Leadership in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Leadership in the Real World

McMurphy can also be considered a tragic hero. Although he could almost always take control of a situation and never let the combine get the best of him, he could not always control his temper. It was the one think that could get him in trouble because Nurse Ratched could not punish him with electric shock therapy unless he had an outburst. The best thing that McMurphy could have had in the hospital was patience and a calm temper because the only weapon Nurse Ratched had was to try to frustrate him. Since she has ultimate power on the ward, she could do anything she wants and make any rules. For instance, when the patients wanted to watch the world series and they clearly had a majority, she didn’t let them because she wanted them to know that she has authority

     Mcmurphy was the one who started making people laughing in the ward. When he first came into the ward he was cracking jokes and shaking everybody’s hand. (p.16)

In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the lead protagonist, Randle McMurphy, changes over the course of the novel because of the characters that he meets and the effects they have on him. Originally, McMurphy was selfish, disrespectful, and inconsiderate, but then he forms closer bonds with the other characters and they change him and the way he views other people. The characters in the mental hospital struggle with conforming to the dictator in the ward, Nurse Ratched. McMurphy comes into the hospital as a way out of a prison sentence and tries to teach the patients that they need to stand up for themselves and do what they believe is right.

As the nurse says of him, his motive is the “feeling of power and respect [...] monetary gain [...] actual disruption of ward for sake of disruption” (29). As soon as the war erupts between McMurphy and the nurse, we know that breaking first counts as being vulnerable because it is a weak defense mechanism. The nurse at times chooses to instill fear through anger, but it is still a cheap front because it exposes herself to vulnerable outbursts. She obsesses over her sexuality and tries to compensate it by holding an iron fist—it seems as though having a chaotic personal life is the price of being organized at

McMurphy learns that involuntarily committed patients cannot leave the hospital without staff approval. Therefore, he cannot leave at the end of his six months sentence, but when Nurse Ratched says he can and he begins to submit to her authority. However, by this time, he had become the leader for the other patients. Their sanity, their claim to manhood lies in the balance. Cheswick, dismayed by McMurphy’s surrender, commits suicide.

McMurphy, a gambler who is mistakenly diagnosed as a psychotic is brought into the Combine is considered a leader through the eyes of the patients by teaching them how to stand up for themselves against Nurse Ratched’s dictator like authority. McMurphy demonstrates his leadership when he first walks into the ward and asks all of the patients, “Who’s the bull goose loony here?... I’m thinking about taking over this whole show myself…so you better take me to your leader and we’ll get it straightened out who’s gonna be boss around here” (Kesey 22-23). It is easy to see that McMurphy is trying to be the leader of the ward and

The control of the head nurse could be felt in the atmosphere and the actions of the characters. Chief Bromden, although schizophrenic, describe the presence of the ward being structured such a way that patient do not normally interact with each other, through a "Combine" that produces fog. There was no actually Combine nor fog; the fog is nothing more than the feeling of being controlled from unfair rules used to wrongly contain the patients in the hospital. Furthermore, Chief remarks how the "Chronics" in the ward have no future" What the Chronics are - or most of us - are machines with flaws inside that can’t be repaired, flaws born in, or flaws beat in over so many years of the guy running head-on into solid things that by the time the hospital found him he was bleeding rust in some vacant lot" pg 3. The black boys,

Aside from the altercations during his tenure at the institution, McMurphy is seen having a history of violence. One reason that they remove him from the work farm and relocate him to

McMurphy is a man bound to change the ward not only to benefit his sanity, but all the other patients who have lost theirs over the years from the tactics used by Nurse Ratched. He is being forced into being what others think he is, in order for the patients to recognize themselves through his actions. He gives them the ability to regain their power that was lost from Nurse Ratched, and even though McMurphy has a choice to obey the rules, instead he is rebellious and the voice of the patients. That being said, McMurphy has the responsibility to continue to give them hope in order to help them. He pushed the patients to fight for what they want. For instance, McMurphy states “But I tried though. “Goddammit, I sure as hell id that much, now

As seen in the story of the Coyote, McMurphy defies authority in order to achieve his own personal goals and create disorder. From his first encounter with nurse Ratched, McMurphy makes it clear that he bows to no one. When she reminds him that he must submit to his admission shower and follow the ward’s rules, he replies: “Ya know, ma'am, ya know — that is the ex-act thing somebody always tells me about the rules... just when they figure I'm about to do the dead opposite” (Kesey, 24). What this first impression describes in McMurphy is not only that he will not be molded by the authorities, but he will in fact disrupt their system. Much like the Coyote, if certain rules do not agree with his objectives, he will have no trouble breaking them.

Prior to McMurphy arriving at the hospital there was a set structure that everyone followed. Nurse Ratched had all the power and the patients knew that and followed. However, once McMurphy was brought into the hospital everything began to change. As soon as he entered the ward, McMurphy decides to meet with every single person, “He shakes the hands of the Wheelers and the Walkers and Vegetables, shakes hands that he has to pick up out of laps like picking up dead birds” (Kesey 25). Similar to Jesus, McMurphy treated the patients of the ward equally. It is made known how Jesus never held himself above others. McMurphy is able to unite the ward, where he is found repeatedly socializing with his new found

Hellboy is one of the greatest paranormal investigators in the Hellboy universe. Hellboy is an antihero, almost quintessentially, and one of his apparent traits is his dislike and disrespect of authority. A good example of this is the numerous times Hellboy has disobeyed orders and entered the public eye; he is constantly disrespecting his leaders. These constant trips to the outside represent Hellboy’s disrespect and it is symbolically speaking for him, saying, “You don’t control me”. This is very similar to McMurphy, who from his first entry into the mental institution made the bet that he could undermine the big nurse. One particular instance of McMurphy representing his control is when he offers to pinch some food for the orderly. This scene may seem insignificant but it is very telling of McMurphy’s attitude toward authority. The orderlies have been introduced to the reader as being in control of the men, so when McMurphy offers to sneak him some food it is almost demeaning. McMurphy is implying that the orderly may have wanted food which in turn implies that he cannot obtain his own. After this McMurphy continues to eat all of his food in front of the orderly. This scene demonstrates his thoughts clearly and tells that McMurphy does not respect those above

The reason why McMurphy was so popular in the ward and among the patients was because he was the only one that wasn't

Similar to who Jesus was for his disciples, McMurphy acts as a leader and role-model for the other characters in the book. Due to his sexual, violent, and seemingly immoral behavior, McMurphy sometimes may seem unlike Christ. However, Jesus too was human, and therefore did have “normal” human emotions, such as anger. McMurphy’s Christ-like parallels are illustrated throughout the novel in order to communicate the idea that he represents the same attitude of reforming leadership, just as Jesus did in the

Chief starts to fight the manipulative powers of the fog and the combine when McMurphy enters the ward. Chief recognizes the combine can be successfully challenged when McMurphy stands up to Big Nurse. Chief believes he “saw her whipped” (101), but then realizes she, and all she stands for are too powerful to be thwarted: “I know now there is no real help against her or her combine. McMurphy can’t help any more that I could. Nobody can help. And the more I think about how nothing can be helped, the faster the fog rolls in” (101). Chief recognizes Big