things is essential in ensuring the reader's thoughts and emotions when it comes to anything within this book.
I think that Ken Kesey uses imagery and setting as his two main literary devices in the book. To make his readers understand what the characters are doing and where they are in the hospital, she describes things vividly and spacially. Throughout the book she uses imagery, my favorite example of this is on page 36 when Kesey describes the rape of Taber. Although the author doesn't tell the readers he is raped, he heavily implies the action and hopes that readers will understand what he is saying. On page 36 Kesey writes about Taber's rape, how the black workers take him to the mattress room, push him face down on the bed, rip his pants open in the back, the nurse leaving vaseline in the room, and his green clothes being ripped off and replaced by a damp sheet. Nowhere on this page does Kesey say Taber was raped, he uses imagery and setting to help readers understand what goes on at this hospital. After this act was committed, Taber has to go through shots, spine taps, EST, and possibly brain work. This goes into one of Kasey's themes, unhealthy sexual behavior can lead to insanity.
Throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author, Ken Kesey, uses many literary devices such as imagery and symbols. One example of imagery that really stuck out was referencing a visitor to the ward. He is described as, “thin and meatless” “his clothes flap around his bones” (127). The wording here really goes to show how skinny this guy in a more interesting way than just saying he was skinny. Another literary device used by Ken Kesey is symbolism. I believe the fog Chief Bromden sees in his hallucinations is meant to symbolize the lack of freedom for the patients in the ward. They are not allowed to do what they want when they want to do it. The patients are forced to follow a very strict time clock that is never changed because the Big Nurse keeps it that way. They are forced into conformity and there is nothing they can do about it. Then McMurphy shows up and tries to, “drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we’d be easy to get at” (128). McMurphy is trying to make the others understand that there is more to life than sitting around doing nothing. He wants to give the patients the freedom they have never experienced and drag them out of the fog.
Ken Kesey’s novel does not fail to lack a shortage of literary devices. He writes in a brilliant manner through the use of superb imagery and symbolism. One of the first symbols I noticed in the novel was the fog machine. When Bromden takes his medication, he often hallucinates and imagines fog drifting through the ward, “... cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it” (7). Kesey describes the fog immaculately, giving readers a true sense of what Bromden was feeling. I believe Kesey uses the fog to show the lack of reality each character has in the ward––how the characters become numb to everything around them. Kesey also develops the setting brilliantly for his readers. On page 40, he compares the psych ward to a Combine––a place where things go when broken. The Combine represents society, and the ward is just a part of society created to fix the broken people. When fixed, they often come out better than before. I think Kesey did this to shine a light on society’s failures and what it often times attempt to hide (the “broken” people who stick out from others).
There are many great examples of literary devices that Kesey uses very efficiently within One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Straight away imagery is used. On page 4, the Chief says that "she[Nurse Ratched] slides through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her." This is used to form the atmosphere. The cold represents Nurse Ratched's strict ways and how she is the focal figure that all actions have to be presented to. The cold that follows her could also be representing the personality that she is portrayed as possessing. The next page gives us a further look at Nurse Ratched's personality and how she acts when she is angry. Nurse Ratched enters the room and begins to chew out the black boys. Cheif Bromeden describes her as she chews out the boys on page 5 saying, "she's going to tear the black bastards limb from limb, she's so furious. She's swelling up, swells till her back's spitting out the white uniform and she's let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times." The imagery continues to be present throughout the novel and adds color to the writing making it easier for readers to better understand what the people in the mental facility went through. We can see this through Ellis who, every day is "crucified" on the wall. Continuing on with Ellis you also see imagery when it describes how his pee had eaten the floor.
In One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey uses many literary devices such as allusions, imagery, and symbols. Something I have noticed as I have been reading this book is the mention of a fog machine, “They start to fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me” (7). I think the fog is supposed to symbolize Chief’s escape from reality because he mentions that he feels safe when he is in it. At the beginning of the book, Kesey used great detail to describe the contents of the Big Nurse’s basket she carried in with her: “full of thousands of parts she aims to use I he duties today––wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that glean like porcelain”(4). With the amount of detail you are able to imagine what the contents of the basket looked like. I found the imagery the Chief used to describe the Big Nurse is sometimes difficult to distinguish what is reality and what is not. An example of this would be when he said, “She’s swelling up, swells till her back’s splitting out the white uniform and she’s let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times”. Kesey has used many literary devices but the one that has stood out to me the most is imagery.
