Subversion And Containment

Ken Kesey is more well-known or notorious as an addict to the drug LSD than a famous novelist. He spent a legendary life in the past half century, remembered as a forefather of the counterculture in the eventful 1960s. After Kesey published his first novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1962, it enjoyed an immediate critical and popular success. And it has been excerpted in the university textbook as early as in the 1970's. Therefore, it is somewhat strange that during the course of collecting materials for this research, the present writer acknowledges the truth that in China few researches have been done upon the novel. The emptiness of research of this novel really inspired him greatly. The present writer is bent on it.In addition, during the collecting a literature review to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the present writer has noticed that the majority of the research abroad upon this novel has been done within the following two decades after being put on the shelf. So, as soon as the New Historicism became burgeoning as a branch of literature criticism in the 1980s, it seems that there is a virgin perspective remained, from which the present work is being developed.The perspective and methodology of the New Historicism give me much inspiration in my research. The New Historicists extend their horizons to probe the meaning on a basis of intertext, dramatically different from the prescription of New Criticism, which is based on the close-reading and generally thought that the text is clearly independent on the author's intention and experiences, and the social surroundings as well. The methodology adopted by the New Historicists is borrowed from Michel Foucault, whose archeology and geology were stimulated and hastened by Nietzsche.Besides the Foucault's methodology, his viewpoint on the madness and the disciplinary society also play a significant role in the essay, or rather the present writer draws much inspiration in Foucault when he approaches to other aspects of the novel.This thesis consists of four parts altogether:The first part gives a brief introduction to Ken Kesey, Kesey's experiences, and the birth of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It introduces the life and activities of Kesey, the plot of the novel, and a literature review of the novel.The second part presents the theoretical basis for the thesis: New Historicism and Foucault's viewpoint on the society. It introduces the important assumptions by New Historicists by whose perspective the present writer takes. And the New Historicists' perspective leads the thesis to be more culturally and socially-oriented, and heavily political as well. In addition, a very simple introduction of Foucault's philosophy is offered for the general readers to make a basic acquaintance with the sketch of Foucault's thought since Foucault's perspectives are also chosen for the basis of the theme analysis. And it is to be noted that one of the underlying intentions aims at interpreting the novel in Foucaudian terms.In the third part comes the body of the thesis. In this section, it centers around the main themes contained in the title of the paper: struggle, salvation, an control. The theme of control is put foreword at the first place, so that the other two can be extended on the basis of the analysis of control. But first of all, in 3.1, the present writer attempts to give an explanation of the nature of the asylum. In the light of Foucault's term, the asylum is finally defined as a prison for its rigid rules, instead of a mental institution or hospital claimed in the novel.In 3.2, the three major themes are developed in a clear subdivision respectively. And the perspective of the New Historicism intertwines the readers' attention between the present and the depiction the reality of the American society in the 1950s, featured in the control and struggle for freedom over body and mind, destruction of natural pulses, and sex. What's more, the present writer will explore the preposition of sexism with his own understanding, that is, a kind of implied intention is imbedded in Kesey's "evil portraying" thefemales of the novel-in a metaphorical way Kesey lashes the evil matriarchy system that is buried invisiblyand deeply in the organ of the society itself. Finally, it deals with the theme of salvation. The present writer arrives at that an innocent man just like the protagonist McMurphy in this novel has to face up the choice between the spiritual survival and physical survival.The last part ends the novel in a conclusion for the whole work. The American society is compared to a huge cuckoo's nest, and the mental institution is only the acronym of the conformist society outside, where whether the intellectuals or the innocent cowboy is immersed in the white terror under the Fog-machine of the society. Under the perspective of New Historicism, the novel seems to be a more authentic interpretation of the relationship between the text and the Foucault's statement over the current western society. The text in many aspects bears apparent similarities with Foucault's. And this is offered to be alternative thinking to the history of the American glory acclaimed by the historicist.