Essay about Insanity

The literally works by Sylvia (The Bell Jar) and by Ken Kesey (One flew over the cuckoo’s nest) made significant impact on the field of literature. The work that was done in the 1960s marked a major milestone in development and advancement of literally work. The two books were able to advance the theme of insanity and are still relevant event to date. The main characters in the books make the reader of the books to understand the true meaning of insanity in a society. Insanity which sometimes may also be referred to as craziness is behavioral spectrum that is characterized by some specific abnormal mental or behavioral tendencies. The two books have been able to advance the theme through the conduct of the main characters in the books.

The fundamental meaning of the literally work by the two authors
The literally work by Sylvia (The Bell Jar) is more than just a confessional novel. It depicts a comic but painful sentiment of what happens to a lady’s aspirations in a society that does not take them seriously. The setting of the book represent a society expects electroshock to remedy the despair of a sensitive, inquisitive young artist whose search for self identity degenerate to terrifying descent nearing to madness (Bloom, Harold 33). It’s a piece of work that highlights the life of a young who is vulnerable wins a dream assignment on a big-time New York magazine and finds that she is plunged into a nightmare. Sylvia’s work is basically a fine novel as bitter and remorseless as her previous poem. Its most significant quality is an astonishing closeness, like a series of snapshots taken at high mid-day. The work can also be described as special poignancy that is a special force and shows the vulnerability of persons of hope and goodwill.

The other book by Ken Kesey (One flew over the cuckoo’s nest) is also an interesting piece of literally work. His work is arguably one of the most fantastic novels of an individual pitted against the depersonalization of an industrial society (Bloom, Harold 63). His work has been able to demonstrate the challenges that are faced by people in modern civilization. The author is able to convey some of his ideas through some rich imagery, for instance the line the inclusion of the sentence that indicates the truth, even if it never happened, sets the reader of book up from the initial stages for an interesting story where the reader perceives the situation more accurately as it reflects the truth more than the outward appearance of things. The reader would be interested to find out what the truth was and what happened instead. That notwithstanding, the story can however be a bit confusing at some points since the narrator is a paranoid schizophrenic and this poses some challenges as it is hard to differentiate between reality and hallucinations of the narrator. The book is a unique literal work as it is told from the point of view of a paranoid schizophrenic and resonates very well in analysis of the theme of insanity.

Literary devices used by the authors in the two books
The two books have employed distinct literary devices. Sylvia’s books have some quite interesting characters. Esther Greenwood is the protagonist in the story who became mentally unstable. She became tormented after the death of her father coupled with the feelings that she does not fit into culturally acceptable task of womanhood and subsequently attempt to commit suicide (Bryfonski, Dedria 45). Doreen is the other conspicuous character in the story and she portrays a rebellious young lady. Esther the main protagonist finds Doreen’s confident personality very enticing albeit troublesome. The theme of insanity in the story is demonstrated more in by the character named Joan who apparently is an old friend of Esther. She joined Esther in the asylum but eventually commit suicide. There are two doctors that Esther encounters while at the asylum. Doctor Nolan is a beautiful and caring lady. Because of her societally-praised femininity and her professional capability facilitated her to perform a therapy on Esther that yielded positive results. Doctor Gordon is the very first doctor Esther encounter in the asylum. The story depicts him as self-obsessed and somehow patronizing. His treatment services to her are complete contrast of the one offered by Doctor Nolan since he administered shock treatment that finally leave her haunted.

Ken Kesey in his book – One flew over the cuckoo’s nest also has some interesting characters. One of the main characters is Chief Bromden who is the narrator who has been with the mental hospital since the conclusion of World War II. This character pretend to be deaf and mute and it is through this guise that he has been able to become privy to some to the dirtiest secrets in the ward. A series of events that included humiliation of his father by the US government as well as his white wife led him to descend to schizophrenia (Bloom, Harold 73). He believes that, a large mechanized system control the society. He calls this system – the combined. It shows how member of society suffering from insanity perceive the world and the predicament they go through. Randle McMurphy is a rebellious convict who is sent from normal prison. He has been found guilty of battery as well as gambling. Although he has never been of statutory rape, he has been charged often. The highlight of this character is that, he is transferred from prison work farm to the hospital and although he thought is was an easy way of serving his term, he end up turning violent with the nurse thereby costing him his freedom, health and also his life. Nurse Ratched represents the face of staffs of the hospital. She is the tyrannical head nurse of the institution and her exercise total control over those under her care.

One of the most significant aspects that represent how male in society is demonstrated when McMrphy failed to lift a heavy shower room control that he had claimed he can lift and due to embarrassment remarked that, at least he tried. This shows how men get incentive to stand up for themselves in certain situations. The imageries used by Sylvia in the book at the initial stages set raises the interest of the reader. The sentiments use of words such as queer, sultry summer creates a mental picture that arouses the reader’s interest to study the book (Bloom, Harold 33).

Analysis on Comparison of the two books and how they contrast each other
The two books have advanced the theme of insanity very well. The characters in the two books have advanced the theme. The setting of under which the books are established is in a hospital which help the reader to fathom the theme of the stories. The books however differ in some aspect of the characters. Ken Kesey story uses a pretentious character that pretends to be damp and as he interacts with other people in the hospital, he becomes privy to some of the secrets in the ward. Sylvia’s story does not adopt this style. Sylvia’s story advances the theme from a woman’ perspective while Ken’s story advances the theme from a man’s point of view.

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