George Orwells 1984 and Ken Keseys One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest are two excellent and closely related novels. Set in two very different times, these two novels are essentially about the rebellious fighting spirit of individuals. Authority in 1984 is depicted in the form of the Party, which rules over Oceania. In One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, Nurse Ratched and her staff are the authority figures. 1984s protagonist, Winston Smith, fights against the Party, and McMurphy fights Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest. These two men have several character similarities. The Party and its leader Big Brother play the role of authority in 1984. The Party is always watching the citizens of the Republic of Oceania. This is exemplified in the fact that the government has telescreens through which they can watch you wherever you are set up almost everywhere. Even in the countryside where there are no telescreens, the Party can monitor its citizens through hidden microphones disguised as flowers. The Thought Police are capable of spying on your thoughts at anytime, and can arrest or even kill you on a whim. Not only does the Thought Police find and hunt down felons, but it also scares others into being good citizens. The Party strives to eliminate more and more words from peoples vocabularies. Thus, the Party can destroy any possibilities of revolutions and conspiracies against itself. Its ultimate goal is to reduce the language to only one word, eliminating thought of any kind. The Party makes people believe that it is good and right in its actions through the Ministry of Truth and through the slogans printed on the Ministry of Truth: WAR IS PEACE; SLAVERY IS FREEDOM; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. The Party in 1984 plays an evil authoritarian role.In One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, Nurse Ratched, known as the Big Nurse throughout the psychiatric ward, is the authority figure. Unlike the Thought Police in 1984, the Big Nurse...
