Group Therapy: The Kesey Method

I've been reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Granted, I'm not very far along in the story (only pg. 51 as of this afternoon) but I'm having a bit of an issue: I don't find any of "Big Chief's" theories that nutty. In fact, I think he just about right. Conformity is the currency of society? Yes. Assimilated members of said society will fight to preserve it? With you so far. Those poor souls who either refuse to confirm or are undesirable will be destroyed or marginalized? Obviously.

I'm sure that's largely the point: all the supposedly insane patients are the real people and everyone "outside" is a faceless, consuming automaton. Is this not a universal truth of the modern world? Am I insane? Probably not (at least not in any interesting or harmful way). This is such a blatant fact I don't believe this point even requires much discussion or explanation.

I am unfortunately reading this novel several decades after its publication and I think a bit of it's punch is lost in the passage of time. It's a bit like reading Orwell's 1984 after 1980. I read it in 2000. While a good book and terrifying concept it's not quite the same as reading it in 1947, I'm sure. In a Cold-War America I imagine questioning the very purpose and fabric of our society was quite riotous. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is now on high school summer reading lists. Not exactly risque.

Interestingly enough, I think that this book does have a fair point and should be read by those unsuspecting teenagers. For God's sake, "individualism" is mass-marketed by corporations. Coca Cola's slogan is "Open Happiness." Really? What the hell does that even mean? Need we continue? I'm sure I'll have more on this as I dig into it a bit more.