Gender Issues in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Essay examples

But did you ever have people l-l-laughing at you? No, because you're so b-big and so tough! Well, I'm not big and tough." (Kesey 168) Billy was not actually crazy, he convinced himself of it for those two reasons. However, Billy was depressed, but did not want to admit he was because instead he convinced himself of insanity. In the end not only Billy convince himself of insanity due to that but he also convinced the people around him, until he discovered it was only in his head. The final character in the novel who demonstrates this is Harding. He bottles up his insanity and claims that all his problems come from his wife until one day he lets his feelings go. "I'm not just talking about my wife, I'm talking about my life! I can't seem to get that through to you. I'm not just talking about one person, I'm talking about everybody! I'm talking about form! I'm talking about content! I'm talking about interrelationships! I'm talking about God, the Devil, Hell, Heaven! Do you understand? FINALLY?" (Kesey 54) This proves to the reader that he is not infect insane because he deals with problems and emotions like any other sane human being. Hardings problem is smily that he keeps too bottled up and gives off the idea that he is insane. Through McMurphy proving sanity in the ward, Billy using insanity to cover up depression and Harding using insanity to cover up his true emotions, this proves to the reader that the patients are not insane,

self. The clearest examples of this struggle are shown in the two victims of suicide, Dale Harding and Billy Bibbit. Before their deaths, both characters felt a sense of uneasiness and discomfort in the psychiatric ward. Though they attempt to seem impassive and mentally stable, the men face issues within themselves and their reasons for being in the ward. Harding reveals that his issue within himself concerns his sexuality. He mentions that he feels “inferior” when “looking at the bosom” of his own wife. He also mentions comments about homosexuality, which leads readers to understand that he is in the psychiatric ward due to his sexuality. Due to these internal struggles, Harding decides to drown himself in the ward’s pool. Bibbit, on the other hand, struggles with his self-esteem. He explains that his stutter does not give him much confidence and that he has struggled to ever have relations with a woman. At the end of the story, McMurphy hires Bibbit a prostitute in hopes of gaining money and improving Bibbit’s attitude. When Bibbit is caught with the prostitute by Mrs. Ratched, his anxiety reaches a peak point. Upon being sent to the doctor’s office after being scolded, Bibbit decides to slit his own throat to avoid conflict with the ward and his mother. The internal struggle and violent responses to it show the more serious, life-or-death conflicts in the

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

Size, both physical and metaphorical, plays a large role in the misogynistic references in the ward. The Chief makes constant references to people’s size. However, size is relative. One cannot be big without someone else being small. When the nurse is in full control, the Chief sees her as “big as a tractor” (5). With her great size, Nurse Ratched is squashing the

Nurse Ratched is the Head Nurse in the mental hospital and uses the policy and her own authority in order to take advantage of the frail condition that the patients are in. She feeds off their pain and suffering. Nurse Ratched is often referred to as the Big Nurse;

Everything seen as unfathomable ideals at the time are used in the book to help point out how ridiculous they are. For example one of the many crucial roles in One who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the evil Nurse Ratched who obliterates all of the standards of women during this time. She is an authoritative figure who has complete control over the male patients in the ward. She can play with them as if they are her puppets she makes even the biggest man on the Ward Chief, a 6’7 foot Indian feel tiny in comparison. In fact Chief explains to Mcmurphy “No. I’m way too little . I used to be big, but not no more.You twice my size. ” ( Kesey #219) This proves how Nurse Ratched as such control over her patients that a 6’7 man thinks he is smaller than the height of the average man like Mcmurphy. She uses any opportunity she can to get into the head of her patients by forcing the patients to repetitively speak about their flaws and insecurities and writes every bit of information down to use against them later. These tortuous meeting usually cause the patients to go into a fit the most notable patient is Billy Bibit, a man known for his stuttering problems exclaimed “ 'I c-c-couldn't take it. Wh-wh-wh-whenever the officer in charge of class would call roll, call Bibit, I couldn't answer.” then he says “You were supposed to say, “Here sir,” and I never c-c-could get it out.”(Kesey #56) This viscous routine of her silencing the patients by making them confess what they lack in order to fit into society continued until McMurphy Showed

Nurse Ratched is a former army nurse who works in the ward, she has manipulates the men in many ways. One way is having the patients “spy on each other” making them write things down, they think she would want to hear, or know. Bromden described Nurse Ratched as having the ability to “set the wall clock to whatever speed she wants”, a metaphor for her control, showing how the patients lose track of

“…She’s somethin’ of a cunt, ain’t she Doc?” Although Milos Foreman’s character, Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), put his opinion of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) in the most vulgar of terms, he was not so far from the truth. In the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Nurse Ratched’s treatment and care of the patients was unethical when compared to the standards one would expect of a health care administrator. She used control over her patients to ensure order, without regard to the feelings and concerns of the patients. This issue is presented by the director, Milos Foreman, through symbolism, characterization and scenes. This, in turn, determines how the director wants us, as viewers, to feel about the issue.

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

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a book in which he dealt with the issues of racism, sex and authority that is going on in a mental institute. In the novel, the women are depicted as the power figures who are able to significantly manipulate the patients on the ward. There are four ways of Ken Kesey’s using of “woman” as a subject: Superiority of male sexuality over female authority, matriarchal system that seeks to castrate men in the society, mother figures as counterpart of Big Nurse and “Womanish” values defined as civilizing in the novel.

By carrying out the Combine?s orders and imposing a matriarchal system, the Big Nurse has the ability to systematically dehumanize the patients and suppress their individuality. In Group Meetings, the men are forced to talk about personal experiences, a method Big Nurse claims is therapeutic but is actually very humiliating. Billy Bibbit talks about his first love who his mother disliked. Billy?s relationships with women seem to be the root of his problems. Nurse Ratched worsens the situation by ?grinding (his) nose in (his) mistakes? instead of helping him work through his problems (59). The patients let the nurse manipulate them in fear of the consequences of her wrath, and consequently are shamed, weak, and defenseless men. Even the Chief, the biggest man, has become a person so weakened by his society that he loses his ability to speak against the cruelty that surrounds him, ultimately leaving him powerless. The men are victims of their society and lose all their self confidence and individuality as a result of being pressured to conform.

Nurse Ratched’s pretense was the hardest one to identify. We see her as the head nurse in the institution and controls every worker and patient in it. Her desire is that things go her way and only her way and has complete power, and runs the institute more of a dictatorship. We all see Nurses universally as good people that help others in need. But I think that Nurse Ratched did more bad than

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

Throughout the film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", many changes differentiate the movie from the book. Not only can these differences be seen in the characters of the novel, but also in the series of events that make this story so interesting. In this essay, the significance of these differences will be revealed as well as the reasons for the changes.

     A second person which McMurphy affects is Billy Bibbit, the youngest patient on the ward. When McMurphy first comes to the hospital, Billy is nothing but an innocent boy, afraid to confront other people, and stand up for what he feels and believes. In the beginning of the play he is deathly afraid of Miss