INSANITY - One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest

BASED ON ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST - There is a major controversy surrounding the psychological world based on the question of insanity versus sanity. If you would look for the word insanity in the dictionary, all you are going to find is a simple definition like “state of being mentally ill”, yet the idea is more complex than this description. Some argue that insanity is a psychological disease and that sanity is being normal, while others claim that being insane is the possession of another perspective toward the world, not accepted by society. This is one of the major themes in Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in which the author generates a battle between these two concepts. Who does determine if someone is crazy or not? It is an immense duty to decide that a chosen person is not responsible for his or her actions based on his or her behavior and view of the world. Sanity, in this scenario, would be to be in control of ones actions and to contain the sense of liability on ones choices. If this is the case, those who are unusual and choose differently might be considered insane and/or mentally ill and are committed against their will because they are not responsible for themselves. For instance, McMurphy is considered to be crazy because of his aggressive conduct and personality, however he is the one that chose to go to the asylum. The general definition of sanity and insanity is a postulated idea in which many believe, but others are not satisfied by it. Those who aren’t pleased with this general suggestion tend to believe that insanity is a sense of individuality. This means that for some people someone might be crazy, but for others that someone isn’t. For example, when Einstein came up with the theory of special relativity, most thought he was crazy and out of his mind, but others believed in him and he ended proving the concept to be correct. In the novel, Chief Bromden lives in his own world, apart from society, where fog machines hidden in vents let him flee and hide from reality. This doesn’t mean that he is crazy, but only that his escape is hallucination instead of a vacation to the beach. Many books have as theme the question of insanity. Paulo Coelho emphasizes this matter in his breathtaking novel Veronika Decides to Die. In the book, a twenty-four-year-old woman tries to take away her life but to her surprise she wakes up in a mental hospital, Villete, in which she lives face to face to the reality of insanity. According to the book, many patients choose to be insane as an escape from society. The protective walls of Vilette are liberating to its patients, allowing them to explore their "madness" without criticism or harm. For instance, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Harding is a homosexual that chooses to be in the asylum as an escape of his “shameful” sexuality. Just like Billy Bibbit, who also chooses to be manipulated and controlled by the staff so he doesn’t have to face the judgment and cruelty of society. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” said Albert Einstein, which proves that every single person has their own point of view on the matter. My own personal opinion is that everybody is insane in their own way. Every human being has a mania or obsession; mine, for example, is that everything I do must be perfect. While others think this trait proves my insanity, others agree with me. Nevertheless, I think that sanity and insanity are relative terms. Still, there is a difference between being insane and being mentally ill. Mentally ill, from my point of view, is when a person causes harm to someone else. Those people need to be committed, but other than that, someone who dreams with an imaginary fog doesn’t harm anybody. “Sanity is very rare: every man almost, and every woman, has a dash of madness”, said Ralph Waldo Emerson, which means that nobody can decide upon this issue. From Kesey to Coelho to Einstein, everybody has their own point of view, and even these people were thought to be crazy at one point of their lives. As long as nobody bothers anyone, everybody has the right to leave in their own world, and that’s my saying.