An Analysis Of Ken Kesey 's ' One Flew Over The Cuckoo 's Nest '

The oppressor, or antagonist, of the story is Nurse Ratched, or the Big Nurse. Her methods of oppression, including attempts to emasculating the men in the medical ward, is the foundation of the work. The nurse uses her power to manipulate the patients as well as members of the staff in the hospital. Since she is in charge of the entire ward, she runs it with an iron fist while concealing her feminism and humanity behind a patronizing façade. As the story progresses, Nurse Ratched loses some power over the patients with the introduction of a new patient on the ward, Randle McMurphy. As McMurphy continues to fight her oppression, her façade breaks down and falls apart as she loses control.

The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey is about the power structure of a mental ward from the perspective of a patient, Bromden. The story takes place during the 1950's in Oregon. Many of the patients on the ward are not necessarily insane however do not fit in with pre established societal norms and have chosen a life away from these norms. The men who are voluntary have given in to the staff and follow them like sheep, however, the men who are committed need controlling according to society so they were sent to the ward. The head nurse, Nurse Rached, of the ward keeps control using her staff that has been picked out over years of meticulous selection. The staff under Rached's orders keep control of the patients

Second in a discussion of power are the women associated with the patients. The supervisor at the hospital is associated with the patients by controlling who is employed to take care of the patients. Nurse Ratched and the supervisor served in the Army together as nurses. They are still very close and have a good relationship. Because of this relationship, Nurse Ratched’s employment is secured and others won’t stand up to her for fear of losing their own jobs. Harding states “In this hospital, the doctor doesn’t hold the power of hiring and firing. That power goes to the supervisor and the supervisor is a woman, a dear old friend of Miss Ratched’s” (61). The receptionist on the ward is Nurse Ratched’s neighbor

Nurse Ratched (also known as Big Nurse) was used to being forceful to get what she wanted. She stopped at no end to have complete oversight over the men in the ward. When the men were in the nurse’s presence they were either saying what they knew she wanted to hear or cleaning something that she ordered them to clean. They knew not to speak out against her and to not say something that would make you stand out too much. Ratched’s tactics to get them to be fit for society were normally some kind of procedure on the man

Works of literature innately embody the author’s ideology and the historical context of the given time period. Within the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, the author furthers his ideals against the issue of oppression as he attempts to take stabs against its deteriorating effects and support those who rebel. Set in the microcosm of a small mental hospital, he establishes man’s external struggle to overcome tyranny. At the head of the head of the ward is the corrupted character of Nurse Ratched, who rules with an iron fist and the help of her machine like aides. It also features the nonconformist character, McMurphy, as he works to break Nurse Ratched’s endless cycle of tyranny. Although the novel shifts between the

faculty in order to gain power and take away all of their freedoms, even their freedom

Regarding Miss Ratched, she seems to show signs of passive-aggressive behavior throughout the book. This behavior adds to her manipulative ways and contributed to the decrease of the patients’ progress (mental/physical state). Passive-aggressive behavior is used to maintain control and power because it’s a way for her to not display any signs of weakness. Miss Ratched, also known as the Big Nurse to the patients, fights hard to remain as the top authority figure in the Ward due to her thirst for power. To maintain the control over the men, she emasculates them, stripping them of their masculinity, in various ways to prevent the chance of an uproar against her. For instance, after a group meeting regarding Harding’s problem with his wife’s breasts, the patients attack Harding. In response, McMurphy provides an analogy of a pecking party to the current

Though every period of time, people often find themselves looking for a savior. While most people turn for Jesus Christ or other religious figures, in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, the patients of a strictly-run psychiatric ward turn to Randal Patrick McMurphy. Kesey uses McMurphy to create a Christ Figure, or a character that shows allusions to Christ, in his work. Despite being a patient, McMurphy finds a way to stand out as a Christ Figure through having his individual thoughts and actions, rather than shrinking himself to what the ward wants him to be.

Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a creation of the socio-cultural context of his time. Social and cultural values, attitudes and beliefs informed his invited reading of his text.

