Critical Theory Analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Uploaded by negretenatalie417 on Jan 26, 2017
Natalie Negrete
Mrs. Huntley
AP English, Period 2
2 December 2016
A Journey to Insanity: A Critical Theory Analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Chief Bromden is a patient at the Pendleton psychiatry ward run by head Nurse Ratched. From the very beginnings of the novel, Chief seems to be the central character until the arrival of the character Randall McMurphy, an ex-convict who faked insanity to be transferred into a psychiatry ward to escape work at the prison farm he was previously in. One can see through this novel, themes of power, social class structure and psychological factors by examining through Marxist and psychological critical lenses to better understand the power struggle of the antagonist of the book and better understand the psychological issues of the two main protagonists.
Critical theories function to allow literary critics to “focus on particular aspects of a work they consider important” (Brizee). The psychoanalysis critical theory utilizes Freudian theories and Jungian theories of psychology. Basically, Freud’s ideas are based upon unconscious desires and the id, ego, and superego. The id is what motivates our unconscious drives, the ego is our personality, and the superego is our conscience.Carl Jung’s theories “attempts to explore the connection between literature and what Carl Jung called the “collective unconscious” of the human race.Jungian criticism, closely related to Freudian theory because of its connection to psychoanalysis, assumes that all stories and symbols are based on mythic models from mankind’s past” (Brizee).The Marxist critical theory is based upon the theories of Karl Marx; the theory concerns itself with social class structure and class differences. This theory “attempts to reveal the ways in which our socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our experience” (Brizee). Marxism will mainly focus on “how the lower or working classes are oppressed - in everyday life and in literature” (Brizee).
Building up on the theme of class structure, the narrator, Chief, explains “One side of the room younger patients, known as acutes because the doctors figure them still sick enough to be fixed...across the room from the acutes are the culls of the combine’s product, the chronics. Not in the hospital, these, to get fixed, but just to keep them from walking around the streets giving the product of a bad name. Chronics are in for good . . . chronics are split into walkers like me . . . and wheelers and vegetables” (Kesey 12)....