This book is a unique and captivating piece of fiction, modeled after the lack of mental health awareness post-WWII. Set in a psychiatric ward, it aims to show the outrageous treatment methods that evidently did patients more harm than good. Through the eyes of Native American, (and pretense deaf and dumb patient) Chief Bromden, we witness the radical changes in the hospital with the introduction of patient McMurphy. McMurphy attempts to normalize the living standards of the patients, continuously comparing them to his knowledge of ‘the outside world.’ Unfortunately, higher powers within the ward disagree that the patients deserve new privileges, depriving them of democratic normalcy and reinforcing their inferiority. This approaches the question of whether insanity is a mere product of a man-made environment. If so, does our definition of normalcy have to be reevaluated?
I found it very interesting that the book was narrated through the eyes of a Native American Chief who had his lands seized by the government. The fact that he pretends to be deaf and dumb indicates the years of oppression he has experienced. This parallels the circumstances within the hospital ward. The patients’ rights are withheld, and because the nurses and doctors believe they are incapable of exercising them, the patients no longer petition for them. This is just one example of how the patients’ environment causes them to no longer conform to ‘the outside world’s standards of normalcy. Passive-aggressive dehumanization by ward superiors becomes an acceptable norm within the hospital.
Have you read this book, or watched the movie? What were your thoughts on it?
Spilled Ink 