Research Paper on:
Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sacrifice

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
and murder for fun are truly insane. Surely such individuals need to be locked away, in jail, but the fact that someone does not engage in normative behavior does not  mean they are necessarily insane. Further, what is the difference if they are clinically insane or not as long as they do not hurt anybody? The subject of insanity  has intrigued many to write novels and short stories about the deeds of those who are in fact deemed crazy. And while much is written for entertainment, other works of  literature send messages. When Ken Kesey wrote Cuckoos Nest, he was certainly questioning societys interpretation of who is really sane and who is not. In One Flew Over the Cuckoos  Nest, the protagonist is a man who feigns insanity in order to avoid imprisonment. Thus, the set up takes the audience into the inner reaches of insanity. A world where  people wander aimlessly is displayed but the work also prompts one to question the concept of the "cuckoos nest" altogether. McMurphy, the protagonist, is not truly clinically insane. He  is just pretending but he is able to fool everyone. Further, it is anyones worst nightmare. Being locked up erroneously is something that must be horrifying. Still, the work overall  prompts one to question what type of institution would deem the truly normal as actually crazy. While many thematic elements appear in this classic seventies work as at the  time medical ethics and corporate policies were heavily questioned, there are themes of a more personal nature. That is, there are several places where one can point to self-sacrifice as  being significant to the work. A broader theme of sacrifice should also be noted. While the protagonist certainly exemplifies self sacrifice, the antagonists are also interesting and there