One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Case

An exceptionally tall, Native American, Chief Bromden, trapped in the Oregon psychiatric ward, suffers from the psychological condition of paranoid schizophrenia. This fictional character in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest struggles with extreme mental illness, but he also falls victim to the choking grasp of society, which worsens Bromden’s condition. Paranoid schizophrenia is a rare mental illness that leads to heavy delusions and hallucinations among other, less serious, symptoms. Through the love and compassion that Bromden’s inmate, Randle Patrick McMurphy, gives Chief Bromden, he is able to briefly overcome paranoid schizophrenia and escape the dehumanizing psychiatric ward that he is held prisoner in.

In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, Nurse Ratched symbolizes the oppression of society through archetypal emasculation. The male patients at the ward are controlled, alienated and forced into submission by the superior female characters. Throughout the novel, there is a constant fear of female superiority; Randle McMurphy, the sexually empowered male protagonist, states how they are essentially being castrated. Castration, in the novel, symbolizes the removal of freedom, sexual expression and their identity. Furthermore, Nurse Ratched, the mechanical enforcer, represents American society: corruption, surveillance and the deterioration of individuality.

According to Aristotle, “a perfect tragedy should be […] that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or some depravity, but by some error or frailty” (Butcher 45). The novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, follows ‘Chief’ Bromden, the narrator, as he copes with life in a mental asylum in the 1950’s after the arrival of McMurphy, a stubborn and hot-headed new patient. Aristotle first defined the perfect protagonist of a tragedy in his book Poetics, published around 300 BC. His ideas of what characteristics constitute a tragic hero continue to be used to this day in analyzing the role individuals play in literature. Because McMurphy is fundamentally good yet also flawed, and because with his demise comes a significant message, he can be considered a tragic hero.

Have you ever been to a mental institution? The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is about Randall McMurphy becoming a patient in a mental institution. McMurphy is a white-trash degenerate with many problems, but mental instability is not one of them. He is an alcoholic with a gambling problem that gets into fights. He was recently convicted of alleged rape. McMurphy, somehow, conned his way into being enrolled into the mental institution instead of going to a work farm for his actions, “the court ruled that I’m a psychopath… they tell me a psychopath’s a guy fights too much and fucks too much” (13). In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Randall McMurphy’s character and the acute community change as they both interact with each other.

The film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) was directed by Milos Forman. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Danny Devito, Brad Dourif, Will Sampson and many more. The film is about a troubled man who instead of jail is sent to a psychiatric ward for his sentence. Randle McMurphy believes being in a psychiatric ward will be better and easier than jail. However, the head of the ward is Nurse Ratched and she rules with a stern hand and makes his time spent not so easy. There are many twists and turns and some sad moments for McMurphy. He tries to make the best of it and for the others patients but Nurse Ratched makes it extremely difficult. McMurphy has to try and stay sane in the ward for the time he is there. This film shows

CHIEF BROMDEN: He is the narrator of the novel and has been in the mental hospital longer than anyone else. He feels as though he has lost himself ever since he was placed into the mental hospital for his illusions and his mental instability. He often just quietly observes everyone in the word and pretends as though he can’t hear or speak. He doesn’t get in anyone’s way, but somehow manages to find out a lot about people in the mental hospital. Due to how analytical he is, he quickly notices how different McMurphy is from everyone else.

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

In One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the concept of insanity is proven as a state consipred by society, but is represented as an illness that one individual grants on another. Kesey’s writes his novel through the mind of Chief Bromden, a patient in a mental hospital, who becomes inspired to rebel against the ward by a character named McMurphy. Through characters like McMurphy and Chief Bromden, Kesey shows that the men are not mentally ill, instead they are disturbed by the corrupted treatment from Nurse Ratched. McMurphy and Bromden “are resocialized to play a passive and apathetic role rather than an active one in an effort to change troublesome patterns

During the time when this was written the largest group of people being oppressed in the United States was African Americans. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest parallels the Civil Rights Movements that were taking place at the time. big nurse in loose terms would represent The White Citizens Council. The silent but supportive staff at the mental institution would represent the American government. although the American government was very oppressive themselves towards the Civil Rights Movement the hateful organization was allowed to keep their ideals of what was fair and just because of the silent support of the American

In the novel and the film One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest there are a variety of transformations. In the film the actors are not portrayed, looks wise, as they are in the book. There are many characters whose appearances aren’t how they are described in the book, like Nurse Ratched and Chief Bromden. There are also many events and incidents that happen in the book that do not happen in the movie. The movie includes a character or two that was not mentioned in the book and characters are portrayed differently than how they are in the book.

