The present paper sets out to examine the applicability of paranoia and its
ensuing effects on individuals in Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
(Penguin Group, New York, 1962) so as to observe how authorities in a given culture
impose controls on mavericks so as to forestall possible threats. Paranoia in the abovementioned
work, is argued, engenders a perennial phobia within the inflicted, which
brings about an identity crisis exerting influence over their temperament and conduct.
Indeed, Kesey’s work perfectly exemplifies the sort of treatment undergone by those
suffering from mental illness and the way they are mistreated. The protagonist,
McMurphy, being cognizant of the way authorities enforce stringent regulations on
their subjects, seeks to exhort those confined in the hospital to extricate themselves
from their pathetic and deplorable condition, disabusing them of the wrong notions
instilled into them.

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• Paranoia and its ensuing effects in Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest