Importance of Humor and Laughter in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest :: One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

Importance of Humor and Laughter in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest     There are three things which are veridical God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our comprehension, we must do what we can with the third. In One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, humor is present in a actu all toldy powerful form. Normally, insane pack dont have the capacity to laugh or find the humor in something as we normal people do. They live tragic existences, wandering day by day in the bland, depressing world of an asylum. They have forgotten how to live because they are under the exacting rule of the head nurse, and under the behavioral influence of drug doses and bossy orderlies. The patients have no real existence of their own, and they are essentially lifeless. As the passe-partout works in mysterious ways, Randall MacMurphy is sent to heal the patients of the asylum. He shows them that to laugh is good, and laughing at yourself can sometimes be the best medicine. H e is the fishy healer who gives life to the otherwise hopeless patients of the asylum.  MacMurphy seems to have an affinity for laughter. In essence, it is an escape for him- it makes him feel good, and most importantly, it radiates to his friends, and helps heal them.    This book is about so umpteen things, it is hard to stay on one topic for any length of time. In order to focus on the laugh and laughing as a healing agent, I would like to look towards other influential writers and thinkers to tie together laughing and healing. First, lets see what laughter is according to Meriam Webster laughter- n. a cause of merriment.  Using this simple definition, we can assume that laughter can come from any form of merriment or emotion like triumph, contempt, relief, and nigh any other emotion there is. It is easy to picture in your head different underlying emotions in laughter the sinister laughs of witches and ghosts, the insincere, fake laughs you divulge after poin tless, humorless attempts at jokes on the six oclock news, to the silent laughs of mimes and clowns that fill the people around them with a happy feeling. These are all examples of what laughter is and how it is used. But why do we do it? What in nature created the laugh and made it so successful?