one travelled over the cuckoo s nest and the

Catcher inside the Rye

The themes of alienation and isolation in ‘The Heurter in the Rye’ and ‘One Flew above the Cuckoo’s Nest’ are highly prominent, as the authors seek to portray the journey of the individual (or indeed group) that is available outside of popular society. In both works of fiction we see the storyplot told through the persona associated with an alienated first-person narrator, a viewpoint that profoundly affects our comprehension and presentation of the stories told, whether it be Bromden’s hallucinatory description of “the fog” and its results or Holden’s quasi-reliable description of the events that lead to his being within a mental asylum. It is important to illustrate the subtle big difference between alienation and solitude: Although the two terms happen to be closely associated and often viewed to be associated, I understand ‘alienation’ to be a even more passive term, an antiestablishment character has been alienated by the society around them. I understand remoteness, however , to be a conscious ” or at least deliberate on several level ” move by a character to exist away from society. World alienates a personality, whereas a character isolates himself ” the natural way, there is a few overlap between your two. Both these phenomena will be presented in, and are step to understanding ‘One Flew within the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘The Catcher inside the Rye’.

Undoubtedly that the narrators of both novels claim their personality, and in this isolate themselves, through all their idiosyncratic utilization of language and lack of faithfulness to story conventions. As soon as that we fulfill Holden, we come across him making use of the slang (“lousy”, “all that kind of crap”) and standoffish direct treat (“don’t actually mention these to me”) that characterise his narration through the entire novel. Similarly, the beginning line of the narrative of Bromden in ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ is definitely “they’re away there” a completely subjective and paranoid declaration that instantly creates length between him and the reader due to its seeming implausibility. Kesey also punctuates Bromden’s narrative with long and bizarre hallucinations, of manipulative machinery and robotics for instance , which as well initially make distance among himself plus the reader. However , as the novels improvement, we expand to accept the strange and somewhat hard narrative, and it becomes personable and likeable. The language and narrative kinds of the new serve to power the reader to pass through a voyage regarding their particular proximity towards the narrator: at first, we are antiestablishment by their informality, but as the novels develop we find ourself very much privately of the narrator. In my opinion, this journey from the alienation with the reader is of just as much importance as the alienation in the characters themselves.

For Holden, isolation can be described as means of self-protection. In his relationships with other persons ” specifically girls, including Sally and Faith ” he appears ill-at-ease and confused as to what he ought to say, striving forcibly to sound “suave as hell” and adult in place of actually making any connection with any person he talks to. He isolates himself, therefore , both deliberately (his quest around New York City) and unintentionally (through his peculiar behaviour so that they can be adult) as a way of avoiding being forced to face the clear dilemma and interior conflict that he owns. This shows the irony of Holden’s figure and actions, he isolates himself as a result of an unfulfilled desire to remain in the world around him. His popular red hunting hat, for example , is a very clear and deliberate physical image of big difference. His assertion ” even so jocular ” that it is a “people-shooting hat” is suggestive of his precise desire to stick out by wearing it, but his numerous says of Allie and Phoebe’s red hair suggest that this individual wears it simply as a unconscious attempt to easily fit into to his family. Simultaneously, Holden appears both very pleased and self conscious of the head wear (often not really wearing it the moment meeting close friends, or currently taking it off when it is mentioned on), a symbol of the conflict between isolation and fitting in.

