Beyond The Cuckoo’s Nest: Analyzing Authoritarian Dynamics in Ken Kesey’s Book “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” and The Contemporary World Of Managers

In the maze that is the modern workplace, where the echoes of the proverbial “rat race” reverberate through the corridors of a corporatized society, the compliance demanded by authority finds its counterpart in the soulful yet automatic refrain, “Good Morning, Miss. Rat-ched” as aptly stated by McMurphy on page 86 of Ken Kesey’s book One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. This adjustment in address where “Ratched” is innocuously muddled down to “Rat-ched,” echos a rebellious but subtle confrontation that binds the autocratic nature McMurphy is portrayed to inhabit in this novel. It also echoes what modern workers have been calling the “Rat race” which is a term used in reference to the relentless, competitive, exhausting, and oftentimes monotonous pursuit of inevitable self-defeat encapsulated within the corporate ladder. In response to McMurphy’s greeting and question, “How’s things on the outside?’ Miss Ratched responds “You can’t run around here in a towel!” A response that serves as an immediate reminder of the power structures previously established. The life of Miss Ratched outside the hospital is no business to McMurphy not because it is simply irrelevant but because McMurphy simply has no place in society. Apparently to Miss Ratched’s account that is plainly evident in the fact McMurphy parades himself around the commons in a towel. Such a man in Nurse Ratched’s eye is incapable of understanding what it is like to be normal that is why she feels compelled to get these men to conform. It is her job after all.

Ironically McMurphy’s elegantly poised derogatory remix of Nurse Ratched’s name was supposed to signify Nurse Ratched, much like the patients and staff of this ward painted in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is indeed a rat. If we are to believe it is the nurse’s managerial duty to help the hospital better remold these men back into society we must be open to the idea that the nurse and other staff members alike are to effectively be the only representatives of the “outside” and the values and structures the “outside” would have reflected to the average reader at the time. But through Nurse Ratched’s actions and the sacrifice of oneself, (being everyone else in the ward) we see how the guiding autocratic structures of the outside world creep their way into the hospital.

Autocratic structures have been in place within our society for quite some time now even during the 50s when this book takes place. Parallels can be drawn from the examples of condensation, passive aggressiveness, and conformity throughout the novel. “Don’t you think we’d better climb back into our nice toasty bed?” says Nurse Ratched to Chief Bromden pg. 143, a man perceived in the hospital to be deaf. What is particularly scary about this first example is the fact Nurse Ratched knows Chief is deaf yet she carries on with her language and the usage of words like “we”, “you”, and “our” which all insinuates the illusion of choice. It blunts the sharp edges of authoritarian demands making them look more collaborative and self-serving. The reality, as we see immediately after, is that Bromden chooses that he does not want to go to bed but still, the Nurse aggressively sets her staff on Bromden and they proceed to lock him down to his bed. Bromden is then left in his bed locked up forced to cope with the reality in front of him pg.144 “she figures it’s on account of working evenings among a whole ward full of people like me. It’s all our fault, and she’s going to get us for it if it’s the last thing she does. I wish McMurphy’d wake up and help me.”

Through Nurse Ratched and her managerial stylings comes forth an admission of guilt. Nurse Ratched has her sights set on strict conformity and submission, in Nurse Ratched’s eyes the correlation between a patient’s inability to adhere to her exact instructions and misbehavior and the subsequent punishments dealt out to the patients as a result of that are entirely justified. “You men are in this hospital because of your proven inability to adjust to society.” pg. 144 As a result of this thinking inspired by beliefs fostered within the outside world any opinion or right proposed by these patients is completely invalid as she is sure, using failure to adhere as a soul justifier that the patients are incapable of knowing what is truly best for not only the hospital and overall community but also themselves. That is why I felt it was imperative Ken Kesey introduce a personality like McMurphy to the ward.

