George Kesey 's One Flew Over The Cuckoo 's Nest

   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

Other patients on the ward begin to stand up to Nurse Ratchet and her rules. For instance, Cheswick hollers “ Rules? Piss on your fucking rules, Miss Ratched!” (Forman One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Film). A momentary outburst from Cheswick is an indicator that McMurphy has been able to model a sense of indignance at all of their treatment, and this is now being emulated by other patients through their behaviour towards Nurse Ratched. Another instance of patients talking down to Ratchet is when Sefelt states “Maybe he'll just show Nurse Ratched his big thing and she'll open the door for him.” (Forman One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Film). In this statement the use of sexual language is about empowerment. This makes reference to the possibility that McMurphy holds the key to their liberation from Nurse Ratchet’s control through his capacity to dominate her both sexually and otherwise. His ability to stand up to her and challenge her has captured Sefelt’s

Searching for an archetype, or an example, when trying something for either the first time or something that is daunting is a common train of thought for a person. This same idea can apply to Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in which the protagonist essentially becomes an embodiment of a hero. This piece of literature takes place in the 1960’s, and is presented through the vision of Chief Bromden, a patient that is stuck within an figment of imagination where those who fall to the mechanical system become the machines themselves. The novel’s lead character, Randle Patrick McMurphy, assumes the role of a hero, in both a classical and contemporary sense, where he is pitched against Big Nurse Ratched, a tyrannical force within the

In Ken Kesey’s book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, there were two main characters that were in a battle to have the majority of control over the ward. Throughout the story, they engaged in different acts of stubbornness to see who could display the most power and which of the two could stand their ground the longest without giving in to the other. These two characters were: Randle McMurphy, a new patient who was determined to change the ways of the ward, and Nurse Ratched, the head nurse of the asylum who preferred to have complete control over everyone and everything.

Nurse Ratched, the ward supervisor, personifies the forces that seek to control the individual by subduing their right to think and act for themselves. She acts as a dictator who is constantly manipulating her patients to gain an advantage over them. Because Nurse Ratched supervises a mental hospital, she is expected to tell her patients what to do, but “the novel suggests that Nurse Ratched goes beyond mere supervision and instead seeks to rule all elements of the patients lives” (“Oppression in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest”). Nurse Ratched and her staff dehumanize the patients, and this eventually causes the patients to become broken inside.

The nurse, Miss Ratched is undoubtedly a villain from most reader’s perspective, but there is much more to being a villain that simply being a “ball-cutter” on the surface. In fiction, typically a villain is someone who follows a certain set of motives in order to gain what they are trying to achieve. Whether this is money, power, or something they just do for the sake of the act, all villains possess a motive. Though the reasons behind her actions are not explicitly clear in the novel, it is obvious that one of Nurse Ratched’s main motives is the implied fact that she wants to break down the men in her ward. The reason behind this is that she wants to degrade and force them into the mould of not only society’s, but her own twisted imagery of the way a person should look and act as well. The nurse is an established authoritarian figure in the novel, and presents herself in such a way that her patients not only fear what she may do to them on any given day, but merely her presence as well. She keeps the men sedated with drugs they may not ask about, abuses them and manipulates them with her words and the power of suggestion, and makes self-admitted patients feel as though they are too “sick” to sign themselves out. Out of all the heinous acts she commits in the novel, one of the most villainous is probably the group “therapy” sessions she holds. The men

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.

As a man who pretends to be deaf and mute, Bromden is considered to be a relatively unbiased character, yet he even displays strong feelings of hatred towards Nurse Ratched, proving just how evil she is. As Nurse Ratched enters the novel for the first time, she brings with her a noticeably ominous atmospheric change with, “A gust of cold,” (4) that represents her complete control over every aspect of the mental ward, even the weather. At the pinnacle of Kesey’s totalitarian society, Nurse Ratched represents the tendencies of an oppressive government or what Bromden calls, The Combine. For example, she suppresses the patients’ free will because regardless of the patients actual sanity, she is undeniably in control of their fates at the hospital. Besides McMurphy, the majority of the patients could leave on their own, but Nurse Ratched has been able to brainwash them into thinking that they are not suited to assimilate with others outside of the ward. Billy Bibbit says to McMurphy when he asks why they do not leave, “You think I wuh-wuh-wuh-want to stay in here? You think I wouldn’t like a con-convertible and a guh-guh-girl friend? But did you ever have people l-l-laughing at you? No, because you’re so b-big and so tough!” (162-163). Just like an oppressive government, Nurse Ratched convinces its people that they are worthless so they never feel powerful enough to retaliate. Like an alcoholic, Nurse Ratched needs her fix of power that makes her drunk and

