Mcmurphy Character Analysis

Randle McMurphy, the protagonist, is introduced to break down the nurse’s oppressive ways. McMurphy, a con man who was sentenced to a work farm, was diagnosed as a psychopath and sent to the mental hospital, which he much preferred. Serving as a savior figure to the patients of the ward who have already been battered by the Big Nurse, McMurphy causes interference to the nurse’s control. He supports the men as they are ridiculed in meetings and supports their attempts to change policy. Although he does help other patients, he first looks out for himself. He cons the patients out of their money and then follows the nurse’s rules for awhile because of the threat of being kept on the

In this society there are many people who suffer from mental illness and others who are deviants. Although many confuse mental illness with deviance they are both very different things that can be related with each other due to the fact that having a mental illness is not normal and being deviant is also not normal. There are many criminals who would be considered deviants. Several theories of deviance seem to describe these types of people. There is the control, differential-association, labeling, psychological and strain theories that may determine why criminals chose to act in deviant ways. Serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy fall into some of the theories of deviance. The theories John Wayne Gacy falls into are the control theory

He says, “Just as I said: any of you sharpies here willing to take my five bucks that says that I can get the best of that woman, before the week’s up, without her getting the best of me?” (73) This quote shows that McMurphy is very self-assured that he can accomplish what he sets his mind to. The ward was not used to this kind of behavior in a man. Most of the men that were already there needed to be there because of an actual insanity problem, but McMurphy was there because he would rather have been there than where he was before and the court had allowed him to be transferred. McMurphy took them completely by surprise with his resistance to follow their instructions and to do what he was expected to do. At his arrival, he immediately exhibited disobedience. He refused to take a shower, which was the asylum’s policy for new admissions. This instantly put Randle McMurphy under the staff’s radar for them to watch out for.

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.

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, is a commended novel written by Ken Kesey about a certifiable mental institution. Randle Patrick McMurphy is the character that Kesey has predominantly used to impact the reader. Kesey illustrated this by having a presumed deaf mute, Chief Bromden narrate the novel, focusing on how McMurphy influence’s the other deranged characters of the novel. In order to have McMurphy leave an impact on the ward, Kesey portrayed him as an anti- hero. “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” is not the only novel to include an anti- hero; authors have included these types of characters to incorporate aspects of the human conditions to their literature. Kesey could have initially kept McMurphy as a hero; to save the day and fight

Everyone seems to have a clear vision of how other people should live their lives. If someone is not what others want him or her to be, they are judged and judged incorrectly. However, in society, this idea is far more common and almost expected. In fact, Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest portrays erratic behavior through his character Randle Patrick McMurphy as one who does not accept this idea. McMurphy is portrayed as an aggressive, yet passionate leader of a group of mental patients. With that in mind, his behavior throughout the novel is irrational to those who instantly judge him incorrectly by his actions. Little do those around him know, he is doing something for the greater good. McMurphy’s aggressive behavior can

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.

A cross-cultural examination of certain deviant acts surface interesting observations of both the root of function of deviance in that given society. This observation will illustrate how the ways in which deviance is viewed in a specific culture is not universal. The author also touches upon how the “concept of normal” is equated with the “concept of good”; therefore, by consequence, anything remotely outside this pre-established box is viewed in a negative manner (Benedict 1934:4). The category of deviance is employed by society as a strategic means of reducing diversity, maintaining order and above else, upholding the social norm. Individuals who threaten this system are immediately labeled as evil wrongdoers who are then treated differently on every level. A further scholar, Erikson, compares the social system to a “nucleus, “which” draws the behavior of actors toward [itself] within range of basic norms,” (Erikson 1962: 309). This analogy provides powerful imagery of how the social system functions and the reason for why deviance is seen as such a threatening act. He further draws a comparison between the law and the norm arguing that both are reinforced by consistently being “used as a basis for judgment,” (Erikson 1962: 310). The entanglement of

Later, many of the staff and patients leave, and Nurse Ratched returns but can no longer speak, and McMurphy is in a vegetative state after he is forced to have a lobotomy for attacking Nurse Ratched. Chief ends up smothering McMurphy to put him out of his misery and later

If I were the king or Queen of the Kingdom by making strict laws where everyone who breaks the law should be enroll in forceful rehabilitation programs for mild deviances and incarceration for those criminal offences. I will lead with the purpose of transparency and doing the correct things to build trust in my kingdom and lead by example. Deviant behaviors include all those violations of social norms or breaking the law. This includes any behavior that is not normal within the individual’s normal behavior. In our society all, the behaviors are seen either as deviant or as a normal behavior. The lecture # 3 of the class explains, “It is not the act itself, but the reaction to the act, that makes something deviant.” There are many unique groups

