People always say, “Laughter is the best medicine,” and Ken Kesey shows this through
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest perfectly because before McMurphy came to the ward no one dared laugh for reasons not relieved until later on in the book. For laughter is a sign of freedom in a confined world. When they hear McMurphy laugh for the first time they’re all shocked, “It’s not the way a Public Relation laughs, its free and loud and it comes out bigger and bigger till its lapping against the walls all over the ward. Not like that fat Public Relation laugh. This sounds real. I realize all of a sudden it’s the first laugh I’ve heard in years.” (12) This contributes to the significance of the work as a whole because it shows McMurphy’s rebellion right from the start.
Patients respond with warmth as they suddenly realize they’ve been dead all these years, lulled into a false sense of security by allowing others to control their every waking moment. Ken Kesey shows laughter as a sign of freedom and well-being. Laughter is a vital role in helping the patients get well again and out of the ward, laughing keeps them sane. Chief
Bromden points out how uneasy McMurphy’s laughing was making everybody, showing how laughter actually scares them and how from reality they actually are. “The Actute look spooked and uneasy when he laughs, the way kids look in a schoolroom when one ornery kid is raising too much hell with the teacher out of the room and they’re all