Transcript One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest

One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest
Ken Kesey
Published in 1962
• What was going on in the U.S.?
–Vietnam War
–Protests
–JFK is president
–Hippies, psychedelic drugs
What inspired Kesey to write this novel
and why in a freaky, messed up way?
• Kesey actually worked as a night warden
on a ward in a mental hospital. He was
so determined to get the feel of a patient
that he underwent ECT
(electroconvulsive therapy)
• While at Stanford, Kesey volunteered
for medical studies on the effects of
psychoactive drugs (hallucinogens).
Narration
• Be patient with your narrator, Chief
Bromden or “Chief Broom.”
• He has had too much electroshock
therapy and too many drugs.
• Keep in mind that a narrator is not
necessarily the same as a
protagonist.
What is this?
Combine Harvester
• An agricultural machine that harvests all
types of cereals, oils, seeds and legumes.
• All parts work together to harvest the
crops.
• The combine as the “machine” is a major
motif to watch out for.
• Conflict - Man vs. machine
Other motifs to keep an eye on
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Fog
Hands
Nature/purity
Christ/savior
Sanity/insanity
Laughter
Combine/machine
Images from a ward
Images from a ward
Similarities to
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Guests had to check in
• Most were admitted by family
members
• Many patients had the power to
leave on their own but were
“controlled” by staff and
manipulated to believe they needed
to stay.
Mental Hospitals in the
1930s-1960s
Conditions at hospitals
could be atrocious
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•
Over crowded
Dirty
Not nurturing
No privacy
• Similar to, or in some
cases worse than, prison
Inside the Institutions
• Patients were provided with “adequate
care.”
• Many times this meant minimal care, poor
facilities and loss of dignity.
• They were given uniforms and chores.
• Families were often ashamed and would
deny their existence.
• Many patients stayed for their entire lives.
More images
More images
Mental Disorders
• Germaphobia (OCD) – fear of dirt or germs
• Epilepsy – seizures
• Schizophrenia –hallucinations, bizarre
delusions and muddled speech/thinking
• Neurotic Disorder – distress
• Dissociative Personality Disorder – multiple
personalities
• Speech Disorder – stuttering/stammering
More images
More images
Medical Care in Mental Hospitals
• Injury and death sometimes resulted from
treatments
• Patients were treated with medically approved
procedures: being put in tanks of ice-cold
water, spun in chairs for hours and forced
“medications” (psychoactive drugs).
• Patients were treated with non-medically
approved procedures: shackled to walls,
placed in seclusion or put in restraints.
Types of Treatment for the Mentally Ill
• Group Therapy
• Drug Therapy
• Electroshock Therapy
• Lobotomy
Drug Therapy
• Thorazine
–First psychotropic drug
–Was a milestone in treatment
therapy
–Calmed unruly behavior
without restraints
Drug Therapy
• Chlorpromazine
–Treats schizophrenic psychosis
–Treats manic-depressive
disorders
Electroshock Therapy
• Became very popular in 1930s-40s
• Originated to control negative behavior
in animals
• A doctor noticed that during seizures,
schizophrenics were more “normal.”
• Used to alter the chemistry in the brain
• Cruelly, it was used as a control device
Electroshock Therapy
Still used today
• Used to treat some forms of severe
depression
• Used to “control” the elderly
• Used on children in an attempt to
correct wild and/or unwanted
behaviors
Lobotomy
• Surgical procedure for cutting nerve
pathways in the frontal lobes of the
brain.
• This procedure was supposed to be a last
resort for patients that did not improve.
• If performed correctly, disconnecting the
frontal lobes should cause no loss of
intellect, memory and no problems with
speech.
How a lobotomy was performed
• Leucotomy – drill two holes on either side of
the forehead, insert a surgical knife and sever
the prefrontal cortex from the rest of the brain
• Ice-pick Lobotomy – Insert an ordinary ice pick
above each eye using only a local anesthetic,
drive through the thin bone with the tap of a
mallet, swish the pick back and forth and
remove
Lobotomy Results
A formerly difficult patient is now
calm and passive!
Abuse of Lobotomy
Walter Freeman, inventor of the icepick lobotomy, also developed
“assembly line lobotomies.” He
would go from one patient to
another with his gold-plated ice pick
to see if he could break his speed
record.
Abuse of lobotomy
Doctors would recommend the
procedure for everything from
psychosis to depression to
neurosis to criminality.
Lobotomy images
Lobotomy images
Lobotomy images