One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has me befuddled

-Spoilers, because of course there is. I want to talk about the book.

- Let me begin by saying I absolutely loved the book (and the movie, for that matter). I'm wrestling with how I feel about the lessons of the book, like a dude talkin' in the corner by himself. There is a ton going on here. We have the dominant femme, who is supposed to be our antagonist, against an alpha male who is an anti-hero of sorts. We have an asylum full of emasculated men, supposedly caught in the web of the evil Nurse Ratched (Ratchet, amirite?). We have hints of sexual frustrations from our characters throughout the book. We have blatant racism against the evil black henchmen of the Nurse, and xenophobic scenes againtst Native Americans....phew! I feel kinda dirty for liking this book in a way.

-I liked the character of McMurphy, and at times found myself rooting for him, I am just struggling to understand why. He goes from zero to douche bag pretty quickly, doesn't respect any of the asylum workers, obviously has rage and rapey issues, bullies the other folks... I don't know. I'm at a loss. Hard to root for that guy. It's probably because I kept picturing a young Jack Nicholson as McMurphy. Young Jack Nicholson was the TITS.

- Similar to how we are supposed to like Randall McMurphy, we are also supposed to hate Nurse Ratched. But I can't reason out what she does to deserve the hate, really, besides the final lobotomy after she was nearly killed. Oh, again, Spoiler Alert, btw. She is someone who thrives off control and manipulation, like an asylum dictator. But when she is in control, the patients are mostly at peace and happy. She hires other ethnicities and races- black and Japanese. She is mostly professional. She tolerated McMurphy, and allowed him and the boys to do activities even outside of the asylum. She understood some of the men better than they understood themselves. As a man, am I supposed to hate her for being a woman in power? Genuinely trying to figure out where the dislike is coming from. She is manipulative psychologically, and these men are easier to manipulate. But, many of them are also here voluntarily. Some want to be controlled. How is that the Nurse's fault? Sigh. I'm stumped. It's mind-bottling.

- Big Chief Bromden was a guy I could get behind. He had legitimate trauma, legitimate grievances, and I was happy he made it out. Though, I also think he had legitimate psychological issues, with his Jacobs Ladder-y hallucinations. Harding wasn't really likeable or annoying. He was just sort of there and subtly weird, like a cleft palate. The 3 black dudes were unlikeable, because at times it seemed they took pleasure in the miseries of the patients. Epileptic George was neat, and I guess he gave ol' Sandy a doozy of a time if I'm reading that right.

- Ken Kesey wrote OFOTCN in 1962, so maybe the time period has my perspective off. Mental health was still trying to be worked out. It wasn't so long ago lobotomies and shock therapies were being administrated. Many folks who just didn't fit the mold of society were wrongfully given these experimental procedures. That strain is totally felt here. Also, women in the mid-1900's America were still struggling to fairly compete in the work force (and likely still are today, I do not mean to say they aren't anymore). Attitudes towards black folks and American Indians were different than they are today. I'd be interested in the perspective of someone who read this fresh in the '60's.

-Great book. Great movie. Jack Nicholson at his best.

-Juicy Fruit is the fucking worst.