The main characters' apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role in the book "One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey. The purpose for the madness in One Flew over the Cookoo's Nest is slightly more obvious than in other books. The plot revolves around it. The madness is necessary for the discovery of the societal problems. Craziness makes the story happen, but the madness of the characters is not simply a mental disability, but rather, a reasonable adjustment to the society they are exposed to.

"We are victims of a matriarchy here, my friend." Harding's explanation of life in the hospital seems be true. While the Combine undoubtedly contains both male and female workers, its main representatives in the book do appear to be women. Heading it in the hospital is Nurse Ratched, who dominates all men- even ones like Dr. Spivey who are supposed to be her superiors. Her power is expressed in very sexual terms: she is, McMurphy says after his first group meeting, "a ball-cutter." Other women include Mary Louise Bromden, who forced her husband to give up both his name and his Indian ways; Mrs. Bibbit, who dominated her son at home

"A man go around lettin' a woman whip him down till he can't laugh anymore, and he loses one of the biggest edges he's got on his side. First thing you know he'll begin to think she's tougher than he is..."

The insanity in the book differs from character to character. The chief is a man who has for years pretended to be a deaf-mute; his mind is a jumble of seemingly random, terrifying sights and sounds: people swell and shrink according to their power over others and like machines, they shoot electric beams at those who stand in their way. In moments of greatest stress, the Chief's mind becomes entirely clouded by a dense fog. McMurphy on the other hand isn't necessarily insane. Instead, he supports the crazy characters, and gives them the tools they need to cure themselves. Without him though, the identification of the illnesses would be much more difficult, as his remedies are the clues to what the illnesses actually are.

Yet it seems that the men are not so much victims of mental illness as they are of fear instilled in them by society. Unlike McMurphy, they are unable to accept themselves as they are, with all their flaws, all their contradictions, and this makes them easy victims for Nurse Ratched. As the Chief says when he looks at himself in the mirror, "It don't seem like I ever have been me. (p. 120) Harding puts it even more openly. He came to the hospital, he says, out of

just as Nurse Ratched dominates him in the hospital, and more minor characters like Nurse Pilbow, who is so terrified of the power McMurphy shows she becomes a hysterical mess.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Shame Shame', Cookoo's Nest, Dale Harding, Nurse Ratched's, Candy Starr, Fear Self-belittlement, Nurse Pilbow, Dr Spivey, Nurse Ratched, RD Laing, nurse ratched, flew cookoo's, cookoo's nest, flew cookoo's nest, nurse ratched dominates, ratched dominates,
Approximate Word count = 1132
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)