We live in the cuckoo's nest

"You have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy." - from Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

    The above quote was from a narrative by Chief Bromden, who has been locked up in a mental asylum for years, during a fishing trip organized by a new patient, the rebellious Randle McMurphy. Prior to the arrival of McMurphy, the patients (as well as the staff) are intimidated into submissions by the domineering Nurse Ratched, who does not hesitate to deprive the patients of the most basic needs - food, medicine, etc. - and subjects them to electro-shock therapy and even lobotomy. In other words, she's willing to do anything to maintain her absolute control over the asylum. 

    However, McMurphy constantly undermines her authority with his antics and his ability to inspire the other patients. His most important and effective tool is his laughter. In a place constantly filled with chaos and madness - caused by patients and Ratched - McMurphy is able to maintain his sanity through laughter. The Chief implies that for many of those locked up in the asylum, social pressure and oppression drives people insane rather than their inner nature. Ratched and her staff's cruel treatments of the patients are constant reminders to those locked up that the world they live in is miserable and they have virtually no chance of escaping from it. Those who succumbs to the uncontrollable external factors eventually becomes "plumb crazy." I think that "crazy" here refers not only a loss in mental capacity but also inability to cope with reality. This is obvious in the case of the Chief, who pretends to be deaf and mute at the beginning of the novel. 

    McMurphy's roaring laughter reminds the patients that even in a chaotic world, misery doesn't necessarily have to be the only outcome of life. Eventually, the entire asylum follows his lead and helps to end Ratched's reign of terror (though this comes at the price of McMurphy's life). In a cruel and repressive world, people need laughter to give them the energy to keep going and hope for a better future. When Ratched robs the patients of their courage to laugh, they see the world as it is rather than how it should be. But McMurphy and his laughter gradually awaken the patients' desire for a life that they want but couldn't achieve. 

    I think that this is a great example to support my claim that laughter serves as a defense mechanism against physical and mental pains, especially those caused by circumstances beyond a person's control. For McMurphy and many people in the real world, laughter is the only way to cope with a society seemingly filled by madness and cruelty. "Laughing it off" seems like a flippant attitude toward difficulties life, but that kind of attitude might be best way to deal with it. Not doing so will slowly but surely deprive a person's strength and willingness to embrace reality. The change in the attitude and behavior of McMurphy's fellow patients points to this conclusion.

   So the next time life knocks you down, don't mope. Laugh it off and move on.