Godbey 1 Alexander Godbey Bryant Honors English III 26 June 2022 The American Experience What it means to be an American has changed over the years. America was originally founded by groups wanting religious freedom and freedom from the whims of a king. Independence was seen as the key to our freedom. In the 19th century, through Manifest Destiny, Americans believed God granted his grace to spread our spirit of democracy and to dominate other cultures and lands. To be an American is to have the freedom to choose what you do without the fear of discrimination and to be entitled to the right to have the opportunities to work hard and achieve your goals no matter the economic or social class into which you were born. These goals are often stated as having the American dream of owning land, a house, and having a family. More recently in my life, the American experience is one of the protests involving nonwhites versus white people, heterosexuals versus homosexuals, and Christian versus non-Christians. Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are novels that are effective in exploring different American experiences. Though both books approach their connection to American ideals from different angles, freedom is at their core: from freedom to succeed to what can happen when freedom is taken away. The contemporary book Jurassic Park represents the American experience through its focus on the freedom to gain business success at any cost, the freedom to use scientific knowledge at any cost, and the freedom to dominate over other creatures at any cost. The book details a hypothetical modern world where the businessman, John Hammond, gathered money and advanced scientific knowledge to secretly build a zoo Godbey 2 re-created dinosaurs for profit. Mr. Hammond becomes a successful American businessman by persuading people to invest in his Jurassic Park through deceitful speeches while carrying around a tiny elephant in a cage. “But as Hammond talked about the elephant, he left a great deal unsaid. For example, Hammond was starting a genetics company, but the tiny elephant hadn’t been made by any genetic procedure…” as observed by his lawyer, Mr. Gennaro (Crichton 65). The omniscient narrator in Jurassic Park informs the readers that “the old days are gone. Genetic research continues, at a more furious pace than ever. But it is done in secret, and in haste, and for profit” (Crichton 3) which shows that the use of knowledge for greedy purposes has become common in American society. The mystery of this zoo is explored as mistakes are unknowingly made and deliberate sabotage from a rival company to steal frozen embryos occurs. The dinosaurs are seen as a commodity. “The idea of living creatures being numbered like soft-ware, being subject to updates and revisions, troubled Grant… They were, after all, living creatures…” (Crichton 144). In response, Mr. Arnold, the head engineer, demonstrates the American experience of dominance over others by saying, “Look, Dr. Grant, there’s no point getting starry-eyed about these animals. It’s important for everyone to remember that these animals are created. Created by man” (Crichton 144). The American experience in Mr. Crichton’s novel results in an unfortunate ending when the animals break loose from their cages and hunt their creators. The classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest represents the American experience through the eyes of a Native-American asylum patient, Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden had his native land taken away by the American government and by people who could not imagine anyone would want to live differently from standard American society. Isolation from his native society and forced entry into American society affects Godbey 3 Bromden's identity to where he acts as if he is deaf and mute because no one listens to him anyway. His journey to freedom is with the help of the newly arrived patient, McMurphy, who shows constant defiance to Big Nurse and society in general as demonstrated by his previous incarcerations. Chief Bromden describes Big Nurse’s views as “what she dreams of there in the center of those wires is a world of precision efficiency and tidiness like a pocket watch with a glass back, a place where the schedule is unbreakable and all the patients who aren’t Outside, obedient under her beam, are wheelchair Chronics with catheter tubes run direct from every pantleg to the sewer under the floor” (Kesey 27) which shows that everyone is in a controlled environment. Consistent with the American spirit of Manifest Destiny, society feels it has the right to control the body and mind of those it deems not fitting into the cookie cutter idea of being an American. Throughout the entire novel, McMurphy inspires others to rebel and enjoy life through activities and his fun outlooks on life which makes the other patients feel like complete human beings. In the end, Big Nurse exercises her control over McMurphy by ordering a lobotomy. Chief Bromden gives McMurphy mercy and freedom by killing him to prevent him from suffering more at the hands of American society. Chief Bromden is now inspired to escape to a freedom of his choosing. In both novels, people and creatures are kept in artificially controlled environments away from everyday society with detrimental effects. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the “Combine”, which is Chief Bromden's name for American society, uses the asylum run by Big Nurse to create an “Inside” world where freedoms are removed and patients’ lives are managed with complete control as to when they sleep, what they eat, and when and what they play. In Jurassic Park, Mr. Hammond and associates have the hubris to recreate prehistoric dinosaurs and lock them behind moats and electric fences. During a tour of the labs and control rooms, Dr. Wu explains to the group that, “these Godbey 4 animals are genetically engineered to be unable to survive in the real world. They can only live here in Jurassic Park. They are not free at all. They are essentially our prisoners” (p127). In Mr. Kesey’s novel, this artificial environment contributes to the mutilation and/or death of patients as well as further hinders the ability of patients to interact with the outside world. At the beginning of the boating trip in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the Acutes feel bad about themselves and do not know how to respond to the locals because they have forgotten how to stand up for themselves. The humans are afraid of the outside world so much that they withstand the abuse from Big Nurse because the outside world views them as different. In both books, tours are even given of these artificial environments. Ultimately, these fake worlds break down. The Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park escape the island and eat human babies while patients in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest either escape through McMurphy’s rebellions to discharge themselves or through death. Both Jurassic Park and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are works of literature showing the implication of having or lacking the freedom to do what you want and the consequences they have when exercised. Freedom in these books varies from freedom to follow one's ambitions and freedom from physical confinement and mental control. Sometimes freedom can even be as small as being able to express yourself. McMurphy indicates that losing your laugh which represents freedom means you lose all control over yourself when he says, “man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing.” (Kesey 70). Simply put, to be an American is to cherish freedom and the right to fight for it. Works Cited Crichton, Michael, and Vector That Fox. Jurassic Park. London, Folio Society, 2020. Godbey 5 Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Penguin Books, 1976.