In many respects, Bromden (and certainly many of the minimal characters including Harding in ‘One Travelled over the Cuckoo’s Nest’) uses isolation as a way of self-protection, much in the way that Holden does. Bromden’s pretence that he’s deaf and dumb could, in some aspects, be compared with Holden’s pretence of adult life and maturity ” both are used since the perpetrator feels that it is the only way to manage and fit in with a contemporary society that they usually do not fully understand. Nevertheless , whilst Holden seems unacquainted with his usage of isolation as a method of protection, Bromden really does so purposely. He believes that he can “cagey enough to fool” everyone else inside the ward ” and in doing so, makes himself less of the target than the other sufferers. Indeed, this individual only enables this shield down much later on intended for McMurphy, when he is selected of his trustworthiness. To that end, Bromden’s self-imposed isolation is an efficient tool ” he avoids the bad and harmful sessions of group remedy, through which “the Big Nurse” is able to keep a stranglehold over the keep through mental manipulation. Yet , this isolation alone is not enough intended for Bromden to regain his confidence and sanity ” it requires a personality like McMurphy to catalyse this process. The fog is the perfect symbol of Bromden’s isolation ” it appears at emotional points in the story, and creates a veil ” emblematic for the reader, but physical for Bromden ” in back of which he “feels safe”. Although he knows that the fog ” his solitude ” is wrong, “as bad since it is”, sliding back into this allows him to length himself from your situation. Kesey therefore appears to suggest that even though isolation is an efficient shield, basically withdrawing coming from society is definitely not enough in itself to bring regarding change. The active struggle, although generally sisyphean, can be portrayed while more heroic and successful than simple passive withdrawal, Bromden’s have difficulties against “the combine” is only really escaped by his breaking from the institution, and McMurphy’s struggle, although not getting him independence, is enough to mentally liberate the other ‘inmates’ with the ward, via both mental imprisonment, and in Bromden’s circumstance physical imprisonment too.

Loss of identity is prominent in both novels, both while cause and effect of remoteness and hysteria, and the two Bromden and Holden include a perception of identity that shifts greatly during the course of their respective testimonies. Kesey manifests Bromden’s changing identity, like much of his mental state, through physical significance in “One Flew within the Cuckoo’s Nest”. As a result of societal alienation in the form of the government’s destruction of his historical past and his succeeding institutionalisation, Bromden feels that he physically shrinks ” despite being “six feet eight”, this individual sees McMurphy to be “twice the size” of him. As he will be shifted out from the contemporary society he understands, he seems to lose all perception of electric power and self-confidence, and recognizes his despression symptoms manifest itself bodily. As with his ‘deafness’, it is only when he regains acceptance in to society ” albeit the counter-culture culture embodied by McMurphy ” that he returns to his normal size. We all also visit a reflection of this in the narrative itself, namely in that although Bromden is definitely the narrator, he does not inform his own story, rather centring on McMurphy’s tale, and which include his individual as practically subsidiary. The simple fact that Bromden is almost a passive eyewitness to his own existence, focusing rather on McMurphy’s, illustrates the powerlessness and loss of id that this individual feels resulting from alienation.

Holden too suffers from loss of personality, or at least doubt. However , despite Bromden, pertaining to whom loss of identity is usually result of hysteria, for Holden we see changing identity to become root cause of his isolation. Much just like Bromden, there is a duality in Holden’s identity. However , in contrast to Bromden, who clearly grows from one identity into the various other (powerless to powerful), both equally sides of Holden’s identity seem to be ever-present, in addition to direct juxtaposition with one another. To get Holden, this kind of duality is definitely between mature and child identity.

It can be this discord in personality that is the foundation of the story, and a primary reason that it is considered the archetypal Bildungsroman in English literature. It truly is even alluded to in the title with the book ” Holden misinterprets the lyrics of a folk music about a sex affair to get “can a body, get a physique, comin’ through the rye” ” an idea which then reoccurs as what Holden wants to always be when he is older, a ‘catcher inside the rye’ ” someone who attracts children prior to they decline a cliff. The high cliff can be seen to represent adulthood, and this Holden really wants to ensure that children (himself included, perhaps) can easily remain young and innocent, with no falling off the “cliff” of adulthood and responsibility. The simple fact that Holden derived this kind of naive and innocent image from a song about sex is usually indicative of the duality in his identity ” simultaneously, Holden wants to end up being immersed in the adult world, as symbolized by his constant emphasis on smoking and drinking, and desire to take action ‘adult’. However , at the same time, he could be clearly uncertain and scared of the mature world, since seen by simply his paying out a prostitute to just talk, as he would not feel comfortable with the idea of sex. It really is, incidentally, interesting that both novels characteristic prostitutes while relatively important characters ” Candy in ‘One Travelled over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and Sunny in ‘Catcher inside the Rye’. As perhaps the many alienated and isolated group of people in contemporary society, the fact which the prostitutes inside the novels will be portrayed as the norm compared to the isolated heroes illustrates the extent that they (the members of the ward and Holden respectively) are socially estranged.

