Essay about Ken Keseys One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and...

Ken Keseys One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and the Movie The film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, produced by Milos Forman, contains many similarities to the novel, however the differences are numerous to the extent that the story, written by Ken Kesey, is overlooked by anyone who only saw the film. Ken Kesey wrote the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, after experimenting with drugs and working on a psychiatric ward in 1960 and the novel was published in 1962. â€Å"Kesey became a night attendant on the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital psychiatric ward so that he could concentrate on his writing.† (Magill 1528) Kesey’s rebellious novel explores the world of mental patients struggling against authority and society through†¦show more content†¦Also, the reader knows that he is severely psychotic. Even though the Chief is a very large and powerful man, in his mind he is small and weak. He is constantly in a fog that he thinks is pumped on to the ward. With Randle P. McMurphy joining the ward, the Chief begins to grow again. The Chief and McMurphy bond, as friends, instantly. Their beds are next to each other’s and they talk about many different things every night. McMurphy learns all about the Chief’s past. However, the Chief is afraid. He is afraid that McMurphy will bring him and the other patients out of the fog. The Chief doesn’t want to come out of the fog, because he feels safe while he is in the fog. â€Å"That’s what McMurphy can’t understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we’d be easy to get at.† (114) In the end, through their friendship, McMurphy brings the Chief back to reality and he makes him big again. Chief Bromden is not afraid to be out of the fog and he is grateful to McMurphy. He is so grateful; in fact, he returns the favor after McMurphy’s lobotomy and suffocates him, to set him free. In the film, however, Randle P. McMurphy is consider ed the main character. The story starts with McMurphy being admitted into the psychiatric hospital. He is a strong individual who pretends to be crazy to get out of working in a prison. The film centers on McMurphy’s character and his