McMurphy is a con man, con men don’t like to be conned, and because of that he is particularly good at seeing through the various masks the inhabitants of the ward seem to hide behind, from uncovering Bromden’s lie of deafness to cheating the patients out of their cigarettes. But a man with such an intuition is a dangerous thing for any structure grounded in conformity. He initially detests the adherence to the culture Nurse Ratched was trying to pose within the ward. Eventually, after time it has become overwhelmingly apparent to Nurse Ratched that McMurphy’s failure to adhere would become the ward’s greatest perceived threat. This only begins to affect McMurphy when he finally realizes Nurse Ratched has the ability to extend his sentence at the ward indefinitely if she so desires “You got to swallow your pride sometimes and keep an eye out for old Number One.” pg. 165 McMurphy vehemently exclaims after ditching his original plans of antagonizing Nurse Ratched as a result of this newly acquired piece of knowledge. This instance of submission is telling of the true pressures such a hierarchical framework can have on even the strongest of personalities. It is also the first instance in the book that I began to feel a sense of helplessness, that there is no escape for these men, and that ultimately the fate of these men’s lives will forever be in accordance with the merits of their “caretakers”.

In conclusion, the dichotomy between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy is stark, and that is for a great reason. Pitting these two characters together serves as a fantastic lens into the relationship between the managed and the managers within contemporary society. It puts on display in some of the most extreme of ways the authority we grant professionals and managers in our lives. Nurse Ratched and the significance of the “outside” and how McMurphy so innocently assumed that meant anything exposes the overlap between the scenes and attitudes depicted within this novel and how they may reflect the manifestations of our current reality. In doing this Ken Kesey demands the reader to reflect on the relationships they may have with authority and hierarchy in their day-to-day lives, just as he did when preparing this novel.

Randle McMurphy is always trying to change something, if it’s the way we are or some rule he doesn’t like. This week during the meeting he decided that it’s unfair that he can’t watch the World Series on Friday because of the schedule we have for TV time. He had been wanting to do this for a while and even a few days before he tried to compromise with Nurse Ratched about the schedule so he could watch the World Series in the afternoon. This didn’t change her mind and in the end, she said no. This didn’t surprise him and he moved on to the others.

He moves on to us and asks what we think about this idea (103) “Nobody says a thing”. We don’t want to answer but he continues trying to get us to. We try to ignore it and (104) “Nobody acts like they’ve heard it ”, I want him to move on and leave me alone. But he continues and Scanlon responds with what he thinks and he thinks the schedule should stay the same because he likes watching the news at six o’clock. He continued to ask for a vote and the only ones to raise their hand was Cheswick. I sat there looking around if there was anyone else who raised their hand in support of Randle. No one else does and we sit there looking back and forth at each other.

Randle looks upset and says (104) “Come on now, what is this crap”. He looks towards the doctor to confirm that we can vote to change the rules of the ward and he nods in agreement. I know and everyone else knows they can vote but just don’t want to. We don’t want to know what happens when we vote against the ward. He asks again if we want to watch the series and Cheswick and Scanlon raise their hands. I don’t know why. They should know what happens when we go against the ward. But why doesn’t McMurphy get punished even after breaking all these rules? The meeting still hasn’t started and Nurse Ratched is asking if we could get back onto the meeting. I would also like to get back to the meeting since I’m annoyed with Randle trying to get the rules changed but I shouldn’t say anything now.

We get back to the meeting and Chewick gives us a hard look as he sits down next to McMurphy looking proud and the meeting starts. The meeting goes on and Randle says nothing to any of us because of how mad he is. But I finally have the opportunity to say what I want to him. I walk up to him and say “Some of us have b-been here for fi-fi-five years, Randle”. I’m twisting the magazine that’s in my hands back and forth as I’m talking to him. (104) “And some of us will b-be here maybe th-that muh-much longer, long after you’re g-g-gone, long after this Wo-world Series is over. And… don’t you see…”. As I’m talking to him I’m realizing he probably won’t listen to me or anyone else who says anything to him, he only thinks about himself and probably isn’t even listening to me. At this point, I don’t feel like talking to him anymore so I just throw down the magazine and walk away saying, “Oh what’s the use of it anyway”. I can’t tell him what he doesn’t know or what it is like to be here because he will never understand.

He continues to ask the other guys why they didn’t vote and argues with them but none of them talk to him and he gives up. They don’t want to get in trouble and stay quiet and let Randle do his own thing without dragging them into it. He got mad at us and called us out for being (103) “too cagey-too chicken-shit”. But I do not want to deal with him.

