THE ENIGMA OF THE OTHER IN THE EYES OF PSYCHIATRY: MARGINALIZATION IN THE BELL JAR AND ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST

Abstract

The present paper is devoted to the study of the prejudices and biases in psychiatry toward women and different ethnic groups as “the other” in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Through the application of anti-psychiatric and political notions, this study is conducted to depict how psychiatry as an agent of the power structure succeeds in suppressing “the other’s” inclinations and, on the contrary, to what extent “the other” is successful in confronting the power structure by projecting its proclivities in these two notable American fictions of the 1960s. The results of this study suggest that there is always a suppression/resistance dialectic between the power structure and “the other” in these works of fiction.