In my opinion, Ken Kesey does an outstanding job using many different literary devices in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Right away, Kesey starts the book off with a simile. The quote, "I creep along the wall quiet as dust." on page 3 compares his creeping to dust and how silent they both are. One thing I noticed and I had to reread, was the part where the narrator talks about the fog machine. This part I did not understand at first but after rereading it, I think it is the Chief, "escaping" the real world. “They start to fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me” (7). On page 128, Kesey uses one of the best pieces of irony I have read in a novel. It says, "If somebody'd of come in and took a look... they'd of thought the whole bunch of us was crazy as loons. I am looking forward to seeing how else Kesey uses literary devices throughout the novel.
A common theme presented throughout the story, depicted during Chief Bromden’s frequent hallucinations, is fog. Accompanying Bromden’s bizarre visions is heavy fog, which he believes is being controlled by the institution and combine. These visions of fog are prominently described in almost the entirety of chapter 15 with pages 130, 131 and 133 referencing heavily on how Bromden believes the fog is created. The fog creates bizarre scenarios that include fellow patients as well as memories of his time during military service. Whenever Bromden envisions the fog, his mind is being torn away from reality. He sometimes finds comfort in not being in reality as he does not have to deal with problems facing him or accept his position in the real world. With the arrival of Murphy, Bromden envisions himself and the other patients being lifted out of the fog by Murphy. He slowly believes that Murphy can’t be consumed by the fog that was designed by the institution to suppress them.
Ken Kesey does an amazing job of using literary devices in this book. He almost needs to use such devices to get really paint us, readers, a picture. The first literary device I saw in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next was on the first page. Chief Bromden said, "I crept along the wall quiet as dust.." (page 1) This is a very powerful simile as it shows just how quiet he was. Quiet as dust, which is extremely quiet. Later on in the book is a whole paragraph that is filled with similes and metaphors to describe Nurse Ratched and just how big and scary she seemed at the moment. Chief described, "...when she rumbles past she's already big as a truck, trailing that wicker bag behind in her exhaust like a semi behind a Jimmy Diesel. Her lips are parted, and her smile's going out before her like a radiator grill. I can smell the hot oil and magneto spark when she goes past, and every step hits the floor she blows up a size bigger, blowing and puffing, roll down anything in her path! I'm scared to think what she'll do." (page 96) This is my favorite paragraph of the whole book. It does an amazing job of portraying how strong and absolutely terrifying Nurse Ratched is. This really gives us a taste for what the patients felt whenever she got angry.
Kesey uses an abundance of literary devices within Part One of the novel. With symbols, it has been mentioned how most of the character’s names are symbolic of something. For example, Billy Bibbit's alliterative name is perfect for him and his stutter. Kesey uses imagery all over the place to paint a clear image in my head of what is going on within the scene. One line Kesey wrote on page 37 is specifically fun to imagine in my mind; it says, "Public Relation's shirt collar is so tight it bloats his face up when he laughs... red and round as a balloon with a face painted on it,". He describes each character very precisely like with McMurphy's bright ginger hair and Chief extreme height. Also, I can perfectly image the daily room with the Chronics and Acutes and a line right down the middle. His settings are clear and keep my mind interested.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey uses a TON of Literary Devices. The one that caught my eye the most was on page 69 when he compared the Electro-Shock Therapy System, or EST for short, to being crucified. It says, "You are strapped to a table, shaped, ironically, like a cross, with a crown of electric sparks in place of thorns." Ken Kesey uses vivid imagery to really show the readers what is going on and give them a glimpse as to what is happening. On Page 25, the full page is dedicated to the description of McMurry and his hand, which obviously shows the extent to which he is describing. "there was carbon under the fingernails where he'd worked once in a garage". This shows how much detail Kesey is going into. Another one that I found was on page 5 when Kesey uses a metaphor that is comparing the world and the machine that is being used inside the facility. "Bigger and bigger, big as a tractor". (25)
Ken Kesey uses many different forms of literary devices throughout his novel, "One who flew over the Cuckoo's Nest". One literary device he uses quite often is imagery. In one instance, he describes Mr. McMurphy. On page 124, McMurphy was trying to prove his strength. Not only mentally is he trying to do this throughout the novel, but also physically. Kesey describes him very vividly as he is trying to lift the control panel. Kesey writes, "HIs arms commence to swell, and the veins squeeze up to the surface. He clinches his eyes, and his lips draw away from his teeth. His head leans back, and tendons stand out like coiled ropes running from his heaving neck down both arms to his hands. His whole body shakes with the strain as he tries to lift something he knows he can't lift, something everybody knows he can't lift.". After this part of the novel, Kesey goes further and mentions how McMurphy's hands are bleeding from trying to lift the control panel. This example just goes to show how important McMurphy is as a character in the book. It shows that just because someone might mentally be okay, that doesn't mean they are better physically at other things than them. Kesey also has irony behind this. It shows that McMurphy thinks he is so much smarter than the other 39 people at the ward by always showing them up in bets. In this particular section of the novel though, he loses his own bet. This could also symbolize him losing his mind more than he cares to admit he is by trying to prove something everyone, including himself, knows he can not do.
