Tesis ini merupakan kajian kepustakaan yang bertujuan meneliti unsur nilai budaya dalam novel karya Ken Kesey One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest. Penelitian ini mengkaji teori untuk menjelaskan keterkaitan alegoris antara semangat individualisme non-konformis dari pemeran protagonis dalam Cuckoo's Nest dengan perlawanan kaum muda terhadap nilai-nilai kemapanan teknokrasi pada akhir masa 1950-an dan permulaan tahun 1960-an.Tahun 1950-an dan permulaan 1960-an merupakan suatu kurun masa yang mempunyai karakteristik tersendiri dalam sejarah Amerika. Masa itu adalah masa Affluence, di mana negara Amerika mengalami perkembangan dan kemajuan di bidang ilmu pengetahuan, ekonomi, sosial dan stabilitas politik. Teknokrasi mengalami kemapanan. Namun di tengah kemapanan teknokrasi itu terdapat suatu gejala yang sangat kontroversial. Stabilitas dan kemajuan yang dicapai di segala bidang ternyata membawa perubahan nilai, yang ditentang oleh sebagian warganya, terutama golongan intelektual, mahasiswa dan kaum mudanya. Salah satu di antara mereka ialah Ken Kesey, yang mengarang One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, yang terbit sukses pada tahun 1962. Novel ini menceriterakan keadaan di suatu rumah sakit jiwa, dimana pasien-pasiennya, dipimpin oleh Randle Patrick McMurphy, ingin mengusulkan pembaharuan sistem dan suasana di dalam rumah sakit tersebut.Metode penelitian yang saya pakai ialah metode deskriptif analisis. Saya melakukan analisa terhadap nilai-nilai budaya masyarakat Amerika, khususnya nilai individualisme, kemandirian dan non-konformisme. Saya juga melakukan analisa terhadap bentuk, cerita dan tokoh-tokoh Cuckoo's Nest sebagai suatu karya alegori, di mana terdapat simbol-simbol dan perumpamaan metafora, guna memahami konflik dan perilaku tokoh serta peristiwa dalam novel tersebut.Tesis ini memperlihatkan bahwa ceritera dalam Cuckoo's Nest menjadi simbol pandangan dan sikap kritis kaum muda, yang ingin mempertahankan nilai-nilai individualisme, kemandirian dan otonomi, terhadap konformisme dalam kemapanan teknokrasi.Hasil analisis teori menunjukkan bahwa ada keterkaitan alegoris antara peranan tokoh protagonis dalam novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest dengan perilaku serta sikap kritis mahasiswa dan orang muda masa itu, yang didasari atas konflik nilai individualisme dengan konformisme, sebagai dampak kemakmuran dan kemajuan teknologi masyarakat otomatisasi (automatic society) Amerika pada masa permulaan 1960-an.

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest As a Social Critique Allegory On Technocracy Establishment : Individualism and NonconformityThis thesis is a library study which aims at examining theoretically the cultural values conveyed in Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest. It tries to explain the allegorical relation between the nonconforming individuality of the protagonist in the novel and the rebel of American youngsters against the established technocracy of the late 50's and the early `60s.

The turn of the `505 into the `60s comprises a remarkable period in American history. This was a time of affluence, during which America had made enormous progress in science, economic wealth, social life and political stability. Technocracy got firmly established. However, the established technocracy and the economic abundance of the country ironically led to a controversy.

Stability and progress in all fields resulted in shifts and changes of values, which were criticized by parts of the citizens--mostly intellectuals, university students and people of the younger generation--among whom was Ken Kesey. Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, which, at its publication in 1962, immediately became a success.

The novel is about people in a mental hospital where its inmates, led by Randle Patrick McMurphy, strive to reform and bring innovation to its system.

This research is a qualitative research, which employs a descriptive analysis method. I examined American cultural values, particularly individualism, self-reliance and nonconformity, and I analyzed Cuckoo's Nest in terms of its form, its theme and its characters. Rich in metaphors, this story provides sets of analogies and symbols, which makes it easier for us to see through the events and the conflicts, and to explain the characters' attitudes.

The discussion in this thesis proves that Cuckoo 's Nest presents the assumptions and critical views of the youth, who tried to preserve individualism, self-reliance and automomy in complying with conformity within a wealthy society.

An analysis on the novel proves that, indeed, there is an allegorical relation between the protagonist's role in the novel and that of the students and the youth of the sixties, in terms of individualism and conformity, two conflicting cultural values which reflect the impact of the prosperity and the technological achievement of the automatic society of America in the late 1950s.