"People criticize what they don't understand." Critics to the award winning novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest claim that it is full of misogynies and racism. Considering this book was written in the early 1960s, these criticisms are understandable at first. But if you think about it, the narrator of this novel is paranoid and schizophrenic so it is obvious why he would create an image of prostitutes for the female characters or refer to the African American orderlies as the'black boys'. These are heinous criticisms because the fact that the author referes to the orderlies as 'black boys' or the women as prostitutes or castraters contributes to the tone of the book. If these were not a part of the book, then it would not be as strong of a novel because the author would claim that the main character is mentally unstable but provide no evidence.
This book also contributed to social changes of the 1960s-it got people more involved with the psychedelic side of life, the paranormal. Because of this book, people started accepting innovation and rejecting tradition. It became all about the 'now' and got rid of the 'then.'
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I have to agree with Sam. "One Flew Over the Chuckoo's Nest" is not a normal book. So people cant criticize it becuase of the manner in which the author wrote it. Yes, there are racial comments but you have to look at the year this book was published and how the author, Ken Kesey, was in the mental hospital when he wrote the novel.
ReplyDeleteThis book is one of the most important American novels of the last century. As Sam stated in his post, it brought about the new culture which idolized peace and sex.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that our narrator is unstable only adds to the intrigue. I agree with Brooke that is is not normal but it never strives to be normal. It is its strangeness which makes it amazing. Sam brings up good points in that the critism against the book for being racist is rediculous.