Written at the beginning of the decade,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest addressed only a few of the many issues affecting our country during some truly fascinating times. In order to gain a better perspective of what it meant to live in the 1960's, I'd like for you to do a little bit of research and paraphrase some of your findings while drawing a connection to our book. I've included a short list of some of the ideas you can discuss, but feel free to think outside the box if you are able to establish a connection with Kesey's text. Let's attempt to learn more about dissent and counter-culture in 1960's America.
Consider the following topics:
The Underground Press
Opposition to the Vietnam War, the Draft
The Feminine Mystique
The Stonewall Riots
Black Power Momvement
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Chicano Movement
The New Left
Students for a Democratic Society
When Kesey wrote OFOTCN, there were several issues that were shaped the way America became. One of these issues was the civil right movements. As many know, the goal of this movement was to stop racial segregation, and allow African-Americans to have voting rights. Several people attempted different ways of doing this. One of these ways were sit-downs. African Americans sat down at white only places. This spread so that many African-American protesters did this. This reminded me of the scene in OFOTCN where McMurphy sits down down and starts watching the World Series. Even though the Big Nurse turns off the television, it spreads, and everybody stops doing their chores and watches the blank television. Also, the great leaders of the civil rights movement (i.e. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X) took punishments for what they did, just as McMurphy excessively got the shock treatment, and became brain dead. The civil rights movements took a little while to catch on, and in the beginning of the book, McMurphy has to work hard to get the Acutes back on his side. The civil rights movement fought very hard, and had a lot of opposition against them. Essentially, the entire southern part of America was against them, and most of the north was too. They had to fight against something that was much larger and much stronger than they were, just as McMurphy had to fight against what Chief calls "the Combine", the part of society that makes people conform.
ReplyDeleteThe Feminine Mystique
ReplyDeleteWritten by Betty Friedan, this book discusses and provides insight of the society the American women were situated during the 1960’s. She presents surprising and perhaps shocking reasons as to the inferiority of these women and a closer perception to their everyday lives. In this book, she analyzes and emphasizes how society plays a major role in incorporating the concept of femininity into that of young women. Friedan states that “the columns, books and articles by experts telling women their role was to seek fulfillment as wives and mothers […] experts told them how to catch a man and keep him, how to breastfeed children and handle their toilet training” (Friedan 15). For instance, she compares the career women that were portrayed in earlier magazines and newspapers to the new image given to the American women during the 1960’s, indicating that “they were New Women, creating with a gay determined spirit a new identity for women-a life of their own” (Friedan 38) and “they were young because the future was open. But they seemed, in another sense, much older, more mature than the childlike, kittenish young housewife heroines today” (Friedan 39). As compared to the previous model of the new women, the magazines illustrate these young American heroines as completely satisfied with being confined to cooking, cleaning, washing, and other household chores. Not surprisingly, such perception of an ideal woman significantly influences them to abandon from education, especially during high school. Like how we perceive of high school, these women were not only pressured from society but also among their peers; the high school girls often envy the popular girls and are inclined to model after their footsteps: to find a husband and have babies. Those who do graduate from high school and go to college often find themselves in search for suitable college boys as their future husband. One student that Betty Friedan interviewed said, “I loved it. I got so excited about my work I would sometimes go into the library at eight in the morning and come out till ten at night […] I wanted to lead a rich full life. I want to marry, have children, have a nice house. Suddenly, I felt, what am I beating my brains out for” (Friedan 155). This “rich full life” that many girls envisioned were disappointing...often they find themselves to have sex with their husband multiple times to satisfy their frustrations and if such sexual intercourse was not fulfilling, they begin to flirt with other men secretly and/or begin to have sex with those other men. As Friedan puts it: “they have given up attempts to make housework or community work expand to fill the time available; they turned instead to sex. But still they were unfulfilled. Their husbands did not satisfy them, they said; extramarital affairs were no better” (Friedan 260). Furthermore, such emptiness that these women experienced were “fulfilled” and “satisfied” by living through their children’s lives. As these women are confined to house chores, they also take a particular interest in their children’s lives and thus, resulting in the child’s passive dependence upon the mother: “even at 9 a boy still requires his mother to go to the bathroom with him, lie down with him or he can’t go to sleep” (Friedan 296). One can see that such complete reliance upon an individual produce ineffective and immature human beings.