For this perspective, I decided to go with Billy in the scene where they have the meeting and McMurphy asks for the people to vote and have the TV time changed for the World Series. I chose Billy for the fact that he acts timid most of the time and doesn’t speak much and I thought it would be interesting to see what he was thinking. I called McMurphy in this perspective since it’s Bromden and the Nurse who calls him McMurphy I also felt like this scene impacted Billy the most since after the meeting he went on to talk to McMurphy head-on about how he feels. So to get his thoughts and already introduced dialogue would make this scene even more interesting.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has provided me with interesting insights about the importance and also the potential consequences of challenging authority. Throughout the book, McMurphy is seen as a rebellious con man, who is trying to disrupt the natural order of the ward for his own gain. While this might be true, McMurphy’s actions have also had a real positive effect on the ward. An example of this is when Bromden says, “In the group meetings there were gripes coming up that had been buried so long the thing being griped about had already changed. Now that McMurphy was around to back them up, the guys started letting fly at everything that had ever happened on the ward they didn’t like.” (144) While the patients’ sudden desire to address their issues with the ward could be interpreted as just annoying or a problem, I see it as a great thing. The ward is where the patients spend their lives and they have a right to make it as enjoyable a space as possible within reason. To me this shows the positive impact that one person’s challenges on authority can have for a group of people.

This idea of one person’s challenges on authority inspiring a group of people has a personal connection to me because of my job. The restaurant I work at has many issues, many of which are in some way affected by management. For example there are regularly too many people scheduled for each shift, and because the employees share tips, this means that no one makes as much money as they could and should. Whenever issues like this are brought up with our manager she often gets angry and tries to change the subject to things staff members should be doing differently or says that the way things are is how our owner wants them and is out of her control. Whether or not this is true, she clearly does not make any serious attempts to improve our situation. She is also generally disliked by the staff and yells at employees over minor things, disappears to her office while the restaurant is open and servers need her help and much like the big nurse, she acts as though any valid complaints from employees are personal attacks and gets angry. While some people are occasionally willing to bring up complaints to her, we generally feel forced to simply tolerate the issues with the restaurant. McMurphy’s actions in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” have made me think about what really standing up to her might do. If one person voiced their opinion it could inspire others to do the same and put pressure on our manager to make changes.

While One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest shows the potential positive impact of standing up to an authoritative figure, it also provides a warning about the potential consequences. After creating a stir in the ward, McMurphy seems to realize that the Big Nurse’s position of power allows her to do some serious harm to him. Bromden explains this to the reader and says, “They can understand as well as I can that the only way he’s (McMurphy’s) going to get the Big Nurse to lift his commitment is by acting like she wants.” (150) In the same way that the Big Nurse has the power to extend someone’s commitment, my manager at work has the power to fire people. Being fired from a restaurant may not be as serious as extended confinement in a mental hospital, but it is obviously something to consider, especially for those who are adults living off of the money they earn at my restaurant.

These similarities to the situation at my job have made me think more about our relationship with our manager. While I can’t say that One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest will be the reason that I start arguing for change at my job, especially being the non confrontational person I am, I do think it is interesting to consider the potential outcomes of speaking up. The book also emphasizes for me just how little power those under the influence of an authoritative figure are. Like the patients in the ward, the degree to which some sort of real movement for change could succeed relies almost entirely on how far our manager would allow it to go. Just as the Big Nurse can send anyone to the Disturbed ward or extend someone’s commitment, our manager can fire as many people as she wants and still find replacements in the high turnover restaurant industry. The similarities between the situation at my restaurant and the ward in One Flew Over the Cukoos’ Nest have given me a new perspective on challenging authority in that sort of environment.

My artwork is showing the scene from pages 141-143. Bromden wakes up not seeing any of his hallucinations for the first time in a long while. As he looks around, he states, “A window was up, and the air in the dorm was clear and had a taste to it made me feel kind of giddy and drunk, gave me this sudden yen to get up out of bed and do something.” Bromden had never been able to get a good look at the outside. He looks out the window and “saw for the first time how the hospital was out in the country.” Bromden takes in as many details of the outside as he can, most of which I portrayed in my artwork(141).

The first thing Bromden noticed was the moon low in the sky over the pastureland. He talks about the moon, saying that “the face of it was scarred and cuffed where it had just torn up out of the snarl of scrub oak and madrone trees on the horizon.”(141) Because of that, I made sure to include lots of trees in the horizon that were tall enough to cover parts of the moon.