There are many situations in which Nurse Ratched exhibits control over her patients, by treating them as subordinates, humiliating them and de-masculinizing them without concern for their well-being. She uses control to withhold simple privileges, such as being able to watch a baseball game on the television, tub privileges and their right to have possession of cigarettes. It seems she actually derives satisfaction from this through hints of smiles, which are so seldom seen. This only brings about anger and hostility in the patients because of the way she treats them: like children instead of men. This is put best when one patient, Charlie Cheswick (Sydney Lassick) says, “Rules? Piss on your fucking rules, Miss Ratched! ... I ain’t no little kid! When you’re gonna have cigarettes kept from me like

Many times throughout one of Ken Kesey’s most famous novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the book uses animals as symbols to represent the story’s plot. The animals usually relate to individual characters and their current struggles within the story. Animal imagery provides us with great insight to the themes that Kesey is trying to have us explore, and is a very good tool that the reader can use to help better understand and relate to the characters.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a controversial novel that has left parents and school authorities debating about its influence on students since its publication in 1962. The novel describes the inner workings of a mental institution, how the patients are emasculated and mistreated by the terrifying Nurse Ratched, who will go to any length to control them. But in comes McMurphy, a criminal who chose to go to an asylum rather than serve physical labor; he disrupts the order of the hospital with his big personality and loud opinions, undermining the authority of Nurse Ratched and encouraging the patients to live their own lives, until he too, is silenced forever by authority. With his novel, Ken Kesey paints society as an oppressive

society, as well as sanity vs. insanity are greatly expressed through the characters actions and events in the novel, as seen from a patients eyes. Randle McMurphy, the main character of the novel portrays the theme of the individual against society through his dealings with Nurse Ratched and the hospital. “The main action of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest consists of McMurphy's struggles against Nurse Ratched. Her ward at the hospital is a society in itself. McMurphy challenges the rules from the beginning” (Malin 224). The effects of the battle between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched is expressed in the reactions of both characters, as well as the changes brought to the ward. “But she stops. She was flustered for a second there. Some of the acutes hide grins, and McMurphy takes a huge stretch, yawns, winks at Harding” (Keasey 45). The individual vs. society theme is clearly displayed here though McMurphy's struggle against the rules of the asylum, and against the rule of Nurse Ratched. This represents a a man, or individual, fighting for his own rights when faced with the views and obstacles forced upon him by a tyrannical society with strict guidelines. The second major theme in this novel, tied to the individual vs. society, is the theme of insanity vs. sanity. “Sanity vs. insanity is a topic that is established by society itself, set by public values and rules on what normalcy should be and what insane should be qualified

Society’s conventional definitions of sanity and insanity are affected by many different aspects and according to common knowledge, insanity has a direct correlation to mental illness. Likewise, sanity seems to have a direct link to what is considered normal. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey describes the connection that both insanity and sanity have to mental illness and the people that suffer from it. Furthermore, it describes how the people who work in the mental ward are connected to how sanity and insanity are perceived. Kesey makes the reader question the accepted definitions of sane and insane by using the actions of the characters, the personalities of the employees, and the mental ward as a whole.

“It isn't by getting out of the world that we become enlightened, but by getting into the world…by getting so tuned in that we can ride the waves of our existence and never get tossed because we become the waves” (Ken Kesey). Ken Kesey was an American author, who was a prominent figure in the 1960’s counter-culture movement. When brainstorming ideas for stories, Kesey often experimented with drugs, especially psychedelics like LSD. Also, he was part of the group called the “Merry Pranksters”, who traveled around on a bus putting on shows and “acid tests” around the United States. Ken Kesey’s involvement with the counter-culture and drug movement have greatly shaped who he is as a writer, exploring themes such as conformity and mental health in literary works like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest we see the struggle between the powerful and the powerless just as the citizens in A Tale of Two Cities struggle. We are witnesses to the absolute power of Nurse Ratched who controls all activities which happen in the ward. When Bromden and McMurphy first go to the disturbed ward the reader is introduced to the extent of Ratched’s power that reaches past her own ward and into the disturbed ward. The Disturbed Ward Nurse expresses her concern in response to McMurphy, who questions how long they can stay in the disturbed ward, by saying “Not very long. I’m afraid … No, you probably won’t be very long – I mean – like you are now." (Kesey 234). The Disturbed Ward Nurse, who wishes that she was able to keep the two patients in her care, expresses that she does not want to have to send patients back to Nurse Ratched as she knows the unfortunate fate they will endure. The extending power of Nurse Ratched is similar to that or the Marqui who states “Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend… will keep dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof… shuts out the sky.” (Dickens 146-147). As the Marquis expresses