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Electroshock Therapy In Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

Electroshock Therapy In Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. By: Meghan Wilson & Charlotte Stoute. Thesis.

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Electroshock Therapy In Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

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  1. Electroshock Therapy In Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” By: Meghan Wilson & Charlotte Stoute

  2. Thesis EST plays a crucial role in maintaining Nurse Ratched’s control over the patients as a punishment, but when it’s effectiveness as such is shaken by McMurphy, her effectiveness is shaken too.

  3. Background Introduced in 1938 byItalian neuropsychiatristsUgo Cerletti and Lucio Bini, and it gained widespread use in the 1940s and 1950s. The New York Times described the public's negative perception of ECT as being caused mainly by one movie. "For Big Nurse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it was a tool of terror, and, in the public mind, shock therapy has retained the tarnished image given it by Ken Kesey's novel: dangerous, inhumane and overused" But in reality ECT is effectively used to treat severe depression or schizophrenia (when medication is not enough). Interestingly enough on its own ECT does not usually have a sustained benefit. Half those who undergo the procedure relapse within six months. This can only be avoided by using ECT with medication not as the sole therapy.

  4. The electroshock table is to show a theme of the Christian symbolism in the book. The first example being: Ellis a patient who became a vegetable because of the electroshock therapy is described as standing as if he was nailed to a cross. This is in reference to the crucifixion of Christ.

  5. Christian symbolism The next example of the use of ECT to support Christian symbolism would be the shape of the table as described in the book. The table is described as being in the shape of a cross.

  6. An interesting point, is that the table performs a function similar to the public crucifixions of Roman times, that used those being punished as examples to any other rebels. This is shown with the example of Ellis, Ruckly, and Taber. As they were Acutes meaning they could change but because the did not fit the model of the Combine they were to serve as public examples of what happens to those who rebel against the Combine’s power

  7. Symbolism This symbolism applies to when McMurphy was subjected to ECT. Before he said: “Anointest my head with conductant. Do I get a crown of thorns?”(page 270) This is a reference to when Jesus was on the cross as he had a crown of thorns placed upon his head. This allows the reader to see Murphy as a Saviour to the patients of the ward.

  8. ECT and the Combine As a worker of the Combine, Nurse Ratched’s job is to somehow “repair” those who do not fit into the model so they can be sent back to take their places as cogs in the great machine. If they refuse or resist, they are destroyed by invasive, abusive treatments such as electro-shock therapy.

  9. Symbolism The Nurse uses the electroshock therapy to remove the individuality of McMurphy. And with both Chief and McMurphy it as if she uses the electroshock therapy to “rewire” or correct their brains. As well the Nurse uses electroshock therapy will try to destroy any human that is the men by changing the man with the electroshock therapy.

  10. Characters and Relationships • Why does EST have such a hold over the patients? • “Ellis...got fouled up bad...in the Shock Shop” • Pg 69 “a device that might be said to do the work of the sleeping pill, the electric chair, and the torture rack” • Pg 69 “nearly painless...but no one ever wants another one. Ever.” • Pg 69 “state of disorientation...unable to think coherently” • Pg 191 “You change...you forget things”

  11. Chief Bromden • Pg 69 “years ago, the Chief received more than 200 shock treatments” • Pg 16 “that filthy, brain-murdering room that the boys call the Shock Shop” • Pg 178 “men jerk at the Shock Shop strapped to the crossed table, smoke curling out of their palms” • Pg 188 “they wheel the victim out still smoking and I grip the bench to keep from being sucked through that door” • Note: Filthy, brain-murdering, victim

  12. Harding • Pg 191 “It’s as if the jolt sets off a wild carnival wheel of images, emotions, memories...maybe you win with what you end up with, and maybe you lose and have to play again” • Pg 189 “Those fortunate souls in there are given a free trip to the moon. No, on second thought, it isn’t completely free. You pay for the service with brain cells instead of money”

  13. McMurphy • “Pg 189 “What the hell for? Why, for the patient’s good of course.” • Pg 282 “My skull’s too thick for them to hurt me.” • “Pg 289 “McMurphy received multiple shock treatments that week” • Pg 290 “I ain’t scared of their little battery charger” • Pg 290 “But every time that loudspeaker called for him...the muscles in his jaw went taut and his whole face drained of colour, looking thin and scared”

  14. Ward vs. Public • The patients hate EST and are scared of it • But... • Pg 37 “let’s take him right on over to Building One and buzz him with EST while we’re at it” • Shock Shop vs. Filthy, brain-murdering room • Pg 190 “In this country, when something is out of order, then the quickest way to get it fixed is the best way”

  15. Imagery • A horrifying place • “men standing in a line like zombies” • “The table shaped like a cross, with shadows of a thousand murdered men printed on it” • Pg 283 “They roll him out on a gurney, still jerking, face frosted white. Corrosion. Battery acid.”

  16. Text v. Film • The Shock Shop and EST are terrifying traumas in the text, and the image projected is a black hole of doom and dementia • In the text, Harding is the enlightener • The author spends pages having Harding describing EST to McMurphy • McMurphy is incredulous, but when he finally gets taken to the Shock Shop he is confident and does his best to unnerve the technicians by singing, etc. • He is sent back to the ward and completely shrugs it all off, shaking Ratched’s composure and encouraging the rest of the patients to rebel

  17. Film • There is no mention of EST in the film until McMurphy and Chief are sitting in Disturbed waiting to be treated • Mack is ignorant of the treatment and therefore doesn’t project the same sort of confidence and rebelliousness that he does in the book prior to treatment • He behaves much the same when he returns to the ward, however (pretending to be lobotomized etc.) and this infuriates Nurse Ratched • Much like the text, this encourages them to plan the party • EST room is shown as an innocuous room with white walls and a window, not the terrifying death room that Chief described

  18. The End

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