Bromden then notes that the stars in the sky were pale next to the moon, but ”they got brighter and braver the farther they got out of the circle of light ruled by the giant moon.”(142) In my artwork, I made the stars closest to the moon barely noticeable and get brighter when they were away from it.

Later on, Bromden notices the geese flying in the sky. He mentions a lead goose, which for a moment “was right in the center of that circle, bigger than the others, a black cross opening and closing”(143). Keeping that in mind, I drew a goose in the shape of a black cross in the middle of the moon, making the other geese behind it a lighter color, making sure the attention was on the goose in the middle.

With all these details, the most important one that I included is the window screen mesh. The mesh serves the purpose of reminding the viewer that Bromden is still stuck inside the hospital, unable to get any closer to the trees or look up at the sky.

This scene is significant to the story as it’s the only moment in the book so far where Bromden’s head clears up, and his vision is not affected by fog. For once in a long time, he’s not being tormented by his hallucinations. Bromden looks out into the world he hasn’t been out into in years. The scene sparks happy memories into his brain, reminding him of calmer times with his family, looking up at the sky. This moment of clarity can result in grounding Bromden in reality once more, or it can act as a small taste of freedom, pushing him to want to escape the terrors of the hospital and go out into the world once again.

The greatest mandatory structure for someone my age is school. It is a compulsory activity, meaning “required by or as if by law” according to Merriam-Webster. Meaning, I don’t have a choice. Technically I could stay home, not go, but then there would be consequences. And if I go I technically don’t have to do my work. But if I didn’t there would be consequences too. So, by extension, this assignment is a mandatory structure of my life. If I didn’t do it, and then didn’t do the next one, or the one after that, two things would occur: 1) I would acquire a bad grade, and 2) I would not be challenging my mind and learning new material to broaden my perspectives on life. Personally, the latter is more important to me. But the former is what really matters to society. If I don’t get good grades, my chances of getting into a good college drop, and while not mandatory, college is yet another structure set up to unlock for those lucky enough, abundant resources and prescribed slots in the economy. My education also allows me to have the tools that let me understand this very system which I can then critique. And the more I understand it, the more thoroughly opposed I am to being “mold[ed]… into a slot” (46). My best option is to become educated and learn the best ways to evade the mandatory structures as well as I can. So yes, I do the assignment, even though I do not want to.

My distaste grows for the system as I learn about the complete normalcy of corporate America, the gross disease of constant consumerism, and the mainstream thought that plagues our ability to change. In a world of insane people, everyone can call themselves sane. And those self diagnosed sane people write the rules of society, and “society is what decides who’s sane and who isn’t” (44). In the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest there is a rigidity that is impossible to break from. But McMurphy uses laughter as a jolt to wake those deep in the trenches of their constricted normalcy. His laughter is like my somewhat educated grab for something different than business as usual. It is hope. When he first arrives at the ward, he laughs and “it’s free and loud and it comes out of his wide grinning mouth and spreads in rings bigger and bigger till it’s lapping against the walls all over the ward…I [Bromden] realize all of a sudden it’s the first laugh I’ve heard in years” (10). It is easy to get stuck in a rhythm, and hard to break from it. The nurses and staff at the ward have implemented strict schedules and rules about when the patients can eat, watch television, and play games. This kind of structure is exactly what McMurphy is trying to get the patients to believe they can do without. He is trying to revive them with laughter. During a group meeting, McMurphy loudly whispers a joke to Cheswick and then “leaned back in his chair and laughed so hard that nobody else could say anything for nearly a minute” (145). What he is achieving is disruption, which, for anyone who’s learned about direct action, is a main goal of protests. “If we don’t get it? Shut it down!” goes a popular chant heard at climate strikes and protests. When people walk en masse down a street, or stand with their arms chain-linked through each others’ in front of a building entrance, or a frequently traveled road, they are disrupting business as usual. They are stopping the incessant flow of mindless traffic, and insisting that people take a second to hear a specific message. McMurphy is protesting, and he “was getting a lot of kick out of all the ruckus he was raising” (145).

But, as the sad moral of this story goes, he too gets beat by the system. The Man, capital M. By page 159, he “don’t crack a smile.”

