Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The “bull goose looney” as a Totem Guide for Chief’s Writing Himself to Freedom

The “bull goose looney” as a Totem Guide for Chief’s Writing Himself to Freedom AbstractThis paper examines the institutionalisation of psychiatric treatment in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Taking up the work of Michel Foucault, the paper examines how those suffering from mental illness were classified as disruptive and unfit for society, subsequently labelled mad and institutionalised in facilities more akin to semi-judicial structures than medical facilities. McMurphy, having manipulated a transfer for himself from a state work farm to what he perceives will be the less rigorous confines of a mental institution, epitomises the disruptive presence of the madmen, bringing a world of disorder and chaos to the staff and patients of the mental ward. Self-proclaimed as the head “bull goose looney”, McMurphy reflects the counter-culture movements of the 1960s in the United States in his rejection of the rules and regulations imposed upon him by what amounts to a totalitarian system of control. A wild indomitable force of nature, McMurphy becomes a totem for Chief and the other patients, an embodiment of the human spirit the patients have forfeited inside the institutional system. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Prague Journal of English Studies de Gruyter

The “bull goose looney” as a Totem Guide for Chief’s Writing Himself to Freedom

Somerville, Matthew
Prague Journal of English Studies , Volume 11 (1): 12 – Jul 1, 2022
Download PDF
12 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/de-gruyter/the-bull-goose-looney-as-a-totem-guide-for-chief-s-writing-himself-to-0mQsxcy0F0
Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
© 2022 Matthew Somerville, published by Sciendo
eISSN
2336-2685
DOI
10.2478/pjes-2022-0006
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractThis paper examines the institutionalisation of psychiatric treatment in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Taking up the work of Michel Foucault, the paper examines how those suffering from mental illness were classified as disruptive and unfit for society, subsequently labelled mad and institutionalised in facilities more akin to semi-judicial structures than medical facilities. McMurphy, having manipulated a transfer for himself from a state work farm to what he perceives will be the less rigorous confines of a mental institution, epitomises the disruptive presence of the madmen, bringing a world of disorder and chaos to the staff and patients of the mental ward. Self-proclaimed as the head “bull goose looney”, McMurphy reflects the counter-culture movements of the 1960s in the United States in his rejection of the rules and regulations imposed upon him by what amounts to a totalitarian system of control. A wild indomitable force of nature, McMurphy becomes a totem for Chief and the other patients, an embodiment of the human spirit the patients have forfeited inside the institutional system.

Journal

Prague Journal of English Studies – de Gruyter

Published: Jul 1, 2022

Keywords: Institutionalised madness; totalitarianism; storytelling; pseudocouples; autobiographical narrative therapy

There are no references for this article.