Well, to speak of what I have read so far in One that Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kasey—I must talk about the setting of the story. The book sets up that they are in a mental institution, a well-renowned one as well by the many tours from school teachers and nurse trainees touring the facility, and is placed after the time of high lobotomy usage and great abuses by the staff towards the inmates—as is evidenced by McMurphy during his discussing with Harding as to why they let the Head Nurse treat them like pecking chickens—but before the public was aware of the negative treatment of inmates indirectly and how horrific the electric chain was for "therapy". Rather it sits nicely in the time frame of "You must play nice with them, but should they do anything remotely unwanted you can shock them into behaving better" as evidenced by Big Nurse when she was searching for suitable lackeys, her black boys as Chief puts it, telling them to hide their hate but she still wanted them to hate the people they are supposed to be taking care of—evidenced by Chief on page 1 when they blatantly discuss "hate secrets" in front of him which gets them yelled at by Big Nurse. Which is key to the setting of the book, how the Big Nurse doesn't want to care for these people, rather correct them into what society wants them to be or outright killing the soul if they can't be fixed. Even some people in the facility shouldn't be there or got worse while there.
While reading, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” by Ken Kesey, you pick up on all of the amazing literary devices in his writing. Ken Kesey uses an abundant amount of symbolism, imagery, and setting in the novel. For one I think the title its self is a symbol. A Cuckoo bird is an informal word or phrase referring to someone(or something) crazy or eccentric. The entire novel so far is about people in a mental health center which could be seen as the characters' home, or nest if you will. With this thought in mind you can even take the term Cuckoo to the characters themselves. Look at McMurphy, I would consider him to be a very eccentric person. When he first entires the novel on page 11, the Acutes were even shocked by his upbeat attitude. So I think that the title its self is a symbol of the characters and what will happen during the rest of the book.
Ken Kensey uses many literary devices in his book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest. Out of all of them, I felt he used symbolism the most. A lot of the things Chief is imaging could actually have deeper meanings behind them. For example, the Chief always sees fog. There is not actually fog there. This could be a symbol for the hospital keeping the people living there from doing certain things and holding them back. I think that Ken Kensey did not use much imagery. The amount he has used is nothing compared to the Lord of the Flies which would have a full page of imagery. I do not think that Ken Kensy uses much to describe the setting. The reader never gets a description of where and when everything is taking place. There are also different rooms or places in the hospital that are given weird names, but the reader never really knows what these rooms look like or what they actually are.
As I am reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, I have noticed that the author has used several different literary devices. I feel that imagery and symbolism stick out the most to me. From the moment I started reading, I felt that the fog references in the book were the simplest literary device to pick out. The fog in the story doesn't actually exist as they say it does, it is actually a symbol of Brodmen's internal despair. The title even has a symbolic meaning. The title is referring to a "nest" which is in relation to the health center the characters are all located in. Several times in the book you hear of machinery. The machinery that runs the hospital gives a lot of symbolic meaning. I see it as it symbolizes the pressure to conform to social standards, but it can mean several other ideas as well.
I have noticed so far while reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, that Ken Kesey has included so much description in his words. He is an artist painting a picture in my brain. Within each page of the book, I am able to see exactly what Kesey wants me to see because of the brilliant imagery that he has added to this story. When it comes to symbols in this story the main one that I think of is the fog and the fog machine. I think that this is a symbol because it is somewhat an escape from reality for Cheif. Also, the fact that it is not real. I think that it could be the medication or something that makes him hallucinate and think that there is a fog that is there when his drugs kick in. The setting of this story I find very interesting. It takes place in a mental institution and to me seems to make the plot a lot more interesting because it feels like I never know what is going to happen next while reading. I feel like some of the parts are a little confusing to me on like what is real, what is a hallucination, and what is a flashback or previous event that happened. However, the story for me is very interesting and I am excited to read more!
