Cry,_the_Beloved_Country

Cry, the Beloved Country “Insanity- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world” - R.D. Laing 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 women, mcmurphy, society, men, madness, nurse, over, book, says, power, one, hospital, victims, seems, ratched, point, nest, much, insanity, insane, harding, flew, first, fear, cookoo’s, chief, characters, years, world, ways, voice, treats, think, themselves, slightly, simply, shame, sexually, sexuality, sexual, practices, pointing, out, mrs, mind, mental, men's, man, makes, main