Kam answers “How would the novel be different if...”

Sarah Fleming asked this question about One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest:

How would the novel be different if McMurphy was the narrator? Why is it so important that everything is seen through the eyes of the Chief?

Kam One thing that I think we get with Chief being the narrator is the emphasis on mental health disorders. Pat doesn’t have a mental health disorder, he …moreOne thing that I think we get with Chief being the narrator is the emphasis on mental health disorders. Pat doesn’t have a mental health disorder, he is only there because he conned his way in to going there to avoid a work farm.

In the 60s, and in many way still to this day there is a stigma with mental health disorders and a concern that patients go unheard and unacknowledged. I think in a way Chief being the narrator, and pretending to be “deaf and dumb” is the perfect metaphor for the underlying societal stigma surrounding mental health disorders. (less)

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

by Ken Kesey

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