One Flew Over the Cuckoo-s Nest Book
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is a groundbreaking novel set in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon during the 1950s. The story is a powerful exploration of individual freedom, institutional control, and the complexity of mental health.
The novel is narrated by Chief Bromden, a Native American patient who pretends to be deaf and mute. Through his eyes, readers are introduced to the oppressive environment of the mental institution, controlled by the authoritarian Nurse Ratched. Her rigid rules and manipulative tactics keep the patients in a state of submission.
The arrival of Randle Patrick McMurphy, a brash and rebellious new patient, disrupts the ward’s oppressive atmosphere. McMurphy, who fakes insanity to escape a prison work camp, challenges Nurse Ratched’s authority and encourages the other patients to assert their individuality.