“Society is what decides who’s sane and who isn’t”(49). This assertion that the narrator boldly states in the beginning of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest made me pause while reading, and dwell for a moment on the implications. I believe that this honest, forthright comment speaks the truth and its seemingly insignificant placement in the novel made it impact me greatly.
Throughout history, many people have wrongly faced consequences of society’s disapproval of their beliefs and have become branded with the label “insane” simply because they failed to meet a certain set of vague standards. Standards which society feels they must enforce in an attempt to keep order and understanding of what it means to have sanity. To me, this seems extremely contradictory because no one truly has the ability to define what a sound, sane mind should or should not believe. If we did understand this then why were innocent, sane women killed during the Salem Witch Trials because of accusations and Galileo rejected for his accurate heliocentric beliefs? Society tends to place negative focus on those with varying opinions or differing lifestyles than the average person, leading in many cases to false labels and allegations.
Reading this statement reminded of a story my mom told me about her residency in medical school when she had to spend a serious of sessions shadowing psychologists while earning her degree. She told me once of this one schizophrenic patient that she had a session with who had believed half the time that he embodied Abraham Lincoln. When first hearing this man’s situation, most people automatically brand him as insane and in need of serious medical treatment. This brand leaves no room for the possibility that perhaps he has sanity in relation to his reality of the world, just not in the average perception of the world. Just as Galileo saw the world completely different than anyone else, maybe this man did depict Abraham Lincoln in his own reality…and who can actually define reality? What if society has the ideas of sanity and insanity completely wrong and all those people locked up in asylums truly are the stable, sane individuals and we actually lack sanity?
I believe this theme of society’s power to define people’s mental stability, and the problems associated with this relationship will evolve and emerge as a central theme of this novel.
Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement you made in the post, especially about the possible theme of the novel. In my blog I took a similar stance with the thought that insanity shouldn't be frowned upon and instead insanity allows for diversity and happiness.