646 Kesey, Ken
in his personal growth, and happens to meet Dean
Moriarty at a time when he is looking for something
“more” out of life. Sal recognizes the lifestyle that
Dean leads is outside the norm and free from the
normal responsibilities and trappings of adulthood.
He is tempted by the promise of an almost child-like
existence. By joining Dean on the road Sal succeeds
in temporarily postponing the moment when he has
to decide how he fits into society.
When contemplating one’s place in society it
is always tempting to revolt against the laws and
norms dictated by that society. Deciding to place
oneself in opposition to the prevailing society is
an easy way out. A cursory glance at Dean’s life
may give the impression that he has chosen this
path; however, we eventually realize that he is
outside of society as a whole, so he has no need
to consciously fight against it. Sal is also tempted
by this battle against society, most conspicuously
when he is living in San Francisco with Remi
Boncoeur. Remi habitually steals from the barracks
they are meant to be guarding, and Sal eventually
joins him. As Sal states: “I suddenly began to real-
ize that everybody in America is a natural-born
thief. I was getting the bug myself.” We also see
the effects of taking this path when Sal visits Old
Bull Lee (a fictionalized William S. Burroughs) in
New Orleans. Bull Lee is a drug addict, and this
section of the book contains the most references to
drug-taking. Taking illegal drugs is a most obvious
and time-honored way to place oneself in direct
opposition to society. Sal is tempted by this path
but, again, does not take it.
Sometimes instead of trying to find one’s place
in society, or consciously railing against it, a charac-
ter is firmly entrenched outside of society. This is the
case with Dean, who has never conformed and never
will conform to the norms of society. He marries,
but has no intention of honoring his vows. He pays
no mind to the kind of ties that would usually hold
a person down, instead preferring to follow his own
lead traveling across the country and back whenever
the fancy strikes him. For the most part, Sal and the
others seem to understand that this is how Dean is,
and bear him no ill will for it. In fact, it is exactly this
remove from society and its rules that attracted Sal
to Dean. In Dean, Sal sees an escape from society.
What Sal eventually realizes, is that this is in Dean’s
nature; he was raised by a transient father and had
no roots growing up. He has had no role models and
never learned about personal responsibility. While
this life outside of society may seem appealing for a
while, Dean is eventually shown to be an intensely
unhappy character, whom Sal comes to pity, rather
than adore.
Georgina WillmskESEy, kEn One Flew Over the Cuck-
oo’s Nest (1962)
Written during the 1960s and tapping into many
of the concerns of the contemporary counterculture
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest explores
themes such as identity, heroism, and the corrupt
nature of authority.
The novel is set in a mental institution ruled over
by the authoritarian Big Nurse, a tyrannical figure
who controls every aspect of her male patients’ lives
through fear and intimidation. Big Nurse allows her
orderlies to abuse the patients and uses electro-shock
therapy as a means to punish them when they disobey
her. Among those in the hospital is the paranoid
half-white, half–Native American, Chief Bromden.
Bromden narrates the novel, which centers on the
appearance of a new patient, Randle P. McMurphy,
who will come to challenge Big Nurse’s iron grip.
McMurphy’s subversive nature leads him to
rebel against the rule of Big Nurse, the Chief ’s
name for Nurse Rached. He does this by restoring a
sense of self-worth and dignity in the other patients.
While McMurphy is ultimately lobotomized for his
disruptive actions, his rebellion is still a triumph as
it causes Big Nurse to lose control over the men.
McMurphy’s success is most obvious in Chief
Bromden’s escape from the hospital. At the end of
the novel Bromden is able to lift a cast-iron work
unit off the ground and throw it through a window,
something he would not have been able to do before
McMurphy had rebuilt his confidence.
David SimmonsheroiSm in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
The idea of heroism is an important element in One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The novel contains a