One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Essay

816 Words4 Pages
A person’s behavior, although thought to be insane, may be the one thing keeping everyone sane. In “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey a mental hospital goes from housing the insane to the relatively normal. Emily Dickinson’s poem makes us stop and wonder if the people admitted into mental institutions truly belong there. In the novel McMurphy is brought to the hospital because he is thought to be insane, but he is truly a special person like Emily Dickinson states throughout her poem. McMurphy’s eccentric behavior everyday in the mental hospital proves he is sane. Anyone with a mental disease is special in their own way. In Emily Dickinson’s poem she persuades us to believe there is nothing wrong with someone suffering a mental disease, that they are just misunderstood. McMurphy enters the mental institution not judging a single person in there. He comes in laughing and smiling. Ken Kesey describes…show more content…
McMurphy hounded the nurse for many days to let him and the other men go on a fishing trip. He cared about every other man’s life individually and wanted to make sure they never doubted the outside world again. He tested their limits throughout the fishing trip, making them do new things and venture out of their comfort zone. This proved McMurphy’s sanity throughout the rest of the novel. Chief enlightens us the confidence brought to ward by stating “I could of watched McMurphy at that blackjack table all night, the way he dealt and talked and roped them in and led them smack up to the point where they were just about to quit, then backed down a hand or two to give them confidence and bring them along again.” (Kesey, 47) McMurphy wanted everyone to be able to leave the institution. without any problem, and he did just that. All of the men voluntarily left the institution. Everyone was able to happily transition to the outside world all due to McMurphy’s dedication and
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