In the film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” the character Randal “Mac” McMurphy decides that spending a 68 day sentence in the psychiatric ward would be an easy task compared to the same amount of time in jail, but quickly finds out that Nurse Mildred Ratched has just as much hidden deviance within her as he is trying to portray outwardly to stay in the ward and not be sent to jail where he truly belongs for raping a 15 year old girl. McMurphy and Nurse Ratcheds battle of power and wills escalates very quickly causing the other patients to notice Nurse Ratcheds humiliating, demoralizing and deviant ways. During a group session McMurphy asks Ratched for a change in the ward policy allowing them to watch the World Series. McMurphy was told they would have to take a vote on it. The first vote due to the other patients fear of Ratcheds wrath caused no one to vote, but during the next session Martini asked for another vote. Nine patients raised their hands for the change in the policy. Ratched still trying control the vote stated they needed the majority vote to change the policy. There are 18 on the ward floor so, McMurphy after trying to get several of the other patients to raise their hands, finally got Chief to raise his hand. McMurphy got a stern response from Ratched, stating the vote was closed already and that Chiefs vote did not count. McMurphy takes things into his own hands and begins faking a baseball commentary to the ward, getting all the patients excited and

The 1960s was a time of great social change where people were challenging the norms great extends. The novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a perfect example of this which represents a great cultural artifacts of the sixties. The 1960s begin the controversial movement toward deinstitutionalization, act that would 've effected the characters in Cuckoo’s nest. In 1962 in the midst of the civil rights movement and deep changes to the way psychology and psychiatry we 're being approached in America. The novel takes place in the hospital where McMurphy fake his insanity to serve his sentence for battery and gambling in the hospital rather than in prison. The hospital symbolizes the microcosm of society because the people of the ward follows and listens to the people in higher position and they are labeled as insane if they show any signs of rebellious behavior. Those who follows the rules I are considered normal and the ones that don 't are considered insane.

The movie, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest” is based on the experience of a criminal, Randall P. McMurphy who chose to move into a mental institution rather than moving into prison. McMurphy chose to do this because he believed his sentence would be equal to the time he would need to spend in the mental institution. Once McMurphy got to the institution he realized he would not be released into society, but to prison and the time spent in the institution was adding onto his sentence. While in the institution, McMurphy makes a huge impact on both the patients and the institution as a whole. McMurphy challenges the norms and regulations of the institution and encourages the patients to stand up for themselves.

In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author Ken Kesey 1.enthralls the reader’s attention by displaying events of 2.diminished 3.humanity all throughout the book. This book revolves around the idea that women may be a threat to the masculinity of mental ward patients. The manipulation that occurs within the ward has do with making other characters betray one another and reveal their shame. The manner in which the dominant characters attack the other 's’ “manhood” demonstrates their methods for manipulating the inferior characters under their control. The 4.diverse types of minority groups become 5.conspicuous as the author reveals the 6.inclement and 7.sadistic character, Nurse Ratched, the stories antagonist, , who runs the ward with 8.morbid intentions to 9.desiccate the courage of the people around her. The power in which she portrays is10. ample to the point it becomes 11. flagrant. Her choice of words and background knowledge on the patient 's weaknesses, 12.engender her ability to control people within the ward using insinuation. Although she claims that her actions are in favor for everyone she has contact with within the ward, they are just 13.facades in which 14.covert her manipulation. Throughout the novel, the power of emasculation was a common implement in which controlled the ward, dismayed the courage of many patients and

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel by Ken Kesey published in 1962 by Viking Press. The book depicts a man named Randle McMurphy’s adventures as he is placed in a mental institution to serve his life sentence for raping a 15-year-old girl. McMurphy meets and befriends other patients who are in much worse condition than he is, and attempts to inspire a rebellion against the tyrannical warden of the facility, Nurse Ratched. The book spends a lot of time shedding light on how mental disorders and illnesses work, as well as touches on masculinity, insecurity, impulse, sexuality, power, leadership, authority, racial sensitivity, and more. I intend to dissect and deconstruct this novel and peer at its inner meaning through the spectacles of Sigmund Freud, esteemed Austrian psychologist. Freud’s highly regarded contribution to the study of the human brain and mind opens the curtains of the books reality. Things like mental illness and depression were not well known or understood traits for a person to have in Freud’s lifetime, those of which have heavy representation in Kesey’s story.