One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, by Ken Kesey, is a novel which explores many themes relating to human society, spirit and structure. It written in a unique style, that, in combination with strong symbolism and characterisation, successfully conveys these themes to the reader. The book is also backed up by a strong realism which Kesey managed to acquire from years serving on a mental ward and from his own explorations into mind-altering drugs. But probably the most important way in which Kesey communicates his themes with the reader is through the use of third person narration.

Kesey chooses one of the patients, Chief Bromden, as the narrator of the novel. The world which Bromden describes is a hazy, transparent realm, where the borders between insanity and sanity are unclear. "There's long spells -three days, years- when you can't see a thing, know where you are only by the speaker sounding overhead like a bell clanging in the fog (94)" Bromden's view is omniscient. Although he poses to the ward staff as a deaf-mute, he actually hears and comprehends all that happens within the hospital. The Chief was able play the

Women, such as the Nurse Ratched, feature in Kesey's novel in either of two lights. Either as a "ball-cutter" like the Big Nurse, who are intent on dominating men and depriving them of their freedom and masculinity. Or as Candy, the whore, who is intent on giving men freedom and pleasure. There is no middle ground between these

part of a passive observer, stationing himself in important meetings and able to see and hear things which are

The dichotomy between the Big Nurse and McMurphy is another example of the way Kesey uses juxtaposition to present his themes to the reader. McMurphy is the protagonist. A wiry, red-haired, incorrigible character who soon becomes the 'chief bullgoose loony' of the ward. The antagonist is Nurse Ratched. The conflicts which

concealed from other inmates. This insight into what is happening around the ward is vital to the way in which Kesey's themes are brought to the readers awareness. We are able to understand not only Bromdens delusions but also his perceptions into the way

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Approximate Word count = 1608
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)