My artwork was about the gambling McMurphy had done and what it meant for the people there. In the artwork, there are a few different items that I felt had some sort of representation or a direct meaning in what would happen in their own life.

The first thing that I tried to do was make sure it looked like you were the one sitting at the table as if you were a person in the ward who was falling to McMurphy’s pressure and losing your money. We see this in the quote “My name’s McMurphy and I’m a gambling fool…I lace my money down “. This shows just how much his identity revolved around gambling and conning people out of their own money.

One of the other key parts of the book that I tried to fit in was the items on the table and how much they meant to all of the people inside the ward. The cigarettes themselves were based on how McMurphy after getting all of their own money would go into them gambling their cigarettes then after winning them all he would get their “IOUs’ ‘. There is also the whole pack on the table to the right then fewer and fewer cigarettes as you go farther to the left showing just how much the group at the table was being taken advantage of from having full packs to nothing at the end. The cards themselves are in pairs just as a traditional hand of blackjack would be if you did not gain another card. There are also no purposeful face cards to show how much he “cheated them out of their money. They were all friendly with him as they paid their bets” The coinage on the table is very spare and is also a way to portray just how much he is taking advantage of his scenario and how that is leading him into contention with the big nurse.

The lighting that I used was supposed to show that McMurphy was helping people out of the fog. You can see that on the dice and how there is one portion of the dice that is shining through and the rest is just as damp as the surrounding areas. This also shows how much of an issue that can become. This is why the right source is showing on the dice a symbol used for gambling and luck opposed to something more normal like a bulb or an ordinary object.

In conclusion, the reason that I made my art was to show just how diverse of a cast McMurphy’s act of gambling can be on the people of the ward. It shows that even if he is doing something that some people can see as a more positive thing like bringing people out of the “fog” it still leaves huge unanswered questions and issues with the morality of what he is doing and how he will accomplish it. The means may not be the way to the end with McMurphy and Chief.

For my Capstone, I’m working with my grandfather, or Zayda as I call him, to transcribe his memoir, which he began writing when I was born. There are over 100 handwritten pages, none of which have been read by anyone but us. This project has not only strengthen my relationship with him, but taught me things I never would have known about my family.

When we started reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the connections between my grandfather’s stories and the book were immediate. He began his residency in the early 70s, about a decade after the novel came out. He recalls the intensity of the locked unit with adult patients and the “biological revolution in psychiatry,” as he put it. Sometimes the things he tells me are surprising, like that he entered psychiatry when these breakthroughs about depression being caused by your brain. Just in his lifetime, he has seen a complete transformation in how mental illness is diagnosed and how those who suffer from it are treated.

Very early in the book, we see that the Big Nurse (and aides and doctor) have considerably more power than the patients. The Big Nurse controls everything on the floor, including the medications and who goes to the Disturbed ward. Her obsession with routine has created a hostile environment. I often find myself comparing my grandfather to the Big Nurse (even though he didn’t have that kind of jurisdiction during the time I mentioned) when she seems particularly cruel. “The length of the time he spends in this hospital is entirely up to us,” (137). There appears to be little resentment or hesitation from the ward’s professionals, which seems absurd today. They had complete control over these people, and from what we can see, they weren’t cared for in the way they should have been. Knowing my grandfather was one of the individuals in the ward who had authority, I often get fearful, perhaps irrationally, that he may have participated in the unfair treatment of patients.

My grandfather and I have spent hours talking about the transformation my grandfather witnessed in psychiatry. Things that seem so obvious now were groundbreaking at the time. “The idea that serious mental illnesses were disorders of the brain, with genetic and neurochemical determinants, was emerging,” he says about his residency. Empathy and understanding, which had been lacking, as we can see in the book, were appearing regarding those who have severe mental illness. The knowledge of mental illness has changed considerably in the past 50 years, so what we know as usual treatment is entirely different than what Kesey and my grandfather did. “They’ve learned a lot since then,” (111) Bromden says, comparing his current placement to the “old hospital.” Somehow, he is making the ward we know well sound like a privilege. The two moments I’m discussing are almost ten years apart, so there has been progress, but it still seems insufficient. We know that at the time of the book, they are still performing lobotomies and using harmful (and not scientifically proven) ways to “fix” the patients. While reading, it often makes me think that no matter how progressive we feel at a certain point, in the future, we will look back and be shocked at how far behind we were.