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, some of the symbols and imagery include the fog and the TV. On page 128, Chief says, “Nobody complains about all the fog I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe”. The fog acts as a barrier between his mind and reality. The fog is one of the last places he feels safe even if sometimes he has horrible and terrifying hallucinations. On page 144 the ward has risen up against Nurse Ratched for the first time as they pretend a baseball game is playing on the blank TV screen. In my opinion, I believe that the TV screen could be a metaphor for a prison break. The TV acts as a clean slate for the boys to let their minds roam wild and free which is exactly what Nurse Ratched despises. For one of the first times in a long time, the boys are mentally set free despite the fact that they are still imprisoned. This metaphor shows that even though they may be locked away in a building the only thing that can truly imprison them is their minds.
Kesey has placed many literary devices all over the book. I noticed a lot of metaphors and similes. For example, on page 60 McMurphy says, "She may be a mother, but she's big as a damn barn and tough as a knife metal." This simile is being used to describe Nurse Ratched through McMurphy's eyes. Also on page 60, there is a metaphor which is "Hooowee, I've seen some bitches in my time, but she takes the cake." This is also being used to describe Nurse Ratched through McMurphy's point of view. On page 61 I found another simile which is "She's unselfish as the wind..." and this is being used to describe Nurse Ratched the way Harding sees her. On page 62 another simile is used to describe Harding through Chief Bromden's eyes and he says, "He wrings his hands like a fly...". This simile does a very good job of specifically describing the action of Harding rubbing his hands together because I can picture it in my mind very well which makes the story easier to read.
I love how Ken Kesey sets up the novel especially at the beginning. For instance, pages 1 and 2 are intriguing in how the scene is set. It isn't telling us about our narrator but sets the stage of the mental institution and of the villain. His use of imagery is amazing as he describes the menial tasks that Chief performs and the things that he sees. Particularly, I liked the part where it describes how the nurse was about to tear into those men who clumped up in the hallway and with how aggressive she got, but when everyone poked their heads out everything was fine. I also like how the narrator creates a clear image of really important characters. For instance, when R.P.McMurphy is introduced, the imagery used to describe him, and more specifically his laugh that lingers. I could almost hear it while I'm reading the book. I enjoy this novel a lot and I can't wait to read more.
In Ken Kensey's book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he uses many literary devices in my personal opinion I think that the biggest devices used are the symbols, with one of the biggest being how he even illustrates to Ellis being a pure Jesus-like figure with he is "nailed" to the walls every day and is more of an overlooking figure that witnesses everything that is going on but is incapable of helping because he is "nailed" to the walls and is in vegetable-like state which causes him to be unable to help the acutes or the cryonics in their rebellion against Nurse Ratched. Another example of that Ken Kensy uses is the symbolism of the dust that McMurphy is constantly patting off of himself which could be interpreted as McMurphy dirtying the system that was in place by Nurse Ratched which shows that McMurphy is planing on overthrowing the system and set himself in control.
From reading the first part of the novel, it is obvious of Ken Kesey's ability to write is outstanding. He uses various literary devices that enhance his interesting stories. Even on the first page of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Kesey uses a simile. Chief was describing how silent he walked as, "I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes..." By using this simile we as readers can infer that Chief isn't making any possible noise since dust doesn't make a noise. Another great example of a simile displayed on page 32 is how Chief describes how he switches the alphabetical order when it is shaving days. He goes, "Without lifting my feet—powerful magnets in the floor maneuver personnel through the ward like arcade puppets..." A statement like this shows how controlled everyone in the institute is forced to live by. If Chief has the feeling of being manipulated like a puppet or an arcade game that repeats the same game over and over, it shows how dissatisfied he is with his living conditions. Kesey's main literary devices used (I would say) are similes and imagery. He uses imagery when describing the different rooms in the ward or the conditions/personalities of the patients and employees.