Setting is also important, as it refers to the period this book was set in, the 1950's. Ultimately, it is a reflection of what was happening in American society at the time, and what American society expected from each other. McCarthyism, as started by Senator Joseph McCarthy, was the most prevalent movement of the 1950's, where there was great momentum for anti-communism and the suppression of the Anti-communist party. Freedom of speech was suppressed, just like speech and actions were inside the hospital. Here, the Combine and Nurse Ratched act like the McCarthy "representatives", where the patients are seen as members of the public, having their every word and movement under close scrutiny.

Considering the type of things that young people are exposed to in the media and in everyday life, I honestly do not agree with the reasoning behind banning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest from high school curriculums. Jennifer, a 17-year-old student in California says, “The words and scenes don't bother me. It's like TV today. It's not anything different. There are other, worse books, and curse words you hear daily.” [3] What she says is true; from personal experience, I can tell you that from the obscenities I encounter in my day to day life, I have heard much worse than what Ken Kesey writes. I am not asserting that it is okay for children, teenagers, to be so comfortable with these things, but their exposure is inevitable. Since children are so easily influenced by what they are exposed to, it makes it that much more important to teach them about controversial issues, so that they understand why it is wrong. Teachers don’t teach this novel in the classroom to

   The choice that a novelist makes in deciding the point of view for a novel is hardly a minor one. Few authors make the decision to use first person narration by secondary character as Ken Kesey does in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  By choosing Bromden as narrator instead of the central character of Randle Patrick McMurphy, Kesey gives us narration that is objective, that is to say from the outside of the central character, and also narration that is subjective and understandably unreliable. The paranoia and dementia that fill Bromden's narration set a tone for the struggle for liberation that is the theme of the story. It is also this choice of narrator that leads

In Part I of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest McMurphy enters the ward as self-absorbed and self centered. He doesn’t care if he takes advantage of the people and only cares about himself. His track record proves this; “ A dishonorable discharge, afterward, for insubordination. Followed by a history of street brawls and barroom fights and a series of arrests for Drunkenness, Assault and Battery, Disturbing the Peace, repeated gambling, and one arrest - for Rape” (Kesey 42). All of his convictions and arrests show that he wasn’t ever worried about anyone else, especially his charged of rape. McMurphy also shows his self-centered personality right away when he was talking to the patients. He tells them; “Why, one of the big reasons I got myself sent here was because I needed some new suckers.... I thought I might take advantage of this and maybe make both our lives a little more richer. I’m starting level with you. I’m a gambler and I’m not in the habit of losing” (71). McMurphy comes straight out and tells the patients that he is a gambler and plans on taking their money. He doesn’t care about what they might think about him and it also doesn’t bother him to take advantage of people like mental handicaps. He just wants to win their money and plans on doing so. Overall, in Part I McMurphy is self-absorbed and self-centered and proves this with his life history and with what he tells the other patients.

In communistic countries and nations under a dictatorship, what their governments want more than anything else is conformity. They want complete and utter control over their people. They want their sense of free thought to be taken away from them, so they can completely control every aspect of people’s lives. This is what author, Ken Kesey is trying to warn people about. In his novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

In Kesey’s 1950s novel ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest’ Nurse Ratched’s relationship with male patients is based upon differences they hold about gender and identity. Nurse Ratched is portrayed as a masculine misandrist figure that gains power from emasculation. She carries “no compact or lipstick or woman stuff, she’s got that bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties” . This implies nothing womanly about her as she prioritises her “duties”, suggesting that she aims to control her male patients by ridding her feminine qualities. In addition, she is shown in robotic with a chilling aura. This is evident when she slid “through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her” . This indicates that as a power figure her only concern is controlling her male patients, making sure they are obedient and abiding by her rules. “Gust of cold” implies that by doing so she wholly ruins her relationship with the males due to her “cold” and callous methods. Daniel J. Vitkus states she is “the Big Nurse, an evil mother who wishes to keep and control her little boys (the men on the ward) under her system of mechanical surveillance and mind control.” Yet, can be argued that she is fulfilling her role of working as a Nurse within a mental institution. However Vitkus’s critique is similar to when McMurphy says “Mother Ratched, a ball-cutter?” McMurphy is a hyper masculine force against Ratched’s emasculating norms. Their relationship is essentially a power