Ratched has never actually ameliorated the patients’ mental states or issues at hand; she merely speculates on their issues without suggesting helpful advice or solutions. After the group meeting where she forces the patients to bring their dark secrets to the surface, McMurphy speaks to Dale Harding, a local patient, on the demeanor of the group meeting as he refers to it as a, “Pecking Party”, since Nurse Ratched encourages harshful criticism upon the patients. The patients are overly oppressed to the point where Harding has to pretend to agree with the essence of the group meeting, in fear that the Black boys or personnel will hear his true opinion on the ward, as he supplicates McMurphy to save him and the other patients from Nurse Ratched’s intimidating control. Billy Bibbit, who was especially afraid of Ratched’s pressuring questions and expressions, had a mother that was a very good friend of Nurse Ratched’s; his mother had adored him and only wanted the best for her child-like son. Ratched would notify his mother of Billy’s behavior, making him feel immense guilt if he were to say something rash or unacceptable by Ratched’s view. Nurse Ratched, being the Ruler she is, was so obsessively controlling of Billy, that the guilt ensued by threatening to tell his mother of the woman he slept with in the ward, and forcing him to betray McMurphy by saying McMurphy made him sleep with the woman, had lead him to his suicide. There is a boundary within all of us, our conscience, that deems our actions and words appropriate for a given situation; but without a speck of remorse, Nurse Ratched is able to annihilate Billy’s morals and sense of self in front of his friends and the other patients in the ward. A powerful ruler’s greatest fear is being overthrown, and Nurse Ratched had demoralized Billy because of

The film, “Prison State” was extremely informative in the area of prison life that I knew little to nothing about. The film told a few stories of two children and two adults that were incarcerated and spent lengthy times in prison and juvenile detention centers. Therefore, the video focused on criminals, the type of norm violations that are legal norms. We see in the video the two children that were locked up were girls in their early teens who grew up in a community within Kentucky. We can see that once they get out of the correctional system, they are set to stay in this community for up to 6 months on probation. In this community, the norms were the same as most communities, but breaking the norms in this community had a larger punishment such as skipping school resulted in weeks in a correctional facility. In chapter six, “Deviance”, we learn that the deviance level varies within different cities, states, and even countries. The film discusses many theories throughout the chapter such as the Labeling theory, this means that each person in the film is given a discredited identity. A discredited identity is the identity you are given in your community.

She believes him to be an ordinary man and that he will eventually settle down. Nonetheless, McMurphy continues to do all he can to annoy her. Throughtout the story, the two battle against each other, seeing who will give in to who first. Everything is rather harmless until and inmates party rolls around. McMurphy smuggles in prostitutes to help out the inmate, Billy. When the nurse found out what had been going on she was furious. Billy ended up slitting his throat and bleeding to death. McMurphy was in real trouble with the nurse this time. To retaliate he tore open Nurse Ratched uniform. As a result, McMurphy is taken away and give a lobotomy. When he returns, he has been changed into a vegetable. His Indian friend known as Chief Bromdencannot bear to see his friend in such a state, and ends up smothering him to death to save him from such a miserable existence. However, he escapes to freedom after that. Ironically, dead Mcmurphy had given this man a new life.

Time passes and McMurphy continues to rebel. As he does so, many of the other patients follow. They break the Nurse’s Station window a couple times, start a basketball team,and even go on a fishing trip. When they return from the trip, the staff says they need to be cleaned so they are sent for “special showers.” A fight breaks out and McMurphy and Chief are sent to the Disturbed ward. Up in the Disturbed ward, McMurphy is given many “treatments” of electroshock therapy. The only way to stop the therapy is to admit that he was wrong. He refuses to admit this and continues to get the electroshock. When Chief says he should just play along, McMurphy says, “‘When I get out of here the first woman that takes on ol’ Red McMurphy the ten-thousand-watt psychopath, she’s gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars! No, I ain’t scared of their little battery-charger’” (Kesey, 250). Though he is going through torture, McMurphy continues to resist Nurse Ratched’s methods of conforming him. He is persistent in not giving in to the society. McMurphy continues to fight, even when everyone knows it’s a losing battle.

Deviance is described as being behaviour that is not part of the norms in your particular society. This can be different throughout the world because some cultures have very different norms (Stephens and Leach, 1998:17). Most deviant behaviour will attract disapproval from others in the society or punishment from authorities. There are many different types of deviance such as addiction, mental illness, alcoholism, criminality and homosexuality. Throughout this essay six types of theories will be discussed about how and why people are deviant. Four of these theories support the idea of deviance being biological and three support the idea of it being caused by your social construction. Also the essay will talk about the differences between