In the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, there are many different examples of imagery, similes, and many other literary devices used in the pages I have read so far. I found one example right off the bat. An example of a simile on page 3 is used to describe how Chief Bromdone moved through the hall when the black boys are committing their sex acts. The quote says "I crept along the wall as quiet as dust." Chief then explained he did this because it was better to not let them see them when they are committing such acts. Another literary device used is setting. Chief takes us through the typical schedule of a day in the ward. (Pages 31-38) "Six-forty-five the shavers buzz...seven-thirty back to the day room...seven-forty-five the black boys move down the line of Chronics taping catheters..." In this process, we also see strictness and how Nurse Ratched runs the institute. We get to see different parts of the ward as well through the chief's narration as he sweeps the hallways and in the day room. We know how the day room is split up and the social norms in the ward with all the patients. On page 23 we see the kind of mental state Chief is in. When McMurphy was introducing himself to Chief, Chief describes himself as "...sitting there with my knees pulled up and my arms wrapped around them, staring straight ahead..." He is portraying himself as a tiny harmless man when in reality he is 6 foot 7 inches and could probably kick the crap out of anyone in the room.
After reading the first part of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's by Ken Kesey you can really tell that he put a lot of thought into the book and used many different literary devices. I thought Ken Kesey used a lot of symbolism throughout the first part of the novel. For example, Cheif Bromeden has hallucinations and paranoia a lot throughout the first half of the book. He says he sees fog and I think the fog symbolizes his state of mind. His brain is cloudy and overmedicated. He doesn't want to face the reality of what his life really is. The fog could also represent how the patients have no power and are forced to be hidden by the staff. I think Ken Kesey also used imagery because the narrator Bromeden pretends to be deaf he pays attention to more small details. An example of this would be from page 33 when he says, " The Big Nurse looks though her special glass, always polished till you can't tell its there, and nods and what she sees."
Throughout the portion of the book One Flew Voer the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, I have read many different types of examples of imagery and symbolism. Right away to describe one of the main nurses, he says "she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor" (pg.5). This line gives you immense imagery and allows the reader to really think in-depth about how big this nurse actually may be. Another example I have encountered while reading the book is "I creep along the wall quiet as dust" (pg.3). I think this was a very well thought out line because obviously dust makes no sort of sound and he is describing just how quiet he was creeping along the wall. When the Chief is jumping in and out of his episodes, it is interesting to see how he sees or explains things while having an episode and it is neat to read it because Kesey does not say when an episode begins or ends. At times the book has been a little confusing to tell what is actually real and what is just a product of his episodes but other than that the book is a good read and there will be lots to talk about tomorrow for our discussion.
In the first part of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kasey, I found many literary devices. On page 64, McMurphy starts uses symbolism to describe how all the patients are chickens in the hospital. What he means by this is that the chicken's peck at each other until they end up killing one and all the patients in the hospital are pecking at each other until one of them breaks during the group meetings. Another literary device that Kasey uses extremely well is imagery. Many pages contain imagery and vivid word choice but one paragraph I found was on page 76 when he is describing the Public Relations man. He says, "In comes a fat man with a beard, eyes ringed red by the cold and his nose just the color of a cherry."
In the first part of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, Ken Kesey used a flashback when the chief said: "and I try to keep from getting scared, try to get my thoughts off someplace else—try to think back and remember things about the village and the big Columbia River..." I also noticed how Kesey uses great imagery and detail in the book when describing characters. He does this especially well when describing McMurphy. There is one certain part that sticks out to me, where he said he is "redheaded with long red sideburns and a tangle of curls out from under his cap, been needing cute a long time, and he's broad as Papa was tall, broad across the jaw and shoulders and chest, a broad white devilish grin..." Adding into what I just stated about the imagery he uses for the characters, this is another literary device called characterization. He does an amazing job of using this device to develop everyone in the story so the readers can get to know them better.
Throughout the first portion of the book: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I found many literary devices that were used efficiency. One that was used right away was "she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor." (Pg.5.) This line gives imagery and allows the reader to visualize how the nurse looks and reacts within the environment. This also allows the reader to understand the impact the Nurse has on other characters within the ward. Another example that you even established was amazing was when he said: " I creep along the wall quiet as dust."(pg.3) This is a fantastic description of how quiet he is because he is quite as dust. How often does one hear dust? One of the other examples was on page 64, McMurphy starts using symbolism to describe how the patients are chickens in a coop, and establishes that it was a pecking fest. One makes a chicken bleed and then they demolish that chicken until there is nothing left.
