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Adam asked this question about One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest:
I have long thought of this book as one of my favorites, but noticed some heavy racist and misogynistic undertones when I re-read it. Much of this was left out of the film. Does old fashioned sexism sully an otherwise great work of literature?
Caroline This is an awesome question, I think this book, undeniably, has some great moments and I found it easy to read!
Yet I feel the descriptions in this bo…moreThis is an awesome question, I think this book, undeniably, has some great moments and I found it easy to read!
Yet I feel the descriptions in this book are weak- they're oddly very racially driven? The first description for anyone who wasn't white was their race, and this is all coming from Bromden's perspective most of the time.
In a book like the Fried Green Tomatoes[...], it still has a LOT of racist themes, but are representative of the time, and not felt like a personal grudge from the author's perspective. In fact, that book has the "n-word" far more than most, as well as many racist individuals. Yet, the description went beyond race (while still included it most of the time).
On top of that, the female descriptions in this reads like a man who's never seen a naked woman, or spoken to one other than his mother. I wouldn't say horribly misogynistic however, or not unnatural for the time it was written. It just sounds like he genuinely doesn't know a lot about women.
This particular issue shouldn't discredit the love some people have for the story and message in this novel. It just wasn't one of my favorites and didn't really live to the hype everyone's been giving it.
Still glad I read it!(less)
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
by Ken Kesey
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