A Marxist Reading of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest Essay -- One Flew

Fred Wright, Laurens instructor for EN 132 (Life, Language, Literature), comments, English 132 is an introduction to English studies, in which students ensure near various areas in the discipline from linguistics to the study of popular culture. For the lit and literary criticism section of the course, students read a canonical work of literature and what scholars have said about the work over the years. This year, students read One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, by Ken Kesey, a classic of American literature which dates from the mid-sixties counterculture. Popularized in a film version starring Jack Nicholson, which the class withal watched in order to discuss film studies and adaptation, the novel became notable for its merciful portrayal of the mentally ill. For an essay about the novel, students were asked to choose a critical approach (such as feminist, formalist, psychological, and so forth) and interpret the novel using that approach, while also considering how their interpre tation fit into the ongoing scholarly dialogue about the work. Lauren chose the challenge of applying a Marxist approach to One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest. Not only did she learn about critical approaches and how to apply one to a text, she wrote an excellent essay, which will help other readers understand the text better. In fact, if John Clark Pratt or other editor ever want to update the 1996 Viking Critical Library edition of the novel, then he or she might want to include Laurens essay in the next editionAt first glance, a reader may wonder how Ken Keseys novel One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, a book depicting a group of mentally unstable men and their boisterous Irish-American leader, connects with the economic and sociological view o... ...lett, Moyra. Marxist Literary and ethnical Theories. bran-new York St. Martins Press, 2000. Print. Industrial Revolution. The New American Desk Encyclopedia. 5th ed. 1989. Print. Kappel, Lawrence. Readings on One Flew over the Cuckoos Nes t. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 2000. Print. Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest. Ed. John Clark Pratt. New York Viking-Penguin, 1996. Print. Viking Critical Library. Loeb, Roger C. Machines, Mops, and Medicaments Therapy in the Cuckoos Nest. Lex et Scientia 13. 1-2 (1977) 38-41. Rpt. Kappel 85-91. Malin, Irving. Ken Kesey One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest. Critique 5.2 (1962) 81-84. Rpt. in Kesey 440-444. Marxism. The New American Desk Encyclopedia. 5th ed. 1989. Print. Parker, Robert Dale. How to counsel Literature Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. New York Oxford, 2011. Print.