At the beginning of this book, I was a little bit confused about what the author was trying to say through this book. Towards the start of the novel I thought "Wow this is just like daily life in a psych ward, what is the big deal here?" Then as the book progressed I could kind of tell how Kesey used all sorts of different techniques in the book. I think the introduction of McMurphy really helped further the plot because his character I feel brings the most out of others, good and bad. Kesey also uses a lot of literary devices in his book to help the reader visualize it better. Like on page 104, when McMurphy throws that pad of butter on the wall he says, "and there that butter is, easing down the wall like a yellow snail...everybody turns in their chair and watches the butter sneak on down the wall, starting, hanging still, shooting ahead and leaving a shiny trail behind it on the paint." This kind of imagery is intense. He took at least an entire paragraph to describe this butter on a wall. But it created such a vivid picture in my mind like I could see exactly how he was picturing, that is some high-quality imagery. Another thing that I thought about in the book was when McMurphy was willing to do just about anything to be able to watch the World Series. But I think this was much more than just a game to him. He said that he has watched it every year. I think that if he is not able to watch it that is kind of like him having let go a little bit of the outside world, which is not what he wants but is kind of what the nurse wants. For him is is much more than a game. It is a symbol of the way things use to be for him.
Ken Kesey uses some imaginative (and at some points a little confusing) literary devices. It took me actually slowing down and re-reading to catch some metaphorical description that appeared already on page three. The guys in the hallway are described as having "special sensitive equipment..."(3) which is a metaphor showing how eerily observant and suspicious they are, as if they had special equipment to detect even the smallest noise and movement. Kesey also has Cheif refer to Nurse Rachet as a tractor (5) and has lines later that refer to rectal thermometers as "machines," which I think conveys a distrust of technology and a past that was in no uncertain terms traumatic. The aides are described as being able to "smell my fear" (6) which is obviously impossible, but adds an element of animalistic qualities to the aids and Nurse Ratchet.
After reading about half of the book now, I have seen many examples of imagery, setting, and symbolism. Ken Kesey is very good at placing literary devices throughout the book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". The one that sticks out the most to me is the amount of symbolism that Ken uses. One symbol that is very big is the fog. The fog is something that comes from Chief Bromden's mind, it is a hallucination that he used to get away from all the noise and drama throughout the "psychiatric place". He drifts off into "the fog" and pretends he is alone and doesn't let anyone bug him while being in the fog. Another symbol that is important in the control panel. A lot of the patients believe that Big Nurse is controlling them with this "panel". That there is something inside of their brain that was implanted in them and now that panel can control them. A lot of this book is very confusing, you never know if the things being said are real or a hallucination so knowing what all the main symbols are can really help you understand what is going on because you never know what is real or a lie.
Ken Kesey is a BRILLIANT writer! His work throughout what I've read so far is astonishing. The amount of symbolism, imagery, and setting use is able to perplex and intrigue even the most complex and wise minds among us. So much so that sometimes I have to reread sentences an inordinate amount of times to finally capture what he is trying to convey to us. However, art and literature are up to the readers' own interpretation. I think any great writer such as Kesey would like his readers to pull different things from the story whether that be intentional or unintentional, similarily to when we are able to converse over completely made up concepts from books like Lord of the Flies by Willliam Golding. Anyways, I digress. Personally, I am most pulled in by his incredible sense of imagery throughout the novel. He spends a great deal of time explaining certain things is harsh and almost overbearing detail to really make sure the reader is able to be in the moment of the patients in the book. Also, he is able to easily skip over certain details that are not very important. Describing those would be a waste of time. He has a firm understanding of when things need to extended and taken further or when things can be put simply and terse, which can create a cold, terse feeling for the reader.
The amount of literary devices in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is quite incredible. After reading a large chunk of this book, I can say that Ken Kesey does not mess around with his literary devices. I think the one that jumps out to me more than anything else is the fog. It has quite the foothold in the first part of the novel and is really interesting to sit back and think about. I personally believe that the fog is a figment of Chief Bromden's imagination. I think that his brain uses the fog to get him away from all of his issues or struggles in the ward. Another literary device used in the book that really makes it unique is the imagery used. It is really incredible how he can really paint such a vivid picture into the reader's mind. As I read the book, I fell like I am right there with Chief or McMurphy.
After reading a little over half of the book now, I have seen so many examples of imagery and symbolism. One that Ken Kesey does a very good job and sticks out the most is the FOG. Now, this is not literal fog. This is a state that Chief Brodmens goes into a hallucination that gets him away from the reality and what’s really going on around him. It is so incredible how much of a clear image he can put into their heads by reading whats the fog really is. Also, the control panel is huge many of the patients think when they get knocked out from the pills they take they get a device implanted into their head which is now being controlled by the nurse. Knowing the symbols and what they mean really helps comprehend the book because it gives so much detail. Not knowing what the symbols mean would be very hard to understand what is going on.
Post a Comment