Author's Craft: Analogies & Metaphors

Author, Ken Kesey, uses a plethora of analogies and metaphors throughout the text. Personally, I think this aspect of his author's craft is very effective to the reader. It allows the reader to understand certain situations within the ward through a different perspective or get a deeper meaning from the text.

One of the important, frequent occuring metaphors is the ward being a machine. From the perspective of Bromden, the reader gets the idea that the ward runs orderly like a machine would, and that the machine is operated by the ever so lovely, Ms. Ratched. Bromden even compares Ms. Ratched to that of a machine early on in the novel, "She blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the macinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load" (Kesey 5).

An analogy that McMurphy addresses is the "pecking party". After the patients in the ward have their "therapy session", McMurphy feels like they've just torn apart poor Harding. He noticed that Ms. Ratched was the instigator of everyone's word vomit against Harding. McMurphy describes the situation as a pecking party to Harding, "The flock gets a sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go to peckin' at it" (Kesey 57). McMurphy is attempting to explain that Ms. Ratched is the one who creates that first spot of blood and then all the other patients chime in, destroying not only Ms. Ratched's chosen victim, but also themselves and the group as a whole.

There are many more metaphors and analogies in this novel, but these two stood out most to me while reading. Kesey's use of metaphors and analogies challenges me to read between the lines and pay close attention to the novel.

Lena Peak