Oppression in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou :: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Oppression in One Flew Over the Cuckoos nestle and I Know Why the Caged annulus Sings by Maya AngelouIn the process of compiling the literary works I intended to include in this project, I began to notice a common twine that connected the works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry that I generally choose to read. That common tie that binds these books together is that they all seem to center, in one form or another, around the theme of oppression. Perhaps this is because I have some deep psychological need to diffuse the power struggles I experience within myself by gleaning insight from the pages of someone elses experience. Or, perhaps it is merely because I have a predisposition to root for the underdog. Regardless of the reason, be it simple or complex, almost everything I read seems to engage a David and Goliath scenario.Take for example, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey. There is no doubt in my mind that the mental institution that comprises the primary setting of the narrative is intended as a metaphor of societal oppression. This symbolic overbold relays the story of an inmate standing up against the powerful forces that operate a psychiatric hospital, but it represents much more than just a classic event of man versus the establishment. The questions raised by Kesey are almost as chilling as his descriptive tales of inmate abuse. Kesey compelled me to ponder just how thin the bankers bill is that separates insanity from sanity, and treatment from control. Representing a heroic struggle of personality against an institution of mindless conformity, I found One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest to be one powerful piece of literature.Similarly, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, which I first read the summer after I graduated high school, is a tale of oppression that translates into a deeply moving novel chronicling the ups and downs of a black family in the 1930s and 1940s. A unnumbered of historical and social issues are addressed , including race relations in the pre-civil rights south, segregated schools, sexual abuse, patriotism and religion. Autobiographical in nature, this tumultuous story centers around oxeye daisy Johnson, affectionately called Maya, and her coast-to-coast life experiences. From the simple, backwards town of Stamps, Arkansas to the high-energy city life of San Francisco and St. Louis, Maya is assaulted by prejudice in almost every nook and snap of society, until she finally learns to overcome her insecurities and be proud of who she is.