"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"- The book vs. the movie.

Essay by clancyk1High School, 11th gradeA, November 2003

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Many films and film makers are criticized when attempting to create a film from a novel because they lack the ability to capture the audience and give a real meaning to the story. Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the movie, directed by Milos Forman, both provide excellent, yet different portrayals of the general plot and themes of the story. However, the feelings, moods, and overall depictions of the story presented in the novel differ greatly from those in the movie. Three main significant differences are present when contrasting the novel and the movie including the perspective of which the story is told, the development and actions of the characters, and the differences in events.

The first major difference between the novel and the movie is that the story is narrated in the novel by Chief Bromden, but is looked upon from an omniscient point of view in the film.

After watching the movie, one notices that Chief Bromden does not play a largely important role in the advancement of the plot until the final minutes of the film. The opposite is found when reading the novel. His thoughts and explanations largely affect the way in which the audience sees the events and is given information. In the novel, much like the movie, Bromden is a very large, half-Indian, man, who pretends to be deaf and dumb. Bromden portrays a unique quality of being "invisible". Since everyone believes him to be dumb and deaf, he can hear and understand everything that is going on around him, which makes him a very good narrator. Novels allow the author to be able to use symbolic themes and hidden imagery much more effectively than in movies. In the novel, Bromden finds himself hallucinating often, visualizing a "fog" being...