One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society
description
Transcript of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society
![Page 1: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society
Randle P. McMurphy vs.
(The Big) Nurse Ratched
![Page 2: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Cuckoo’s Nest
The most important novel of the 20th Century, because it helps us study the arc and progression of America’s people—and our conflicts:
gay vs. straight (choice? nurture? nature?) young vs. old (age) Christian vs. _________ (creed) black vs. white (race) poor vs. rich (class)
Dialectics = the study of opposing forces
![Page 3: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
What were the 1950s like? Boring, strict, dull Post-WWII optimism Innocence “Leave it to Beaver” Straight-laced (and
straitjacketed) Paranoid Specific gender roles Establishment-building
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photos/leaveittobeaveronline.jpg
![Page 4: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
http://genderroles1950.blogspot.com/
![Page 5: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
What do you know about the (late) 1960s?
Drugs Vietnam “Revolution” of everything,
including sexual (birth control pillliberated women of this era)
Peace, love—not war A great loosening (morals) Tie-dyed, “Anti-Establishment” Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Credence Clearwater
Revival, Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Elvis Presley, The Grateful Dead, & The Beatles—
http://library.thinkquest.org/21342/pictures/led-zeppelin.jpg
1957
1967
![Page 6: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
The Beatles Show the Difference from the 1950s to the 1960s
![Page 7: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
What do you know about hippies?
Drugs Flag burning Bra burning Gender role rejection San Francisco Flower Power Woodstock
![Page 8: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
What do you know about McCarthyism?
The ESTABLISHMENT was trying to maintain the social order it had worked so long and hard to create
The Crucible by Arthur Miller “Witch hunts” Red Scare Hysteria
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthyism.jpg
![Page 9: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
McCarthyism: The Age of Anxiety
http://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/block_h/block_fire.gif
![Page 10: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is an allegory with symbolic characters.
These characters enter combat that is symbolic of the conflict in America—between the “establishment” and the “anti-establishment.”
http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_01_img0365.jpg
![Page 11: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
“Establishment” “…term for a traditional
conservative ruling class and its institutions. In this context the term may also refer to that which is mainstream.”(wikipedia.com)
“Mainstream” = old, rich, white, male, Christian
“The Man” is another term for this concept.
“Tricky Dick” Richard Nixon, who was despised by hippies for continuing the Vietnam War
![Page 12: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Examining the Psyche of Literature and of Society](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062301/56815dac550346895dcbdf33/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
“Anti-Establishment” “[An entity that] goes against
the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society.” (wikipedia.com)
“Counterculture” is another term that applies here.
“Punk” “V for Vendetta” 1984 Young vs. Old