Themes - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, examines humanity and control. In this novel, characters within a mental institution struggle with achieving rights and freedoms. The mental institution and its staffs resemble totalitarian state of government which imposes laws and control. However, as demonstrated by one of the characters R.P. McMurphy, it takes a strong individual to stand up against a totalitarian system and speak for the rights and freedoms of the …

…we see the combine as a totalitarian state which controls its citizens by torturing and punishing anyone who challenges the rules. It is not until one character, R.P. McMurphy challenges the rules and conventions of the combine that the patients finally realize the importance of individuality and freedom. McMurphy is a catalyst in the novel because he provokes the patients to assert their individuality and self-reliance in order for them to improve their condition.