In my perspective, I felt that there is a connection between Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique. For instance, consider Vera’s (Mr. Harding’s wife) speech in comparison to Mr. Harding’s speech. Throughout the scene in which McMurphy encounters Vera and Mr. Harding, I noticed the difference in their dialogue. Mr. Harding’s dialogue seemed to have this professional tone: “your use of ‘didn’t’ and ‘nothing’ constitutes a double negative […] rivals your for illiteracy” (Kesey 184) whereas Vera’s speech appeared to be slang and illiterate: “I meant it any way you want to take it. I meant you don’t have enough nothing period!” (Kesey 184) Vera uses double negatives which Mr. Harding notices and points out using words like “constitutes” and “rivals”. Although Vera might be using these words in her speech to annoy her husband, I believe that the tone which she maintains in her conversations is based upon the background of her education. From the previous paragraph, Friedan indicates that women during the 1960’s were pressured to focus on being a wife and thus, pressured to drop out of school. It could be inferred that Mr. Harding pursued higher education than his wife and this would explain the professional tone in his conversation. Likewise, the book also mentions occasionally of the strained relationship between Vera and Mr. Harding (Vera is claimed to have flirted with other men which agitates Mr. Harding). In our classroom lesson, we discussed that perhaps Mr. Harding was gay and the relationship between these married couples was to cover his homosexuality. However, in another perspective (Friedan’s view), Vera flirts with other men to fill their lives with excitement and to possibility give them the thrill of power and domination. Meanwhile, in OFOTCN, Mrs. Bibbit appears to take keen interest and involvement over Billy Bibbit and therefore, renders him ineffective and childish. Throughout Kesey’s novel, Billy is portrayed as a coward or rather an individual who couldn’t muster enough courage to defy higher authority and ask a girl on a date/ to marry him. In one particular scene, Chief Bromden glances at them where “Billy’s mother took the opportunity to leave her work […] Billy lay beside her and put his head in her lap and let her tease at his ear with a dandelion fluff. Billy was talking about looking for a wife and going to college someday. His mother tickled him with the fluff and laughed at such foolishness” (Kesey 295). This motherly attachment to Billy renders him useless; as stated in the text, Billy is thirty one years old without a wife and a job in which he indicates “going to college”. Not to mention, the childish act in which Billy is to lay at his mother’s lap including the teasing his ear with a dandelion. This supports Friedan’s claim in which women during this (1960) society seek to fulfill their empty lives through living their children’s.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 1960s, there were several issues affecting America. One of these was the Chicano Movement. This movement began in 1940 and carried out into the 60s with the goal of achieving Mexican American civil rights. The term "Chicano" refers to children of Mexican immigrants. They were born in America, but of Mexican descent. They received opposition from both sides of the border, who viewed them as neither American or Mexican. The main goals of this movement were to get education opportunities and legal rights. Mexican American activists achieved many things during this period, such as the Mendez v. Westminster ruling which stated that it was unconstitutional to segregate children of Mexican and Latin descent. Also, the Hernandez v. Texas ruling said that Mexican Americans have equal protection under the 14th amendment. After World War II, Chicanos began to question what they were being taught in public schools. Several incidents of walkout broke out during this time period to fight for their rights. They argued against the academic quality of Latin students and the funding of Chicano courses. The Chicano movement relates to OFOTCN because the Chicanos are similar to the men of the ward, they don't belong. They aren't considered acceptable to society and therefore are deprived of several things. The Chicanos had to fight to receive an education and the men of the ward fought for their freedom to do things they'd like, such as smoke whenever they want and watch T.V. Both groups took a stand and attempted to gain rights. A lot of the action during the 1960s had to do with outcasts who were overlooked and not treated the same as the rest of society. These groups took action and tried to conform back into society.
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