One Who Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

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One Who Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
The novel, ‘One who flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ by Ken Kesey is an important piece of literature due to its interesting turn of events. It is also among the top novels written during the numerous efforts towards the civil rights. Further, it covers important social issues including insanity, aristocracy, sex and crime. The author of the book uses important themes and motifs to develop the story line. Particularly, laughter is an important motif seen throughout the novel and has a great significance depending on its positioning in the story. Laughter, in this case, represents sanity for the characters as it points to a control of emotions and advocated improved self-esteem for the characters.
For instance, McMurphy introduces laughter in the book especially among the residents of the ward. The laughter has a healing effect to all those around. While they see it as a strange thing, they realize that it is the first real laugh they have had for a long time. Chief states that “I realize all of a sudden it’s the first laugh I have heard in years” (Kesey 12). Here the laughter represents sanity, which is a rare thing amongst the patients in the wards. It stuns all the patients and staff all around him since laughter is a rare thing in the facility. All of them attribute laughter to him in the way he walks, his gestures, his eyes, and his smile. McMurphy therefore from his admission to the facility presents a rare opportunity to laugh for all the patient and staff.

In the ward, the patients are scared to laugh. The narrator talks about ‘the acutes’ who are younger patients that are perceived too sick to be fixed. However, they are not as sick as the doctors perceive since they engage in numerous activities that show that they are not that bad off. For instance, they move around in their wards making discoveries, trying new things, engaging in wrestling amongst others. Further, they make jokes to each other but none of them dares laugh, “They tell jokes to each other and snicker in their fists” (Kesey 14). They spy on each other and if one laughs, he would be reconditioned under the strict instructions of the big nurse. The spy, on the other hand, would get a token of appreciations such as being allowed to sleep late the following day. Therefore, while laughter is a symbol of sanity, in the wards it is misconstrued to mean insanity and hence the patients cannot engage in it as they would be taken to special wards for reconditioning.
McMurphy, upon admission to the mental facility, is quick to note that no one in the hospital, either patient or staff can laugh openly, they giggle but none whatsoever has done more than grin to the theatrics he engages in. He finds it terribly wrong that the big nurse can wield so much influence as to prevent everyone from laughing and thus, undertake the task of ensuring that they laughed. He tries to do so when he introduces himself to all the patients and the first ward meeting he attends but fails.
Other incidents in the story represent the power of laughter. For instance, laughter is numerously used to block the pain that the characters in the book are experiencing. McMurphy laughs at everything that seems to hurt him in the book. He laughs at a bicycle rider that falls, the nurse, a fellow character with a bleeding thumb, his girlfriend who has a bruised breast amongst other numerous individuals. However, the laugh is intended to block the painful experiences the actions bring. The author notes that “He knows there’s a painful side … but he won’t let the pain block out the humor no more” (Kesey 212). Here McMurphy is an idol in the novel, therefore as he laughs to block out pain, it spreads the vice amidst his fellow ward constituents who idolize him.
Further, McMurphy fosters the culture of laughter amongst other characters in the book, especially after the fishing trip. Characters such as Doctor Spivey, Harding, Safest, and Scanlon are affected by the power of laughter right after the arrival from the fishing. Each of the characters engages in a loud hearty laugh that is symbolic to the freedom that each of them is experiencing in terms of their physical and mental recovery. Since McMurphy is a sane man who pretends to be insane to avoid a sentence in a real prison, he knows the power of laughter and uses it to help the fellow characters in the book to cope with their varying challenges.
Finally, the party is also a perfect example of laughter and its power as a pointer to sanity and freedom among the patients. It reveals to the people them the power they wield and shows them that they should not continue living as per the iron-fist rule of the big nurse. After the party, Nurse Retched finds evidence of all their deeds but the patients respond by laughing uncontrollably. They have already reckoned that the nurse cannot control everything they do. At this moment, laughter represents freedom and piece, attributes that have been lacking under the control of Nurse Ratchet. Further, the laughter may be a symbol of a revolt against tough rule in the mental institution.
Therefore, as evidenced from the novel, laughter is a powerful motif. It is used on numerous occasions throughout the book. It is often used by McMurphy to spread sanity among his fellow inmates at the mental institution. Laughter represents freedom, helps the characters in blocking out painful events in the lives and helps in both physical and psychological recovery especially after the fishing trip towards the end of the novel.
Works Cited
Kesey, Ken. “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest. Penguin,” 1962.