For the second year of his residency, he was placed into an adolescent unit, which he says was philosophically different. [It] was organized as a therapeutic community, each day began with a morning meeting in which the previous 24 hours events in the life of the community and its members— the 24 patients and the staff could be discussed, confronted, explored, validated, and processed.” I remember hearing him say this and me typing it and thinking, “Huh, that doesn’t sound so bad,” then I read the group therapy from Bromden’s eyes, and my perspective changed. Group therapy is when they are drugged the most, as a way to subdue their personalities and allow Nurse Ratched to be in complete control. I know the book has some magical realism, yet I cannot stop asking, “What was it like for the patients where Zayda worked?”. I can only hear what it was like from his perspective, but the novel has forced me to consider what it felt like to be the patients he was working with, many of whom weren’t there by choice, and there were often patients who attempted to run away (just like McMurphy). I think this shift in perspective is invaluable since it allows me to empathize more with the people in the book and his memoir.

Reading “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood has been an awakening journey. Page 162, in particular, left an indelible mark on my thoughts, perception, and emotional understanding of what it means to be a woman in a society that seeks to stifle our very essence. It begins with Offred’s contemplation, “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.” Immediately, I was struck by the depth of this revelation. As a high school student in a world that is constantly evolving, I have often felt the pressure to conform to societal norms and standards. There’s a general mold that women are often expected to fit into, a model that dictates our behavior, aspirations, and dreams. Moreover, while today’s society seems more liberating than Gilead, there are moments when I feel like I am being ushered into those ‘blank white spaces,’ pushed to the periphery, as if my story is less significant than the mainstream tales. Like Offred, I have felt that living in the gaps provides freedom, a space unbound by rules and expectations. However, unlike Offred, I haven’t been forced into those gaps; I’ve willingly sought them out in search of individuality. The emotional gravity of Offred’s words made me reflect upon the countless stories of women throughout history, relegated to the shadows, their tales unwritten or undervalued. It also made me think of my own experiences. There have been times in classes where I’ve felt my opinions, especially as a young woman, were overshadowed by louder, often male, voices. And while Gilead is an exaggerated dystopia, the underlying themes of suppression, subjugation, and silence are realities many women face to varying degrees. Margaret Atwood’s prose is hauntingly beautiful. The subtlety with which she addresses harrowing themes is unnerving. As Offred recalls her mother’s generation’s efforts to burn pornographic magazines, she reflects on the paradox of freedom: “Freedom, like everything else, is relative.” It made me wonder: Do we truly understand the nature of freedom? Are we ever truly free, or is freedom just a spectrum where we find ourselves at varying degrees? I’ve grown up believing I live in a free society, but Offred’s musings made me question my beliefs. Maybe freedom is the ability to question, to challenge, and to dream. Or maybe it’s the space between chains, the moments of respite before the next shackling. Connecting this page to earlier parts of the novel, Offred’s reminisces about the time before Gilead took over. The women of the past fought for rights, and their battles seem distant to her earlier life of assumed freedom. As a teenager in today’s world, it’s easy to forget the struggles of women who came before us. The right to vote, the right to work, the right to an education – rights that I take for granted were once a distant dream for many women. The novel serves as a stark reminder that freedoms can be fleeting and must be safeguarded. Offred’s yearning for a simpler past resonated with me, especially in these trying times. It’s easy to become nostalgic, longing for days when our biggest worries were trivial. For Offred, her trivial days were when she had the liberty to love, dream, and live. For me, it’s the pre-pandemic world, where school hallways echoed with laughter and weekends were for outings. But both of us, separated by fictional timelines and very real circumstances, yearn for a sense of normalcy, a return to days of unburdened freedom. What made this section even more intriguing was the fusion of Offred’s resignation with moments of rebellion. This duality is reminiscent of every teenager’s journey, including mine. We oscillate between conformity and rebellion, seeking to find our identity amidst societal expectations. Page 162 of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was a poignant reminder of the fragility of freedom and the importance of remembering our history. It made me cherish the liberties I have while also prompting me to challenge and question the status quo. Offred’s reflections, though set in a dystopian world, mirror the trials and tribulations of women across ages, including a high school student like me.