This turmoil between mature and child, and its resultant confusion, exists in the vast majority of Holden’s actions throughout the new. His wonderful interest in the museum, for example , could be viewed to represent his desire to appreciate and compartmentalise the complexity of the world, as with a art gallery. It is eventually this duality that leads both equally to Holden’s alienation great isolation ” he is antiestablishment by the two adult globe that he’s too premature to take part in, plus the childish harmless world that he is known as too aged for. As a result, we see him isolate him self not only by his family but likewise from him self, by becoming a parody of your adult, dealing with the movements of adulthood so as to prevent having to deal with the intricate duality that exists within his figure. In many ways, this can be a absolute opposite to Bromden, the emotional problems that cause Bromden to isolate himself are demonstrated physically ” in his changing size and perception of “the fog” and “the combine”. Alternatively, Holden internalises his challenges to the level that he seems practically oblivious to these people, only starting to express these people by childishly accusing every thing and everyone yet himself as “phony” ” when ironically, it is Holden’s persona that seems to all of us the most fake.

The hugely differing backgrounds of the two isolated heroes ” Holden and Bromden respectively ” should be considered when comparing them. I believe which the backgrounds of both character types, although hugely different, happen to be relevant in examining all their alienation and isolation: Holden’s wealthy upper-middle class white background makes him look like the perfect all-American aspirational number, making his isolation and views on world all the more sarcastic. Holden is without obvious motive to feel distaste pertaining to American society or those within this ” he is very much part of the contemporary society that this individual sees as “phony”. His isolation is all the more stunning considering his everyman position ” he is not the ‘typical’ incomer by any means. In contradistinction, Bromden is a Local American, a well known fact which, while not seen as greatly important, I believe to be critical to the characterization of furor and solitude in the novel. As a subjugated people, properly driven out from their terrain and tradition ” a well known fact seen in the novel ” Native Americans is surely an excellent sign of the alienating effects of society. Furthermore, the bond of Natives to characteristics (a reality is once again seen in Bromden’s recollections of his youth) makes the indifference of the keep even more poignant as Bromden is in opposition from his natural beginnings by the frosty and unnatural world of “the combine”, using its disturbing mechanised parts. The metaphor of the “combine” ” a combine harvester equipment ” can be described as brilliant picture of this, a combine becoming a mechanised gadget that cuts down and bounty the land’s products ” representative both these styles the loss of the Native American people as well as the alienation of Bromden by an emotionless society.

In conclusion, I believe that remote and antiestablishment characters will be effectively used as a statement against mainstream society in ‘One Travelled over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘Catcher inside the Rye’, even as we see the alienating effects of contemporary society and the endeavors of the protagonists to (unsuccessfully, in my opinion) counter these people through solitude. Indeed, the web link between the two concepts is often blurred, and often see one leading to the various other ” as Bromden says, “it was not me that started performing deaf, it was people that 1st started operating like I was too stupid to hear”. However , it really is Bromden’s journey of liberty from the impressive world of the ward that is certainly more optimistic than Holden’s downward spiral of isolation and resultant hysteria. This is not to express that the two books convey a greatly distinct message about the isolated specific, in equally novels we see isolation because an ineffective tool resistant to the inequalities and “phoniness” of society ” it is through fighting the system of indifference that independence is attained by Bromden. Both the books happen to be, in my opinion, just mirrors of each and every other ” Bromden starts as a incapable mental sufferer, and is separated through rebellion, whereas Holden begins by simply rebelling and, we discover at the end, is eventually institutionalised. Although Kesey and Salinger therefore would appear to don’t agree in their demonstration of hysteria and solitude on a large number of fronts, they are really, in my opinion, two sides of the same coin.