Whether it's being labeled "crazy" and denied help, or "sick" with overwhelming support, mental health has always been a difficult subject to understand. Living in North America today, where fewer people are excluded from society due to an illness they cannot control, we wonder how this was not always the case. In the 1950s and 1960s, around the time of The Bell Jar and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, mental health was a topic that no one talked about and anyone who wasn't mentally well was immediately scrutinized. In both stories, the struggle to conform to society's norms and the negative effects of not being able to do so are highlighted. Esther and Bromden struggle to find their place in society, which leads to their mental deterioration, causing them to seek help from others. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay Due to mental health issues, individuals often struggle to successfully integrate into society, which is experienced the two protagonists. Both characters introduce metaphors that express their distorted perspective on the world, in turn preventing them from being able to connect with others. In The Bell Jar, the title alone represents the madness that is Esther's life; the madness in which she feels trapped. Presenting her helplessness and how her mental illness follows her everywhere, Esther recounts “wherever I sat…I sat under the same glass cloche, simmering in my own sour air” (Plath, 98). Paralyzed by the feeling of the inevitable, she is unable to enjoy and move forward in her life. Likewise, the "fog" and hallucinations that affect Bromden's daily life are debilitating and affect his ability to function normally. “He [McMurphy] keeps trying to get us out of the fog, out into the open, where we would be easy to reach” (Kesey, 123). He despises the fog, but finds comfort in knowing that it separates him from reality. Due to their inability to interact with the outside world, their mental state thus adds to their confidence and their difficulty in forming new relationships. While with Doreen and her friend Lenny, Esther has the opportunity to possibly form a relationship with a new man, but rather than pursue it, she chooses to return home. This is a key point in understanding Esther's complex personality, as readers are shown that Esther does not glorify relationships and men like her peers do and that she cannot bring herself to meet any new people. In Bromden's case, he has difficulty interacting with other patients on the ward, as evidenced by the way other patients describe him. Bromden is known as the Dumb and Deaf Indian. With such a negative impression on other patients, Bromden chooses to keep to himself, doing his job of sweeping the corridors without bothering to interact with anyone, which is largely affected by his self-confidence. Additionally, along with their distorted worldview and plummeting confidence, they face the negative effects of paranoia. Esther becomes overly aware of the people around her, making her unnecessarily suspicious of their actions. Esther feels like people are scrutinizing her too much: "I picked up the pieces of my letter to Doreen so Dr. Gordan couldn't piece it together and see that I was planning to run away" ( Plath, 143). Despite the unrealistic situation, Esther finds herself overthinking minor details and assuming that peopledeceive. As a result, Bromden thinks the Big Nurse is out to get him: "I'm crawling along the walls... but they have special sensitive equipment, detect my fear and they all look up" (Kesey, 9). Bromden seems to live in fear, believing that people will find out what he is hiding, such as the fact that he is not actually mute. As a result, both characters find themselves reluctantly isolating themselves. The harsh reality of using someone's differences to degrade oneself is what both characters face in the stories. Esther does not conform to the typical stereotype of women, in part because her mental illness disables her ability to react in a certain way: "I suppose I should have been horny like most other girls, but I didn't couldn't understand myself. to react. I felt very calm and very empty” (Plath, 3). This leads to confusion and misunderstanding as to why Esther acts the way she does, as she herself does not understand her own mind. Bromden also finds himself misunderstood by the people around him, leading him to distance himself from them: “it wasn't me who started acting deaf; these were the people who started acting like I was too stupid to hear, see, or say anything at that point. everything" (Kesey, 178). Due to everyone's perception, he is trapped and misunderstood and therefore chooses to remain alone. Sexuality is another important theme in both stories. Esther feels that she is not living up to expectations from all other young women, because she is not sexually active “I saw the world divided between people who had slept with someone and those who had not slept with someone… I thought that. 'a dramatic change would come over me the day I crossed the border' (Plath, 82) This alone constitutes a great barrier between her and the other girls, but she accepts the reality of the situation Bromden is also surrounded. of men who are interested in sex while he is not When describing Nurse Ratched, he says “…Just as she was above him, sex and everything weak and carnal. ”, showing his disinterest in such topics (Kessey, 138). Describing sex as something weak shows his different mentality which prevents him from fitting in with the rest of the men in the institute. Additionally, Esther and Bromden find themselves separated due to the fact that they are both minorities. Esther feels oppressed by the gender roles created by society: “the last thing I wanted was infinite security and to be the place from which an arrow shoots.” I wanted change, excitement, and to fly off in all directions myself like the colorful arrows of a Fourth of July rocket” (Plath, 68). In speaking about society's expectations and her own ambitions, Esther expresses her inability to express herself as she would like and her resistance to expectations, affecting her ability to fit in. Bromden struggles to find his place, as his life is a constant reminder of racial prejudice. Bromden is affected by his Indian characteristics such as his "Indian face and greasy black Indian hair" because he feels like everyone is looking at him like a foreigner and examining him (Kessey, 26 ). His stature and appearance seem to be the first thing to go. noticed about him, this is proven when McMurphy says, "I swear you're the greatest Indian I've ever seen", thus being identified and characterized by uncontrollable traits affects him as he is one of the reasons for his separation from others (Kesey, 219). The two characters have notable differences, which they believe radically separate them from the others. The overwhelming effects of mental health are impossible to deal with without someone to talk to; Esther and.