One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Blog 1

There is a certain appeal to the fog. A mystical quality to it, that wakes up the curiosity inside us. However, the fog has also a negative connotation, mystery, death, uncertainty. In the novel-One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest- the “fog” is a very present and controversial symbol. What is the “fog’s” meaning in the novel? What is its’ role? The fog is a symbol of the control society places on certain people-liberators, leaders, or other rebellious characters like McMurphy- to prevent them from dragging others out of the fog. The others are in the "fog" because they are scared of reality and use it to hide from the world's cruelty. Ultimately the "fog" is made to dehumanize its inhabitants and turn them into wires and cables and screws of the machine-metaphorically speaking- that is society.

We first here about the “fog” when Chief Bromden is dragged to be shaved by the orderlies, apparently being shaved is something he dreads, due to the mistreatment of the orderlies. In the mist of his panic and rage he sees the “fog”-a hallucination- the room and he passes out for the rest of the shave. Essentially fog is an obstructer of our sight, a veil to cover what is behind it. It symbolizes the control that the hospital-or society- has over its’ inhabitants. How they try to block the visions of the patients and extract from reality. A reality that is frightening and dangerous. So frightening that possibly the patients search for the “fog” and feel safe inside it, because freedom implies risk taking and facing consequences, thus they can find in the “fog” an escape from reality.Later we see how McMurphy is "dragging them (the patients) out of the fog"and how in freedom the patients gain control of their situation even if for a short moment. They defy Miss Ratched and McMurphy manages to vanish the "fog", the effort however goes in vain when the Big Nurse overpowers the patients. The imposer of the “fog” is Miss Ratched, who has neglected her patients’ freedom and reduced their lives to monotonous cycles of mental slavery. McMurphy is there, in the hospital, to free the patients of the “fog”, that is so dense that it has become necessary for the men in the ward, who have lost their individuality and their essence. Becoming mechanical machines- redundant as that may sound- that only function under the whip of the nurse. Who treats them as cogs in the big machinery that is the Combine, removing in them any sense of individuality.

There are several questions this novel tries to present through the symbol of the “fog”: Are people constantly trying to escape reality, finding comfort in negligence? Is the fog self-imposed or is it created by people who want complete control? Is it better to be in the fog, feeling safe, or to be free of mind? These are questions to think about throughout life. But to answer the first question: What is the fog? The fog symbolizes two main things, first an escape from the world’s tearing reality and the prison our mind lives in to avoid facing the abyss. Second the uncertainty and confusion that certain agents apply to remain to acquire control. Fog is a essentially a gas that blocks our vision and distorts reality, either because we ourselves don't want to see the reality or because other people want to hide the world outside the fog, we are trapped in it and often need characters like McMurphy to free us from it.