One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Many organizations structure themselves in a traditional and recognizable way using a hierarchy. The dictionary definition of hierarchy is a series of ordered groupings of people or things within a system. Hierarchy describes reporting levels and the status of people in the structure. This structure has lots of employees involved; it is used in large retail shops for example Tesco.

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.

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.

Works of literature innately embody the author’s ideology and the historical context of the given time period. Within the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, the author furthers his ideals against the issue of oppression as he attempts to take stabs against its deteriorating effects and support those who rebel. Set in the microcosm of a small mental hospital, he establishes man’s external struggle to overcome tyranny. At the head of the head of the ward is the corrupted character of Nurse Ratched, who rules with an iron fist and the help of her machine like aides. It also features the nonconformist character, McMurphy, as he works to break Nurse Ratched’s endless cycle of tyranny. Although the novel shifts between the

Prompt: 2. Does McMurphy win or lose his battle with Nurse Ratched? Justify your answer with three specific examples from the text.

Only a few are able to utilize the power to control and manipulate situations which can lead to drastic outcomes. Those with an assertive and manipulative personality tends to use that to their own benefit and completely disregard the impact their personality has on the surrounding people and themselves. In Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he expresses the theme of power and manipulation through two characters, Nurse Ratched and McMurphy. Both characters use their manipulative powers for their own advantage in a deceptive way that causes the patients admitted to the asylum to suffer rather than improve.

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.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, was a very successful novel which was impactful on the world in the past, and still is today. Ken Kesey, a big believer in individuality and the freedom to be oneself, brought new meaning to the world of psychiatry that changed treatments forever. This book didn’t just affect American society, it had a global impact. All around the world there are people that are admitted into mental institutions, and this book changed treatments in these facilities. The novel also raised awareness of the psych ward culture in which this book took place.

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.

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

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

Have you ever thought about how it looks like in a mental institution? If the answear is yes, then i recommend you to watch 1975's best comedy/drama movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It starts Jack Nicholson as the criminal R.P.McMurphy being sentenced to prison for raping a girl, to avoid that he acts like a crazy person, so he can be sent to a mental institotion instead. That is exactly what happens, the doctor sent him to the ward for evaluation. The plot involves Louise Fletcher as the mean nurse Ratched treating the patients poorly, witch makes McMurphy go mad. He criticizes hers way of handling diffrent situations in the ward and he does eveything in his power to change the ward.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is an incredibly powerful book. It falls under the genre of fictional drama, with a realistic plot and relatable characters. It is set in the 1960’s, in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. The beginning explains life in the facility and describes the patients and the difference between them. You are introduced to the men who are functional and communicable, then you are informed of the other side. These gentlemen include those who mainly sit, stare and drool, all of their lives. The reader is then clued into one specific patient, Chief Bromden, a half-Indian, who is actually telling the story and reflecting on his time in the mental hospital. He explains the rough and quite honestly, horrific living

Our perspective of a stranger whom we’ve never met nor seen, but only heard of through the mouth of the enemy’s opinion, will inevitably align with the only version of the story we’ve heard. This sort of bias is found in Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with Nurse Ratched’s depiction through the narration by Chief Bromden. The reliability of Bromden’s perspective is questionable, as it is his interpretation of the world, rather than what it actually is.

A total institution is defined as a place of work and residence where a great number of similarly situated people, cut off from the wider community for a considerable time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life. In others words this means a group of people who have been separated from the rest of society and every decision in their life is made for them by people in charge. The end goal of total institutions is socialization which is taking away old norms, values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors from people. Total institutions destruct the old self concept of people. This whole process can be done in several ways/ Personal possessions are replaced with standard issued items that promote sameness.