In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, it is apparent that Kesey begins to explore social issues such as individuality and conformity as these themes seem to run ramped throughout the novel. In the novel, he personifies the institution itself as means of portraying ones needs to conform to society. .
Kesey uses symbols in his novel to show the different elements of the real world as partly represented by the asylum. This setting is a key element in establishing the idea that a majority of this conformity which it imposes on the inhabitants is due to abuse "manifested both mentally and physically. However, most of the suppression is seemingly aimed through trapping and caging individuality. Both the impedance of individuality and herding it so all us may be similar are found in our present society. Inside the "combine-, the patients must adhere to a strict regiment or they will be dealt with in an overpowering and almost crude meaner through their internment and isolated confinement. Moreover, the patients are not given the opportunity to express themselves or to make their own decisions in any way without the aforementioned occurring. This type of conformity is paralleled only in our society where we are encouraged to look, walk, and talk the same "like sheep; like machines. However, punishment is expected if ]we decide to step out of this rigid mold. Most would assume that we are associated with a free and unimposing society, yet in actuality, we are exactly the opposite: caged. .
These facts further perpetuates why McMurphy is a threatening individual who rebels against the structure imposed upon the "combine-. The other patients have become robots due to the repetitiveness of their daily lives. Unlike the rest, McMurphy is not manufactured as if off some assembly line; he challenges the rules by going against the system. As the story continues, he eventually leads the others "who were initially too weak to speak, think, and act on their own freewill "to escape from their oppression.