#9 - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Back to the present day, we take a look at something that I already knew something about. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is an adaptation-prone work, so let me explain further. There is the original book, by Ken Kesey. There is the play, adapted by Dale Wasserman. There is the movie, starring Jack Nicholson and adapted by Milos Forman. The movie was interesting in that it was actually filmed at the same hospital that the book was set in, giving it a very truthful adaptation.

Having seen the play before, I was excited to read the book. The play was, for the most part, comedic. Billy Bibbit with his stutter, Ellis coming down off the wall, Martini being wacky, and most of all, McMurphy. Big Randle McMurphy running around causing havoc. The whole thing was hilarious. Chief Bromden, however, is given a tiny role in the play. He enters as a sort of narrator, hallucinating the audience before him and talking of the combine. At the time (this being a couple of years ago) I considered him a bother, a bit of trivial add-on that detracted from the real story. Well, I apologize. The book is narrated by the Chief, and his concentrated, exacting narrative gives the book a special kind of life. His hallucinations even serve to help the story, the fog and the size of people showing things as they are instead of how they look. It gives a reversal of the usual "things aren't always as they seem" concept.

The characters are still wonderful in the book. Being a fan of psychology, having the archetypes of the nervous Oedipal (Billy Bibbit), the paranoid delusional (Martini), and more there reacting to everything was simply entertaining. Then the villains. The black boys, supposedly rapists and at the very least sadistic jerks, are their as the henchman. But the true antagonist is Nurse Ratched. An old Army nurse, she rules the ward with an iron fist, quelling any sort of rebellion. So when McMurphy hits the scene, full of swagger and raw power, we're faced with an immovable object versus an irresistable force. In the end, Nurse Ratched loses the battle but defeats her opponent, giving one of the most bittersweet endings I've ever seen.

I'd like to take a moment to applaud the multiple tracks that the human mind can work on. I've been on this journey of reading for a while now, and I certainly believe that I have improved in terms of knowledge and understanding when it comes to literature. I've gotten better at dealing with complex books, and altogether feel liek my smartitude has improved. And yet, I'm writing this while watching Recess on Family Channel, and fully enjoying every bit of it. How is it possible for both the Iliad and Recess to reach someone in the same way? Gotta love the human mind.

Anyways, I liked One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

9/10